17 Year Old Looking To Become A Pilot

[Tristan_Realest]

Hey everyone,

I am new to these forums, so I'm sorry if I posted this thread under the wrong category. If it happens to be incorrect, could a moderator please move it? Thanks.

I'm currently a 17 year old senior (about to graduate) and I want to work for a major airline as a pilot some day. I just need some advice, and possibly, a path on how I can get in that cockpit.

I'll start with the civilian route and what I know about it. When I figured out that I wanted to fly for a living, I immediately started researching constantly, almost 24/7. I came soon to learn that it was most likely going to be EXTREMELY expensive, and I would get paid extremely low ($20k a year or so). I also saw ERAU come up in almost all of my search results. I really liked the way the school looked, and the fact that it was in Daytona, but, the price tag was unreal! There was no way I would pay that amount of money for an aviation school. I would be paying back student loans till I was old and died. It didn't seem like it was worth it. I also saw some other colleges that were out-of-state such as Dowling College, Purdue, etc. Again, pretty expensive. There has to be another way. I also looked into my local Part 141 flight school, and saw that as an option too. But I really felt like it would take too long to get all my licenses/certifications that way. Plus, I couldn't really think of a way where I could get to 1500 hours (I'm pretty sure that's the number you need to fly for major). So I started to consider the military...

The first branch I looked at was, of course, the USMC. Hah, you probably thought I would immediately look at the Air Force. But, my Dad and all my uncles are former Marines (1 active), and I love everything that comes with the title of being a United States Marine. I want to be challenged to my extents, mentally, and physically. So I started looking at some commissioning programs within the USMC, including PLC (Platoon Leaders Class). It seemed perfect, I could continue working part time at my job, attend my local community college, and work on PLC during the summer. But I'm still not sure yet. I haven't called the OSO (Officer Selection Officer) yet because I really just want to finish my last year of high school first. But I'm kind of iffy about it because I don't want to get stuck inside an MOS that I don't want for the next 6 or so years of my life. Is there such a thing as a guaranteed flight contract? And if I do pass PLC, graduate with my bachelors, etc, etc... I heard that only 30% of people will get fixed wing, and the other 70% will get either helo or turbo-prop. Which leads me to think, should I risk it? Or do I have to risk it? If I got helo or turbo-prop, could I work for a major airline as a pilot when I got out 8 years later? Also, how would you even transfer from military to major? Or do you have to go Military -> Regional -> Major? Hmm...

For a little background info, I am currently working a part-time job, and plan on attending my local community college for 2 years, and then will transfer to an in-state college (Virginia) to complete my bachelors degree in most likely, Computer Science.

If you read all of this, thank you. I rambled a lot, and asked a lot of questions throughout. I hope that you can help me to the best of your ability, I would really appreciate it. I just really need some advice on how to get from where I am now, to a seat inside the cockpit of a major airline.

Thanks again,
Tristan

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

I looked at Dowling, too. Not a bad college, and it was close to family (grandma's in Long Island, rest of the fam's upstate), but I wound up going to Embry-Riddle. Like you said, crazy expensive, don't go there unless you're on a full-ride scholarship for ROTC. I'd also recommend considering UND (North Dakota), they have a pretty good program sans the Riddle price tag (and, let's be honest, sans the Riddle smugness/entitled-ness). Purdue wouldn't be awful, another one that popped up on my search but I didn't want a big state college.
I can't speak much on Marine accession programs...or ROTC...or military-to-civilian transition. So I'll keep it short. Don't let people know that you're only going into the military to build hours, or that one of your biggest motivations to join is to build hours, however you want to put it. I know where you're coming from, I wanted to go airlines until I saw what was in store at the regionals, especially with the 1500-hour rule coming out. It's gotta be tough working your way up like that. But doing it through the military is another story. Starting pay and benefits are better, but you get sent all over the place for training. I went from my home in Albany to Newport (OCS) to Pensacola (API) to Corpus Christi (Primary) in less than a year. And Marine training will look a lot like that, although I don't know much about their OCS/PLC/TBS/etc, but they join us in the pipeline starting in P'cola. And all that's before you even select a platform, let alone an aircraft. On top of all this, you have to be prepared that things might not work out the way you hoped. If you get all the way to the end of Primary and then wind up getting helicopters, your hopes of building hours towards the airlines pretty much end there.
All that aside, it's not farfetched to want to have a military career and transition to an airline career, people do it all the time. There's a thread around here on exactly that topic, although it may be in the private forum, but this site's webmaster announced that he's starting at American Airlines. If you decide to go that route, just remember that it might not be as cut-and-dried as it seems now. There are a lot of variables between now and your goal. Semper Gumby (always flexible).

 

[LFCFan]

First, congrats on being a high schooler that gets on AW that can actually write. This will always make a good impression.

I'll let the winged Devil Dogs answer most of your questions, but one often overlooked question is this: what branch would you want do be in if aviation didn't work out? What branch has the most appealing ground jobs when you are on non-flying tours? It's good that you are planning ahead, but this path doesn't work out for everyone and you've gotta know what you want to do for plan B in the military, as you may not be able to just walk away.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

First, congrats on being a high schooler that gets on AW that can actually write. This will always make a good impression.

Agreed, very well-written. I should've also added that no matter what you do, work your ass off in college, higher GPA leads to better options, including a more competitive pilot application to any of the military branches.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

advice that you can't go wrong with, work hard in school and get a great GPA, getting a degree fast but with a bad GPA won't be what you need so if you need to take a little more time to do well, then do it.

 

[nittany03]

I once was in your shoes. Start from the beginning. I can't speak to the airlines because I've never done that. I can speak to getting commissioned and getting winged. Baby steps, my friend; baby steps. If you can get to a school that offers an NROTC scholarship or to a service academy, do it. The majority of aviation slots come from there. OCS just fills in the gaps for those institutions when they can't meet the demand. I will defer to the Marines here, but I do know that once you are accepted to be commissioned, it is possible to be an "air contract" vs a "ground contract." If you go OCS for the Navy, you will be selected for your given designator, i.e. SNA or SNFO before you ship. If you are NROTC or USNA, you will compete for it as an upperclass. My druthers? Go NROTC if at all possible. Best of both worlds. Until then? Do good in school, and pick a STEM major in college. Navy at least is big on that lately. Don't worry about platform selection; there's plenty of time to talk about that later, and what is true for the kids now is not going to be true for you.

I would say that if you do get picked up, any flight training you can get on your own dime can only help. The more, the better. Where people get in trouble in flight school is where the instructor tells them "do X" and they come back with "well, as a private pilot, I did 'Y.'' Kiss your ass goodbye. But if you get some time in a civilian plane, and then STFU and do things the Navy way in Primary, you will have a leg up, but only so far. I got jets out of Primary because I had a PPL on my own dime and lived in the Q so I could live in the sim. In T-45 Advanced, my partner in ACM and low-levels had flown bizjets as a commercial pilot. He did better than me in the first half of training, which was more conducive to his past. I did better than him at the second half (ACM, bombing, etc.), and had better boat grades. We both got Prowlers. He figured the Prowler out fast, and got an EA-18 transition after his fleet tour. I couldn't figure the Prowler out, washed out for stick and rudder skills, but ended up as an NFO because I knew the tactics and studied. As you get further along, the pool shrinks, and the "average" skill level you are competing with gets pretty damn high. Just a thought.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

Nittany, when it comes to stick time, does any amount of time (i.e. 10 hours) make a difference, or does it really only help if you go all the way and get a PPL?

 

[Gatordev]

Nittany, when it comes to stick time, does any amount of time (i.e. 10 hours) make a difference, or does it really only help if you go all the way and get a PPL?

This gets rehashed on here all the time, so you'll probably find more detail in another thread, but 10 hours won't really matter. Everyone who goes through Primary has at least that on day one due to IFS, and it doesn't make or break people either way. I've flown with SNAs that had time and they weren't great, others that had time and were very good, and lots of SNAs who had no time (other than IFS) and were stellar.

The basic law of prior flight time is this: If you have a good amount of time, it may very well help...unless it doesn't. If you have no prior flight time, it may not matter.

 

[Tristan_Realest]

I looked at Dowling, too. Not a bad college, and it was close to family (grandma's in Long Island, rest of the fam's upstate), but I wound up going to Embry-Riddle. Like you said, crazy expensive, don't go there unless you're on a full-ride scholarship for ROTC. I'd also recommend considering UND (North Dakota), they have a pretty good program sans the Riddle price tag (and, let's be honest, sans the Riddle smugness/entitled-ness). Purdue wouldn't be awful, another one that popped up on my search but I didn't want a big state college.
I can't speak much on Marine accession programs...or ROTC...or military-to-civilian transition. So I'll keep it short. Don't let people know that you're only going into the military to build hours, or that one of your biggest motivations to join is to build hours, however you want to put it. I know where you're coming from, I wanted to go airlines until I saw what was in store at the regionals, especially with the 1500-hour rule coming out. It's gotta be tough working your way up like that. But doing it through the military is another story. Starting pay and benefits are better, but you get sent all over the place for training. I went from my home in Albany to Newport (OCS) to Pensacola (API) to Corpus Christi (Primary) in less than a year. And Marine training will look a lot like that, although I don't know much about their OCS/PLC/TBS/etc, but they join us in the pipeline starting in P'cola. And all that's before you even select a platform, let alone an aircraft. On top of all this, you have to be prepared that things might not work out the way you hoped. If you get all the way to the end of Primary and then wind up getting helicopters, your hopes of building hours towards the airlines pretty much end there.
All that aside, it's not farfetched to want to have a military career and transition to an airline career, people do it all the time. There's a thread around here on exactly that topic, although it may be in the private forum, but this site's webmaster announced that he's starting at American Airlines. If you decide to go that route, just remember that it might not be as cut-and-dried as it seems now. There are a lot of variables between now and your goal. Semper Gumby (always flexible).

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated. I definitely won't let anyone know my plans on becoming an airline pilot afterwards. The plan is there, but I'm also looking forward to a military career (if possible). It should definitely offer a lot of travel, memories, camaraderie, and especially, training (if I get there). On the note of getting helicopters, that's kind of what I'm scared of. I've heard of people transitioning from military helo pilot to civilian airline pilot, but I'm not too sure how that would work.

 

[Tristan_Realest]

First, congrats on being a high schooler that gets on AW that can actually write. This will always make a good impression.

I'll let the winged Devil Dogs answer most of your questions, but one often overlooked question is this: what branch would you want do be in if aviation didn't work out? What branch has the most appealing ground jobs when you are on non-flying tours? It's good that you are planning ahead, but this path doesn't work out for everyone and you've gotta know what you want to do for plan B in the military, as you may not be able to just walk away.

Agreed, very well-written. I should've also added that no matter what you do, work your ass off in college, higher GPA leads to better options, including a more competitive pilot application to any of the military branches.

Haha, thanks. I'm pretty sure taking those AP English & Composition classes definitely helped me with my writing skills.

On the question if aviation didn't work out, I'd probably consider Marine Enlisted. I'd consider doing 4 years or so, getting my GI Bill, and then obtaining my degree in Computer Science afterwards. Would anyone recommend using my GI Bill at ERAU? Would it cover everything? Or is it horrible to get an aviation related degree? Thanks a lot.

 

[Tristan_Realest]

I once was in your shoes. Start from the beginning. I can't speak to the airlines because I've never done that. I can speak to getting commissioned and getting winged. Baby steps, my friend; baby steps. If you can get to a school that offers an NROTC scholarship or to a service academy, do it. The majority of aviation slots come from there. OCS just fills in the gaps for those institutions when they can't meet the demand. I will defer to the Marines here, but I do know that once you are accepted to be commissioned, it is possible to be an "air contract" vs a "ground contract." If you go OCS for the Navy, you will be selected for your given designator, i.e. SNA or SNFO before you ship. If you are NROTC or USNA, you will compete for it as an upperclass. My druthers? Go NROTC if at all possible. Best of both worlds. Until then? Do good in school, and pick a STEM major in college. Navy at least is big on that lately. Don't worry about platform selection; there's plenty of time to talk about that later, and what is true for the kids now is not going to be true for you.

I would say that if you do get picked up, any flight training you can get on your own dime can only help. The more, the better. Where people get in trouble in flight school is where the instructor tells them "do X" and they come back with "well, as a private pilot, I did 'Y.'' Kiss your ass goodbye. But if you get some time in a civilian plane, and then STFU and do things the Navy way in Primary, you will have a leg up, but only so far. I got jets out of Primary because I had a PPL on my own dime and lived in the Q so I could live in the sim. In T-45 Advanced, my partner in ACM and low-levels had flown bizjets as a commercial pilot. He did better than me in the first half of training, which was more conducive to his past. I did better than him at the second half (ACM, bombing, etc.), and had better boat grades. We both got Prowlers. He figured the Prowler out fast, and got an EA-18 transition after his fleet tour. I couldn't figure the Prowler out, washed out for stick and rudder skills, but ended up as an NFO because I knew the tactics and studied. As you get further along, the pool shrinks, and the "average" skill level you are competing with gets pretty damn high. Just a thought.

Wow, thanks for the in-depth advice! Just a question, if I somehow become a NFO, would I still be able to fly for the airlines? Or do I 100% need to be a pilot to have that chance?

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

Would anyone recommend using my GI Bill at ERAU? Would it cover everything? Or is it horrible to get an aviation related degree? Thanks a lot.

It wouldn't cover everything, there were a few vets in my classes when I was going through, and they were saying that the GI Bill definitely helped, but didn't cover everything. I would recommend leaning away from Aero Science/Aeronautics degrees and more towards Engineering degrees, since they'll be a lot more useful. The AeroSci degree is essentially just a way to get a 4-year degree alongside your civilian flight training to satisfy requirements for airline hiring. Stuff like weather classes, ATC, FAA regulations, 747 systems, etc. and not very useful for anything other than going from a civilian with no time to getting into the right seat of a regional airliner (after getting the 1500 hours, of course). I was an AeroSci major, and in retrospect, I would rather have picked almost anything else. If you already have flight training and time from flying military, I'd recommend either an engineering degree or an MBA. If you go enlisted and are looking to use the GI Bill to pay for flight training, I'd go somewhere other than ERAU, since your money will go further at, say, UND or Purdue or Dowling.

 

[Tristan_Realest]

It wouldn't cover everything, there were a few vets in my classes when I was going through, and they were saying that the GI Bill definitely helped, but didn't cover everything. I would recommend leaning away from Aero Science/Aeronautics degrees and more towards Engineering degrees, since they'll be a lot more useful. The AeroSci degree is essentially just a way to get a 4-year degree alongside your civilian flight training to satisfy requirements for airline hiring. Stuff like weather classes, ATC, FAA regulations, 747 systems, etc. and not very useful for anything other than going from a civilian with no time to getting into the right seat of a regional airliner (after getting the 1500 hours, of course). I was an AeroSci major, and in retrospect, I would rather have picked almost anything else. If you already have flight training and time from flying military, I'd recommend either an engineering degree or an MBA. If you go enlisted and are looking to use the GI Bill to pay for flight training, I'd go somewhere other than ERAU, since your money will go further at, say, UND or Purdue or Dowling.

Oh ok. Dowling would appeal to me since it's in the NYC area. Have you heard of Vaughn College in NYC? Are they any good? And as of now, I'd really like to get a Computer Science degree, would this be a good backup plan?

 

[Fallonflyr]

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated. I definitely won't let anyone know my plans on becoming an airline pilot afterwards. The plan is there, but I'm also looking forward to a military career (if possible). It should definitely offer a lot of travel, memories, camaraderie, and especially, training (if I get there). On the note of getting helicopters, that's kind of what I'm scared of. I've heard of people transitioning from military helo pilot to civilian airline pilot, but I'm not too sure how that would work.

I fly with plenty of guys that flew helo's in the military, it is very common. Many of them went to the VT's and built their fixed wing hours after their fleet tour. I have even flown with some guys that were NFO's but they had to get all their ratings thru the civilian route after they left active duty. NFO time does not count toward flight time but their experience and SA put them ahead of their civilian peers.

For now, you need to focus on your college. Join ROTC, go PLC or whatever, but the most important thing is to stay away from the drugs, go easy on the booze and use your head when it comes to social media. If you concentrate on doing the best you can at school, everything else can fall into place when the time comes...good luck.

 

[Tristan_Realest]

I fly with plenty of guys that flew helo's in the military, it is very common. Many of them went to the VT's and built their fixed wing hours after their fleet tour. I have even flown with some guys that were NFO's but they had to get all their ratings thru the civilian route after the left active duty. NFO time does not count toward flight time but their experience and SA put them ahead of their civilian peers.

For now, you need to focus on your college. Join ROTC, go PLC or whatever, but the most important thing is to stay away from the drugs, go easy on the booze and use your head when it comes to social media. If you concentrate on doing the best you can at school, everything else can fall into place when the time comes...good luck.

Are you an airline pilot?! And, if you don't mind me asking, what is the "VT's"? Thanks, I'd really like to go the PLC route if possible.