If you want to be a pilot for a specific company, I suggest you look for another career. Remember the old (but true) saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Too many people set their sights on one company, only to be rejected in the interview process or maybe never even get an interview. But, if you want to be a professional pilot, you have a fighting chance if you can perform the essential functions of the job, meet the FAA physical and certificate requirements, and keep yourself open to all pilot employment opportunities.
You must be aware, however, of one fact that never changes. The airline industry is cyclical, and timing can be everything. Many pilots have missed a golden opportunity because the industry was in a slump. Not only were jobs nonexistent, but pilots were being laid off.
Corporate jobs aren't any more stable. When a recession hits, often the first asset to go is the aircraft.
Can you afford the risks? Check your pocketbook. Have a backup plan. Airlines today are hiring pilots like mad, but that may not be the case several years from now, when you've accumulated the rating and flight time that puts you in contention for a job. Why would an intelligent, responsible professional want to invest tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours preparing for a career that may never materialize?
Because you love to fly!
You must be realistic. Aviation is a highly competitive career field. You may never work for a major commercial airline and you may never fly executives around the world for that Fortune 500 corporation. You may meet the physical requirements of one company but not another. You may not be able - or want to - relocate or to be away from home for long periods at a time. Maybe you have other interests and only want to fly part-time.
It is vital for you to be aware of the realities before you start down your career path. For a moment, put aside the actual flight training you must undertake and think about the following prerequisites for the job of a professional pilot.
Can You Meet The Medical Standards?
To fly as a captain or pilot-in-command (PIC), you must be able to secure a first-class medical certificate by meeting specific FAA medical standards. Before you even begin flying, get a copy of Federal Aviation Regulation Part 67, which contains the requirements for all FAA medical certificates. Make sure you can meet all the requirements. If you have questions, call an FAA aviation medical examiner (AME), a "civilian" physician the FAA has authorized to perform pilot medical examinations.
Here are a few basic things to think about. A first-class medical is good for six months. A company invests a lot of money in training you, and it wants to know that you'll be around longer than six months, and that you are not a safety risk. Many companies have initial employment physicals that use criteria more stringent than the FAA first-class medical requirements. To avoid future problems and disappointment, think about the following.
Go one step beyond a first-class medical and get the most thorough physical you can afford. Granted, you don't need a first-class medical to be a private pilot, but you'll need one when you become a captain. If you don't meet the standards now, you will want to reconsider your career path.
Can You Afford To Be A Pilot?
By the time you land that job with a major airline or corporation you may have spent from $60,000 to $100,000 (or more) for your education and all the certificates and ratings that make you a competitive candidate.
Not only is training expensive, but guess what - you probably won't be seeing any high-dollar jobs right off the bat. Most charter and commuter companies pay very little compared to the large commercial airlines or stable corporations. That makes paying off your student and flight training loans even more difficult.
To save money, many commuter, regional, and national airlines hire pilots only after they've been prescreened and trained by an external training center. To most people, this practice is called "pay for training." A few carriers will reimburse you for the training costs over a period of years if you stay with the company, but this is an exception, not the standard.
A "pay for training" contractor prescreens you to make sure you meet the minimum criteria to be successful in the training program. The average charge for the prescreening runs about $300. This fee is usually nonrefundable and there's no guarantee you'll be selected to attend the school.
After you're selected, you could pay up to $10,000 for the training on a specific aircraft. Whether the "pay for training" approach will continue is unknown. A great deal depends on the future availability of pilots. When the pilot pool is shallow, companies must spend more money to entice qualified applicants - this could include paying for a pilot's training.
Do You Have Time to Prepare?
If you begin flying in college you should plan to earn your student, private, instrument, commercial, multiengine, and perhaps your CFI ratings during your college years. If you don't have a four-year college degree, and don't plan to get one - think again. Nearly all the pilots that airlines hire these days have degrees.
After college you should focus on getting multiengine and turbine experience wherever possible, perhaps as a flight instructor. At the 1,200 hour mark you should take the FAA airline transport pilot (ATP) knowledge test, and earn your ATP certificate at 1,500 flight hours. Depending on each airline's minimum qualifications, you could begin sending resumes to commuter/regional airlines somewhere around the 1,000-hour range.
Remember that it doesn't necessarily matter when you start on your career path. What matters is what you do once you decide to take that path. Obviously, you can't take five years to accumulate flight time if you start flying at age 30. You may have to dedicate yourself to working on your ratings and logging flight time on a full-time basis.
By now you realize that if you want to be a professional pilot, you'll have to get serious about your career and concentrate on your health and strategic career planning. It's time to buckle down and work long hours, realize that you may be away from home more than you want, and accept that you may have little control over your schedule, or where you are going to live.
But, if you ask any professional pilot he (or she) will tell you the rewards are well worth the effort!
Judy A. Tarver, the former manager of pilot hiring for American Airlines, is the president of the Universal Pilot Application Service and author of Flight Plan to the Flight DecK.
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