How do pilots afford the cost of their training?

I have a private pilot's license and 150 hours, and that alone cost me more than $15,000 of my own money. I'd need a minimum of 1,000 hours (half of which would have to be multi-engine, which is even more expensive) to springboard me into any type of airline career. Do the math and you can see that I'd be up to my ears in debt.





And those are just the minimums. Sheesh.





Would my bank give me a loan for this type of expense? I doubt it, because the IRS doesn't even allow flight school as a deductible expense, and unlike most college majors, there are no scholarships for this type of career.





This question assumes civilian training. After all, not all of us are lucky enough to have flawless 20/10 vision and stellar physical stamina required to be able to fly in the military.

How do pilots afford the cost of their training?
I'm glad I saw this question, it is nice to see I'm not the only one who had to think about this stuff. . . I am currently enrolled at Delta Connection Academy. There are many ways to get around the hardships of financing. First of all, make sure you keep a keen eye on your credit, that will be your saving grace. . . There are banks that will loan the amount needed, should be in the neighborhood of $90K-$120K. I know this number seems low, but let me explain. I, like you, obtained my Private under Part 61 rules, but at a huge fraction of the cost, I was able to complete with just over 40 hours. That's the key, complete your ratings in as few hours as possible, that will always save you $$$.


Opinions are like. . . well you know the saying. . . I highly recommend going Part 141. It's going to cost you more, but it saves you many years of time. The faster you can get your foot in the door, the faster you can make up the money you spent and then some. If you contact a few well known schools (contact AOPA for advice on this if in doubt), they will get you in touch with reputable banks or financial instituions that they work with regularly. Fill out your loan apps. and see what kind of bites you get. Unfortunately, these loans are not federally guaranteed like most college loans, so the interest rate is quite high. This plays into the risk of the whole endeavor that I will describe later. . . If you don't make it, you are still liable for the expense of training, with $1,000 + minimum monthly payments.


Now, the reason the cost is lower than you were probably thinking (and the schools will likely explain it the same way) is that once you complete your ratings, generaly speaking you will become an instructor for the flight school to build your hours. It is a risk, because these jobs are never guaranteed, you have to really want it, and be dedicated. If your record is tarnished as a student, they may not want to hire you as an instructor, even though you have the credentials.


Also, there are scholarships, but I personally am lazy, and don't want to right the bookoo essays required to get at a few thousand (and that's a good scholarship). Also, of course like many other things, women have more scholarships available to them through woman only clubs and organizations, so that may be a consideration to any ladies reading this.


If there are any other questions pertaining aviation, that I might be able to help you with, please feel free to write me. srcash@yahoo.com I will do my best to answer. I hope this helped to give you some ideas, Good luck,


Scott
Reply:I used to have a fellow working for me that between he and his wife, smoked $500 a month, and he asked me how I could afford to fly on my wages. In fact, I wasn't spending as much money on flying as he was on cigarettes (you might have figured out, i don't smoke).


Check your priorities. Second, you do not have to pay for your flying training all in advance, pay as you go, make a budget and pay your bill at the end of the month. It really is not swift to pay up front, because if the company goes bankrupt, you lost your money and any hope of getting that training.
Reply:Military
Reply:Get your CFI and get paid to build your OWN hours! You get to log PIC time while intructing! Then maybe you can get in on doing some charter work flying small twins around. You'll get it. Up until that point, work, fly, sleep, repeat.
Reply:what you want to do is get your CFI. i think i had right around 300 hours when i got mine. once you get your CFI then you get paid to build time instead of paying for it. your first job as a CFI might only pay 14 bucks an hour or so, but that is much better than paying 100-250 bucks an hour(depending on the plane). maybe get a loan and do what you have to do to get your CFI.





if this is something you decide to do then you should ask your instructor if you could get a job at the school/FBO where he teaches when you are done. many schools like CFIs who trained with them..
Reply:A lot of FBOs that have flight training will allow you to work for flight time. Also I would suggest looking into Pilot Finance http://www.pilotfinance.com/ it is a company that helps you finance your flight training. The flight school I used to work at had a few students using the program, it really helped them!





Good luck!
Reply:My father is a pilot %26amp; has his own business. I can remember him struggling to get his license when was a kid. He got his hours in by working for another pilot.....
Reply:talk to a pilot. i know a pilot who applied to be pilot with small licence but they always keep back up pilots so if they are in need they will pay your hours and even copilot some hours wich should be collectable hours. goverment will not help you .the best way is to talk to a pilot. got into it and hope you find what your looking for. Good luck and happy new years!
Reply:I worked part time for an FBO and collected my wages in flying time. Try to work out a deal like that in order to build time toward your commercial, and then get your CFI ratings, and from there it is still uphill, but you can get a lot of PIC time instructing. As to borrowing $90 to 115k, forget that when there a lot of schools that will take you to Private, commercial, instrument, CFI, and CFII for around $45,000. Here is one example:http://www.pea.com/imd/flight-schools.as...