So i have heard that you're almost guaranteed to be furloughed entering the airline industry as a pilot now.People have suggested to major in something else(other than aviation) while going to a local flight school.I have also heard that professional pilot degrees are worthless so i might just go for a degree in finance or some other business major.
so my questions are:
1.are professional pilot degrees worthless?
2.is flight school tough considering the fact that i want to get all my ratings to become an airline pilot (im a quick kinesthetic learner)?
3.can my private student loans pay for my flight school?
4.are business degrees in high demand with banks(for broker and accounting positions) ?
5.what is a non science/math degree that is in high demand?
6.would balancing a job, flight school, and college be a great load of work?
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
1. Absolutley worthless. McDonalds does not care about your aviation and piloting skills. Thats something that sucks about the career. Your pilot skills don't help you in the non aviation world.
2. It does take a special kind person to learn to fly. But, most should not find it hard if you are a good learner. CPL is a lot harder than PPL and IFR and requires a lot more focus. That is pretty much the only license that is usually hard on everyone regardless.
3. Yes, if you can get accepted into a aviation academy.
4. Business degree is the best degree you can get. They have a wide range of jobs. I'm getting an Bachelor of accountancy (a lot better if you want a bank jon).
5. Not sure. quick google search should do it though.
6. Yes. It is possible to hold a job and do school but, I wouldn't suggest it. Especially for your commercial. Studying aviation should not be done has the same time has college. There is an exception for the PPL though has that is fairly simple.
1. Yes because they are only good for trying to get a job as a pilot which doesn't help you when you get furloughed (or get sick of the career and want to do something else).
2. No. Just about anybody can do it if they have the motivation to do so.
3. Lots of pilots got students loans to pay for their flight training.
4. No clue.
5. No clue.
6. Yes. College first, then flight school.
Keep mind that even a non-aviation degree is somewhat worthless if you don't have any experience in that field. Let's say you get a degree in finance, work for an airline for 5 years and then get furloughed. Nobody in the finance industry is going to look at your resume because you graduated 5 years ago and never worked in the field. If you really want a backup career, then work in that finance/business field for a few years, while getting your pilot certificates.
I concur will all of Brett's answers but want to expand on number 2.
You could invest $60,000 in a top notch flight school and get your ratings all at once: Private, Commercial; Instrument; and Multi-Engine. That is quite a challenge for most people, but not impossible and is much like military flight school. But what do you have at the end? A few hundred hours? A nice, shiny certificate? You would be well short of the hours required for the Airline Transport Pilot rating. What people don't seem to understand is that flight training is only half of the equation. Flight time and experience is the other half. It can take decades to earn the number of hours required to fly for airline. For that, you will need method for building your flight time. Some people try instructing - flying around in a tiny little trainer trying to keep some knucklehead from killing you both. Or you can move to Alaska and become a bush pilot - flying sportsman out to remote cabins to go salmon or ice fishing. Another very good way is to join the military. They pay people to learn to fly and then they pay you earn your living as a pilot and build up that valuable flight experience.
So that's my two cents. Get a Business Degree. Forget about an aviation degree, they really are worthless.
Good luck.