Flight school is outrageously expensive, and once you have your commercial certification, you almost always start out as a flight instructor making too little to handle the loans.
I went to a technical college for commercial flight training. I got as far as getting my private pilot cert and a multi-engine endorsement, then did an entire IFR course in the simulator… And then I was denied for any more loans to continue the training, so I went like $70k in debt towards a job I could never have.
Not that I was thrilled about the idea of being a flight instructor, either. I don’t have the patience for that…
They gotta figure out a way to make it actually affordable or attainable, without needing to join the military and all the bullshit that comes with that.
Isn’t it sort of a walled garden that way, an industry captured by and protected by this large barrier to entry which ensures a supply of jobs to those to ex-military pilots? Seems to happen in a lot of industries, artificially limiting supply to protect a pre existing privilege. Or am I just imagining things, I’m not familiar with the aviation industry.
> They gotta figure out a way to make it actually affordable or attainable, without needing to join the military and all the bullshit that comes with that.
The normal way this works is zero-interest federally-back student loans with a path to forgiveness via public service.
For pilots, perhaps include working as a pilot for (n) years means forgiveness.
Flight school is outrageously expensive, and once you have your commercial certification, you almost always start out as a flight instructor making too little to handle the loans.
I went to a technical college for commercial flight training. I got as far as getting my private pilot cert and a multi-engine endorsement, then did an entire IFR course in the simulator… And then I was denied for any more loans to continue the training, so I went like $70k in debt towards a job I could never have.
Not that I was thrilled about the idea of being a flight instructor, either. I don’t have the patience for that…
They gotta figure out a way to make it actually affordable or attainable, without needing to join the military and all the bullshit that comes with that.
Isn’t it sort of a walled garden that way, an industry captured by and protected by this large barrier to entry which ensures a supply of jobs to those to ex-military pilots? Seems to happen in a lot of industries, artificially limiting supply to protect a pre existing privilege. Or am I just imagining things, I’m not familiar with the aviation industry.
> They gotta figure out a way to make it actually affordable or attainable, without needing to join the military and all the bullshit that comes with that.
The normal way this works is zero-interest federally-back student loans with a path to forgiveness via public service.
For pilots, perhaps include working as a pilot for (n) years means forgiveness.