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K D
Lv 6
K D asked in Cars & TransportationAircraft · 1 decade ago

What's the best way to become a pilot as a career?

My son would like to become a pilot. He will be entering high school next year. Can anyone give me any information on what his best course would be to have the most opportunity to succeed in this career? Should he go to college? Air Force? College and Air Force ROTC then onto the Air Force? No college and find a flying school? etc. Also is there any type of situation where a teenager could work at an airport or even volunteer to get some experience with planes? Would that benefit him? Thank you for any help you can give us to guide him.

6 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    That is right, CAP and the armed forces are great ways to learn to fly (cost you almost nothing) and you get a lot of time building. I suggest he enroll in ROTC, I know people who got scholarships to USAF Academy by being in ROTC.

    I am a little over 17 and here is what I am doing: I intern at a flight school and get paid in flight hours and it rocks! I get to fly and be around the environment of aviation, I get to meet new people all the time. By doing this, you can save a TON on flight lessons. This is the most fun an rewarding thing for a new, young aviator. I wash aircrafts, update Garmin GPS databases, and other odd jobs around the local airport. It is totally worth it

    Your son will be building flight time and learning before he is formally enrolled in a flight program, he will finish faster and cheaper when he really starts. Make sure you go to a small airport, a local General aviation one, not Hartsfield, LAX, O'Hare, La Guardia, JFK etc. they will not do it.

    If he does not want to be in the Military, let him go through all his flight training at the school he volunteers out then have him go for his CFI (Flight instructor) rating when he's eligible. He is almost guaranteed to get hired by the school he volunteered at because the staff already knows him. Plus, as a CFI he gets paid for building time.

    Having him volunteer or work at a local airport is fun, educational, and rewarding. It is something that I most definitely recommend.

  • Iceman
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    Hmmmmmm, Honestly, I am on the same track as your son, I'm 14 yrs old and I've been wanting to become a pilot since I was 8 years old.

    The first step to becoming a pilot is for him to get a pilot's medical certificate issued by an FAA certified Aviation Medical Examiner. He must pass the FAA pilot medical exam and he must have no history of epilepsy or heart transplant. He must be in perfect health with 20/20 vision.

    a) Save tons of money, enroll him in flight school one day

    b) The cheapest and the best way to become a pilot is to join the US Airforce.

    To become an airline pilot, he must be over 23 yrs old with an ATP license.

    There are 4 licenses he must have to succeed in this career-

    Student Pilot License

    Private Pilot License

    Commercial Pilot License

    Airline Transport Pilot License....

    and an Instrument Rating, also a Certified Flight Instructor License.

    He should work as a flight instructor before joining an airline. Airlines look for pilots that have more than 1,500 flight hours of experience.

    To get all of the licenses, he must pass the FAA oral and written exams that are especially issued for the Private, Commercial, and Airline Transport Pilot licenses.

  • 360ci
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    Contact the Civil Air Patrol, they have some good programs as well. Air Force recruiting office can also be good to contact depending on what he wants to do down the road.

    In Canada we have a similar program for youths interested in aviation in line with the Jr ROTC program in the US, called Royal Canadian Air Cadets, where they can after a few years of being in the program can take ground school at no cost, and apply for a private pilot scholarship program and get their wings.

    There are a lot of options and I'm glad you know some of them off hand. It'd be best to contact each one, but first, sit down with your son and see what his top three or four interests are so when you phone around it'll save you and the operator some time in narrowing down what things your son can get enrolled in that will suit him the best.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. My best friend from high school goes there. She's way smarter than me though lol. Maybe he should train to become a mechanic for jet engines and then go to school to become a pilot? That way he'll have a good foundation to work off of.

    Source(s): I don't ever think that it's ever a good idea for a person just coming out of high school to join the armed forces. Why do you think that recruiters always go to high/trade schools? People that age don't fully understand the commitment required in partaking in that act.
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  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    Your first step is to pass on your community flight college and get your deepest pilot's license. in case you like it, then save going. next comes your tool score, then commercial, then multi-engine rankings, then flight instructor (in case you opt to coach so as to construct up adequate hours to get employed with the aid of an airline). places like ATP and Delta are high-quality faculties. they have an inclination to be the swifter course, yet they are very costly. they'll actually prepare you each little thing you ought to appreciate, yet so will your community flight college. it truly is a call which you will ought to make on your guy or woman. No. you mustn't pass back to varsity. you have your degree already. you're set in that branch. learning to fly interior the rustic is with regard to the main inexpensive and easiest place interior the worldwide to verify to fly. it is why distinctive non-US electorate come right here to verify to fly, tremendously whilst it is composed of getting issues like their Airline delivery Pilots License. there are various airline pilots who're occupation changers. i replaced into one in each of them. After college, I saved each penny i ought to. In my mid-20s, i began out flying at an area flight college. as quickly as i replaced into with the aid of with my tool score, I end my job and flew complete time to get something of my rankings so i ought to commence working as a flight instructor. After a twelve months or 2 of that, i replaced into working at my first community airline. do no longer difficulty with regard to the actuality which you haven't any longer have been given any flying adventure. It wasn't until eventually my first flight lesson (23 years previous, many commence lots older than you) that i replaced into even interior of a few hundred ft of a small airplane. I knew no longer something approximately aviation whilst i began out flying, different than i had to fly. solid success. playstation it is an costly occupation transition. Plan on spending everywhere from $25,000 to correctly over $50,000. save each penny you could. this is stressful.

  • 1 decade ago

    talk to recruiters and see what they gotta say

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