| HOW TO FINANCE FLIGHT TRAINING TO BECOME A CAREER PILOT |
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I'm often asked by folks who are interested in an aviation career how to pay for such an expense.
The truth is, is that aviation training is a long and expensive road. To become an airline pilot
requires a four year degree, such as a bachelors degree ( subject of major does not matter) and at
least a commercial multi engine instrument rating with total flight time of approximately 800-1000
hours total time and approximately 200 of that total time in multi engine aircraft. What does all this
cost? Not including your four year bachelors degree, the cost of flight training will cost between 30
to 50 thousand dollars. That's a lot of $$$. The lucky people have either parents, a nice inheritance,
or a well paying career that allows them to pluck down 30-50 thousand dollars for all of their pilot
certificates and ratings. Other folks are left with the following options... none of which are easy and
each has their own risks.
MILITARY ROUTE: Air national guard, Air force or Navy will pay to train you to become a
pilot. This is an excellent way to go if you are young, smart and medically fit enough to qualify and
if you are willing to be owned by the military for many years. This means you may be sent to
foreign countries for long periods of time etc etc etc...
SAVE UP A BUNCH OF MONEY ROUTE: This takes a whole lot of fiscal discipline, but
basically it is the best way to go. If you don't have a well paying career that allows you to fork over
as much as $50,000.00 then I suggest getting two descent paying jobs, like waiting tables at a pricey
restaurant, work your but off for 3 years, save up at least $35,000 then carefully plan how to get from
where you are to where you want to go in aviation.
WORK LINKS ROUTE: Work links in Hawaii has a federally funded program that will help
finance career training, and pilot training falls under that definition. The only problem is that it's
hit or miss as to whether they decide to give you funding or not. You also have to prove to them that
you are broke and unemployed (laid off). The other problem is they tend to only provide as much
as $8,000 dollars. This will only help you pay for the private pilot certificate. If you do qualify for
this free money you will need to do your flight training at a work links qualified flight school and
Moore Air is qualified.
USE THE OLD CREDIT CARD: This is not a very good option because it will catch up with
you in a bad way... like 25% APR kind of way. This is a tempting way to go but will ultimately take
you longer to pay everything off.
The truth is, is that aviation training is a long and expensive road. To become an airline pilot
requires a four year degree, such as a bachelors degree ( subject of major does not matter) and at
least a commercial multi engine instrument rating with total flight time of approximately 800-1000
hours total time and approximately 200 of that total time in multi engine aircraft. What does all this
cost? Not including your four year bachelors degree, the cost of flight training will cost between 30
to 50 thousand dollars. That's a lot of $$$. The lucky people have either parents, a nice inheritance,
or a well paying career that allows them to pluck down 30-50 thousand dollars for all of their pilot
certificates and ratings. Other folks are left with the following options... none of which are easy and
each has their own risks.
MILITARY ROUTE: Air national guard, Air force or Navy will pay to train you to become a
pilot. This is an excellent way to go if you are young, smart and medically fit enough to qualify and
if you are willing to be owned by the military for many years. This means you may be sent to
foreign countries for long periods of time etc etc etc...
SAVE UP A BUNCH OF MONEY ROUTE: This takes a whole lot of fiscal discipline, but
basically it is the best way to go. If you don't have a well paying career that allows you to fork over
as much as $50,000.00 then I suggest getting two descent paying jobs, like waiting tables at a pricey
restaurant, work your but off for 3 years, save up at least $35,000 then carefully plan how to get from
where you are to where you want to go in aviation.
WORK LINKS ROUTE: Work links in Hawaii has a federally funded program that will help
finance career training, and pilot training falls under that definition. The only problem is that it's
hit or miss as to whether they decide to give you funding or not. You also have to prove to them that
you are broke and unemployed (laid off). The other problem is they tend to only provide as much
as $8,000 dollars. This will only help you pay for the private pilot certificate. If you do qualify for
this free money you will need to do your flight training at a work links qualified flight school and
Moore Air is qualified.
USE THE OLD CREDIT CARD: This is not a very good option because it will catch up with
you in a bad way... like 25% APR kind of way. This is a tempting way to go but will ultimately take
you longer to pay everything off.
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