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Originally Posted by ATLTRACON  Hey Texas,
Let me know sometime if you would like to go across the street to The TRACON for a tour. I am usually at FFC (except for the next few weeks because of the closure) on Mon., Tues., and Wed. around 4ish. |
Man, since I live in Midtown Atlanta and will b at PDK now, I wish I typed this up sooner (yeah, I was lazy when it come to getting my experience up there but I thought a summary of each rating would be better than a daily diary). Plus I will do a summary on the Multi and then each CFI rating too as I complete those. If I typed this up sooner, I would have most certainly taken you up on the tour offer! If I ever know that I'm getting back down to FFC, I'll PM you a couple days notice to see if we can coordinate that tour. Thanks for the offer!
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Originally Posted by ATLTRACON My son, still in High School, flies three times a week and just soloed yesterday at CCO. Thanks for the update as I am pondering as to whether to send my son to Middle GA for the Pro Pilot Program or just to FFC for the Career pilot program. |
For a high school person, I would advise a 4 year degree program. It'll save the trouble of having to be a nontraditional student later in life. So I'd go to college (any 4 year college to get a bachelor's degree) while working on the flight ratings part-time for the first two years of college and then being a part-time CFI for the last two years of college. Then in 4 years he'll have a degree (check that box off), have all his flight ratings (check that box off), and should have well over 1,000 hours with a good amount of multi-time from the training and flight instructing (so check that box off when applying for jobs too!).
Now as far as which is better for him to train at. I don't know. I know nothing about Middle Georgia. But I did just look at their website (wow, wish I could have found a place like this back in 1991 when I got out of high school and been able to convince my parents to help me with this versus the silly accounting degree I pretty much never used). Looks like Middle GA has a 4 year degree program and you get your ratings too. I would advise that route as a career counselor
(that comes from an almost ex third party aviation recruiter who knows the truths on hiring since I don't have to give politically correct answers like HR people do).
Oh, and some say an aviation degree is bad since it limits you. Not true! You can not only fly, but you can also get into FBO Management, Airport Management, and other jobs where the pay at the top end is much more than pilots will ever make (I used to regularly place people who are in their id 40's with 20 years career experience of which the last ten been in FBO Management and they were around $120k to $150k on base salary plus incentives that could bring them upward of another 20-40% in bonuses!). So the degree will keep your options open since you never know if you'll loose your flying career or ultimately not enjoy it as much as you hoped. As I recruiter I didn't care what their degree was in, it was about career path and personality that qualified them for jobs beyond the entry level. But the BA/ BS degree was required just because it helps round a person and gives some business maturity (I may get reamed for this, but flight ratings in the view of us corporate folk do not help with business maturity... so that answers the age old question of why do they require a degree...).
So take that all for what it's worth
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Originally Posted by ATLTRACON PS - You'll usually see me in a Red Sox or Titleist GA Tech hat Cheers |
I believe I have seen you before. I'm about 6'2'' tall and drive the light Blue Toyota Tacoma. I normally flew from around 11am to 6pm or so (never too early since I had almost an hour drive each way to FFC and the ice in the morning meant no one was flying until 10am anyway). My flight bad is bright red. And my names Joseph. So nice to meet you! And best of success to your son. Falcon's a good place. But for him, I'd lean toward the degree program at Middle, GA. And better yet, if his prior flight experience gets him some credit at the school, don't let him take the easy way out. I'd still advise he take some other courses in the airport management and/or FBO / Repair Station management areas if possible (it wont actually help his college transcript but it will help him gain some important knowledge in case a future career change is ever in order).
CHEERS!
Joseph