Finally something where I have something useful to offer! My day (and night) job is A320 Captain for a US airline. It's pretty nice. I make great money, the view is nice, and when I set the parking brake at the end of my trip, work doesn't follow me home.
I went the civilian route but seriously considered the military route (due to government budget situation at the time, a jet regional called before the military did). It's been a crazy ride - stuck in the right seat of a regional making peanuts for much of the Lost Decade of aviation, got hired by a major and made Captain, etc.
- Do not go into aviation expecting that it will be a regularly-paced career. Your career is not in your control. Your career outcome is largely determined by the union seniority system, the performance of the company you picked twenty years ago, and the whims of HR on the day you get hired. I've had two, yes two, interviews my whole aviation career.
- I know great guys who can't get a look, and absolutely horrible guys who are captains at in the golden circle. As far as I can tell, I'm here because of dumb luck. HR liked me that day and management at my airline did a good job.
- Always have a backup plan, and live on one paycheck and save the other. My airline could go Chapter 7 tomorrow and my cushy 2-300k/yr, 17 day off job could vaporize. Due to the union seniority system, I'd find myself making 30k/yr as a regional FO, commuting, working weekends. That's why I invest on the side, and could fall back on another career to feed my family.
- Seriously consider the military. Their training is better, their planes are faster, their missions are cooler, and they get instantly hired at the major of their choice upon separation. You won't pay a nickel for any of it. Most importantly, you have the privilege of serving your country. However you'll spend a decade of your life living where they tell you to, often on short notice. There's a good chance you'll end up deployed and watch your kid's first steps on Skype. You'll drown in one pointless Powerpoint briefing after another. You may not fly as much as you think you should. The choice is yours.
- This is the best the airline industry has been for decades. This is not normal. Just a few decades ago you had to have a couple thousand hours to touch a regional, and some of them would make you pay for training. AA didn't hire a single pilot for 13 years. Regionals used to pay 20/hr and give you 8 days off a month, and people were beating down the doors to get in. It could get ugly fast, and be prepared to be happy wherever you are sitting when the music stops: and that could be at a regional, making peanuts on a concessionary contract, commuting to La Garbage to sit reserve in a roach-infested crashpad.
- If you make it, it's worth it. NB CA is a quarter million dollars for a part-time job flying jets. WB CA is an extra hundred grand, and you're flying to Paris. Not everyone makes it.
- Family comes first. Be willing to pass up upgrade, commute, move to base, do whatever it takes to give yourself a good home life. 100% of the guys I know who had their eyes on the prize and nothing else are divorced.
1. Do you have to do have a college degree to become a pilot? I would be OK with getting a degree in aeronautics, but spending around 50K for college plus spending another 50K on flight training would not be very doable for me.
"Need"? No. But in the current environment a single-digit percentage of major airline hires lack a degree, and they're either former Navy SEALs or of a government-mandated desirable demographic. Get a degree. In the current environment, get an aviation degree, as the majors care. Plus it saves you 500 hours before you can go to the airlines.
If you can hack the class load, get a second, related degree in something you wouldn't mind doing. People fail checkrides, lose their medical, have companies go bankrupt, have family that keeps them home seven days a week. In life as in flying, you can only hope for the best if you have prepared for the worst.
2. What do you do to get hours in a decently quick manor?
I know that most airlines won't hire anyone unless they have several thousands of hours, but how do you get those hours in a year or 2? Who would want to hire anyone with little to no experience?
Delta, American, United, and Southwest have over 10k applicants. Everyone wishes they knew that answer.
That being said, I like your plan. It's frugal, involves no debt, and has reasonable expectations. Here are the downsides:
Without the degree, you may never progress past the regionals. While I think the college degree is a bit of a scam nowadays, especially for subjects that don't pay well, in the last five years the aviation degree has become the preferred entry point. You can now intern at an AA regional in college, get a flow into an AA regional, and then get a seniority number at AA where you will flow up when your seniority can hold it. That's as close to a golden lottery ticket as you can get.
https://www.flyingmag.com/aviation-college-programs-are-pilot-pipeline#page-4
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/learn-to-fly/aviation-colleges
Also be aware that you're chasing a moving target. When I started, you needed 1000 TPIC to get to a major. We all chased 1000 TPIC, and the majors stopped caring. Then it was lots of internal recs. We all got lots of internal recs. The majors stopped caring. Then it was show up at a job fair. WIA and OBAP had lines a thousand pilots deep. Then the majors stopped caring. Now it's get an aviation degree and get hired on with a regional with a flow-through program. Who knows if that pipeline will continue?
Good luck, and feel free to PM me.
