Am I being realistic?

[SHuf]

Hey everyone,
I'm new here and I'm hoping some of you veteran pilots could give me some straight talk about my plans to get a license.

I'm sure you don't need a backstory about how long I've had an interest in aviation so I'll try to stick to the relevant info.

After High school I planned to check out flight schools (and work like a dog to pay for it. ) but, my Grandmother became ill and.. needless to say I never made it to ground school.

Fast forward six years, and now, I'm ready to get started.

Things have changed since then and a lot of flight schools near me have closed down, I'm always hearing something about how it's " A bad time to get licensed."

I still want to go for it though.


I know that joining the military is the " best " way to go but it's not an option for me.

I'm planning on working and paying for my instruction as I go a long.

Some people have suggested taking out a loan and taking an excelerated course but, I think it's unlikely I will get a loan for the whole amount and even if I did, I know I won't be able to get a really high paying job right out of flight school. I can't even begin to think about how much I'd pay in interest and late fees!

I know it's very expensive to get a license and even after I do I will be making peanuts working as a CFI, but.. does anyone get into this for the money? I know I'm not.

That is, If I can even get a job as a CFI. I've searched this site for beginner info and I've read how hiring of CFI's has really slowed down in the last few years.


So, from everything I've heard, read and talked to pilots about I should expect to :

Work several jobs to pay for instruction
Spend a small fortune to get my license
forget about having a social life and spend a huge amount of time studying

and, after I get my license I can look forward to:

Still working several jobs,
Working for peanuts as a CFI
competing for jobs with military guys with a ton of turbine experience.

..... Sounds great to me!

Is this realistic?
Is this really what I should expect?

[falconvalley]

First off, welcome to JC!!

I think you have a great idea. I did my ratings the way you plan on doing yours. I worked my way through them. It took a while, but the ride was fun and I don't have any learning to fly-related debt. I've flown with many peeps who have multiple roommates because they can't afford an apartment on their own after taking out 10's of thousands of dollars to learn to fly.

This is how I did my ratings. Granted I did take out 2 small loans, but it was to get me done with the particular rating being able to fly more than once a week, which was what I was doing.

I worked my way through my private delivering pizza nights and weekends. I had 24 hours when I went back to finish...started in October and got my private in June. I took a few months off from dual and did some cross-countries and just plain old had fun for a bit. I started my instrument in September and finished it in February. I took a 5 thousand dollar loan out in hopes of finishing both the instrument and commercial before I got out of the Air Force (1999 dollars). I found I never really needed to. I finished my commercial a year and 2 months after my instrument and had already paid off my loan. Total time frame was October 97-April 00 for SE Commercial and no debt. I could have done more, but I spent like 6000 dollars on phone bills over those years as I had a long term relationship. I do regret taking an additional 5 grand out to do my CFI because it was to hurry up and get it so I could get a job right away as many CFI's were leaving for the airlines at the time. My multi ended up costing me about 2 grand. I could have done it cheaper, but had issues hanging on to an airworthy airplane and instructor. I ended up finishing that at ATP and they were charging $1350 at the time. I think saving up and paying as you go is the way to do it. I did forget to mention that many say you should save up the entire amount for your private before you start because when you first start out it's important to find and maintain a comfortable training schedule. I can agree with that as not saving up the entire amount in the first place bit me in the butt. That's why I stopped at 24 hours. Ran out of money!

[falconvalley]

LOL all that and I didn't know this was the helicopter forum! More expensive but I think my advice might still be good.

[SHuf]

Thanks for the welcome!
I know a version of this question has probably been asked a million times ... thanks for replying.

A lot of the pro's I talk to say that I should get a Commercial license in a fixed wing then get a rotary license later on.

What are your thoughts on this?

I know that the job market for civilians with rotary licenses is pretty rough. How is it for fixed wing?

It makes sense: get my license, get a job, then get some rotary lessons.

Since I'm not a military gal, I know it's going to be expensive.

Is it better to go about it this way?

[Jbroz04]

Not really it will cost you more in the long run. I thought about getting my commercial helicopter because the add on doesn't require as many hours but the catch is your not insurable at those hours even with a commercial license. So you would still have to spend just as much as going straight to helicopters but it would cost more bc you paid for your commercial fixed as well. Even than you probably dont have enough hours to be insured. One guy told me you can't be a CFI with less than 500TT in helios. So its a tough market to get into. And the military is pumping out helios guys like crazy for this war so they will flood the market in a few years leaving you without a job.

[SHuf]

Originally Posted by Jbroz04

Not really it will cost you more in the long run. the military is pumping out helios guys like crazy for this war so they will flood the market in a few years leaving you without a job.

Is the situation similar for fixed wing also? Or is the demand still pretty high?

I know the army uses Helios - but what about all the fixed wing air force guys?

Should I just try to get CFI certified in fixed wing and fly rotary for recreation?

[Jbroz04]

There are more helios flown than fixed wing in the armed forces combined. There are deffinately more oppurinties in fixed wing but if you want wany to fly helio go for it. There is a operation I looked at before called http://www.boatpix.com/ that if you learn to fly with their affliate school they will hire you to fly enough hours to get you to 500 hours in helios which than makes you insurable