Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Its no secret way to become a pilot in this case.
And thanks for being impressed... It took many many years to get to this point. And no student debt along the way.
He was able to get the job as a commercial pilot without having to go to college and earned the required licenses and flight hours privately, correct?
True, it costs the Navy or AF a million or two (inflation!) $$ to train a pilot, and they use a college degree as one way to determine if someone has good learning skills and persistence to finish a long learning program. A degree in a technical or engineering realm is likely a plus to gain acceptance. Many accepted into a military pilot training program go through a college ROTC program, then OCS and then pilot training. They don't make it simple or easy - that's how they wash out the less-committed looking for a free ride to a pilot's seat.
Right.......military pilot training is profoundly difficult academically. A buddy's son is a Marine Corps helicopter pilot with a Naval Academy aerospace engineering degree. The young man told me more of his class flunked out per the academic side than other reasons and that the academic side was surprisingly difficult for him even with an AE degree.
Further, I read somewhere the USAF decided long ago the tougher the academic requirements per admission were, say degree vs. no degree, the lower flight school attrition. As you noted flight school seats are crazy expensive and valuable.
He was able to get the job as a commercial pilot without having to go to college and earned the required licenses and flight hours privately, correct?
I want to make sure you're giving your kid good advice, so let me unpack something for you.
Commercial Pilot = flying for money (kind of). This can be anything from banner tow, skydiving trips, areal surveying, paying passengers (in cases)
Airline / ATP (a higher license than commercial) = flying passengers for a fare on a regularly scheduled flight (much more to this, but for this thread, its fine).
Neither require college to achieve these ratings. As I posted earlier, airlines don't necessarily require college either, however it is probably helpful. Hours and experience would probably trump a degree, though.
Have you discussed with your child what type of commercial aviation they would like to pursue?
OP, I’m a tenured full time college professor, teaching Computer Science. Before teaching, I had a successful career in industry.
I see every day kids in college because their parents told them that they needed to be there. So they go to school, but don’t have the self motivation to succeed. Some of them do get by, but I doubt they will have a successful career given their skill base.
We (society as a whole) are doing our children a great disservice with this approach, and the pressure that college is always the right answer. It is not, and is especially not for some who would be better off working for a while and down the road come to the conclusion they want something better - and have a plan to achieve it
If your child has a passion for something - help them achieve it. Yes, that includes getting them to see the realities of what they need to do to get there. But in the end, the drive to do it has to come from them, not you.
Post of the year and congratulations for your tenure!
IMO the hard reality is roughly 20% of young people have the combination of brainpower (IQ......solid abstract analytical abilities, reading comprehension, active memory etc.), study skills, writing skills, drive/ambition and long range goal directed behavior needed for enjoyable and successful college education.
The balance of college students either hate it or lack the chops for more demanding degree paths and tend to dissemble into bad grades, extra semester to finish, finding "easier" degree paths etc.
With your name you must be in Florida.
Your son might be energized by being in an aeronautic school and there are MANY in Florida, probably due to good weather year-round. Embry-Riddle in Daytona is well-known but there are many others. https://www.bestaviation.net/college/florida/
You should read over carefully what the school's offerings are, read the fine print. I know someone who got out of AForce went to a Florida aeronautic school to be flight controller but at his graduated age only had 6 months of eligibility because they cut off new hires at a certain age. He still got an airport job with his AF qualifications but didn't get higher paid controller job. IMO his school should have made him aware, maybe it did I only got hearsay report.
Once your son gets around others interested in what he is interested in he may become more focused on what he needs to do and what degree he needs.
Maybe he can talk to some young commercial pilots and find out what it is really about as a job. A number of years ago there were lots of stories of new pilots making less than managers at McDonalds, spending all their time shuttling between airports, staying overnight and flying again. It sounded like a terrible job. Flying as a hobby is doable for anyone. Flying as a job might be totally different than what he thinks it will be. Much of it is automated on commercial jets, even the landings.
I had planned to be a lawyer since I was in grammar school. After completing the first year of law school I realized I didn't want to spend my life as a lawyer. The dream and the reality are often far different.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeminoleTom
This is all good advice- thanks.
He has to get at least an AA to fly commercially. I personally think college can be affordable if someone stays in state, lives at home, etc. There is no reason to go into massive debt for college, and there are ways to combat it. College teaches people how to think, how to solve problems and go through the critical thinking process. I don't really believe it's a waste. Now, going to school out of state, and all things associated with is an absolute poor decision.
I don't want to push him to do anything. But I will continue to encourage college but realize you can absolutely learn and develop without going to college. Vocational school is a good option for some.
All that said, becoming a pilot is a pricey endeavor. The various licenses that are required whether its Delta, SW, Alaska, etc. is very costly. Couple that with the flight time, yea its a lot. If he goes to a piloting school he will still have to get the college degree. If he goes to a school with a 'aviation' major it is very expensive because of the training.
There may be plenty of free training but not pilot training. Only officers fly the airplanes and to be an officer, you must have a college degree. Four years of ROTC will increase the chances of becoming an officer, but that isn't the only qualification. Only a very small percentage of the officers ever get to be pilots.
To be a commercial airline pilot requires a large number of flight hours and most people can't afford to pay for that much flight time. So eh airlines are mostly staffed with retired military pilots.
Perhaps OPs son could pay for enough private flight time so he could buy himself a float plane and open a business as a bush pilot in Alaska. Maybe. It's a lot of hours before you can take passengers and a lot more hours beyond that before you can transport paying passengers.
The great American tragedy is that we expect high school to be a training ground for college for everyone. Your son is probably correct in that he shouldn't continue wasting money and time at college.
In addition to the four years of high school, people are now obligated to attend another four years (or six years for many) of school before they are allowed to go out into the world?
Why isn't the purpose of high school to prepare students for going out into the world and being adults: being able to earn a living, secure additional training, or supporting their lifestyles?
Leon Botstein, who was President of Bard College, hypothesized that high schools were created in another era before teenagers were as mature physically and mentally as they are now.
"The idea that in our society the ordinary trajectory after high school is to attend another four years of school has become arbitrary, purposeless and even absurd. Botstein noted, “America has a more elaborate educational system that spreads over more years, reaches more people and ends up with results for the entire population that are worse than those countries with educational systems that are explicitly not democratic and on the surface offer fewer opportunities for advanced education.” This model, he argued, is hardly what we would choose if asked with no experience how things should go. He argued that the model of high school we currently use is from a time when teenagers were, on average, less intellectually mature than they are now. Botstein proposed instead that childhood education can stop at 10th grade and that the education kids get during that year be a richer one than kids typically get today even going up through 12 grades."
Not a bad parent. Your son just has a different idea of what he wants to do. Make it it happen for him.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
