I’m in the process of a career change. I’m 29, I have a 9 month old, and I was recently laid off. I plan on taking advantage of the career training opp that EDD allows, but only for a calender year including holidays, weekends, etc. There are some schools that are approved by EDD, but they are either too far away, too expensive, or not geared toward novices such as myself.
So far I’ve seen:
Colleges- too long.
Flight Universities- too expensive.
Flight Schools-web sites aren’t very thorough regarding whether they are intended for Leisure or professional certs, “how long”, and job prospects.
The best so far was a Community College that offers a ‘profesional pilots certificate’ and a comercial certifcation/A.S..
*Would this be the one for me?
p.s. I know that I’m not going to be flying a commercial right away or maybe ever, I am aware that that requires a Bachelors and hundreds of hours of experience, and a ‘very’ good pilot. However, I would love to work as a pilot, and FLY.
#1 by b_raakesh on October 21st, 2011
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yes you can get your training done, the most time consuming part is time building, i did my private license in 6 weeks. flying 2 hours a day for 6days/week plus a 4 hour ground school every day. you mentioned you have a child well being a pilot may not be sufficient to raise that child this late in the game if your family is not willing to move for work. if you become a helicopter pilot will cost you $75K for a decent training and ratings and you will certainly have to move to where the work is cause will have very low hours. find out if EDD allows you to get a AME(Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) diploma from a college its a 2 year course but it pays well you start at about 40-50 and then work ur way up to 100+K adding ratings. that would be my recommendation from a practical standpoint. but if you are bent on becoming a pilot then i would recommend heli pilot as they are in demand a lot more. in north america there are roughter 700K commercial planes. and 900K+pilots to fly them so the market is saturated.its not like that in the helicopter industry. so all I would recommend is something that is a bit more stable like an AME. but whatever you choose i wish you and your family the best of luck.
#2 by wilson h on October 21st, 2011
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Let’s look at his one of two ways safe or quick,they don’t go hand in hand. Knowledge is power,I personally would want to have the power to control my own destiny if need be. The incident over the Hudson River is the epitome of what being educated is all about. One of the most fortunate things for those people on that plane was the fact that “Sully” was a combat pilot in Vietnam flying F-4′s,the fear factor had already been tested long ago. Text book education prevailed along with preparation. Hey you get what you pay for ,don’t buy Ramen noodles if you expect a stew.
#3 by Ben Dere Dun Dat on October 21st, 2011
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There are literally dozens if not hundreds of flight schools that you could attend. To take advantage of the Workforce Investment Act funds through the EDD you probably have to attend one certified as a “Part 141″ training school. Start looking here on the FAA website under “Pilot Schools”: http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/ for one near you.
Do not expect the WIA funds to pay for all, or even most of your training. At minimum, just to receive the Commercial, Instrument, and Flight Instructor ratings in single engine aircraft at one of the less expensive schools, it is going to cost about $25,000 to $30,000. Adding the commercial multi-engine and multi-engine instructor ratings to that will cost around. $5,000. All the highly advertised schools with “accelerated training” programs cost about 2X that much.
Be aware that with minimum flight experience and fresh commercial pilot and flight instructor certificates, you can expect to earn about $15,000 to $25,000 per year as an instructor. Starting wages at a regional airline are also about $20k per year. Unfortunately, the aviation industry is so depressed right now there is no guarantee you will find a job. It’s hard enough for those pilots out of work who have a lot more than a couple hundred hours behind them. On the other hand, when things turn arond you’ll want to be ready to take advantage of it. Timing is a key factor in this business.
Good luck, I hope you have a lot of money in savings or a wife with a good income. You’ll probably need it to help pay training and carry you through the first few years as a working pilot.
By the way, one of the best deals around that includes a 2-year degree is at Big Bend College in Moses Lake, Washington.
#4 by shaytaletheg on October 21st, 2011
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spartan
#5 by AirWolf on October 21st, 2011
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You can find flight schools in the US at http://www.vanguardaero.com
They have a section dedicated to flight training.
Good luck!