I am currently thinking about becoming a commericial pilot as a career. I am currently in graduate school, and I'm starting to switch in this direction. I know the majors are cutting back, but is becoming a commecial pilot a bad idea?
2006-10-02 12:09:11 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
It's a tough field to break into. They prefer to hire pilots straight out of the military.
But then with the majors cutting back (and that's a kind way to put it) there is plenty of room for low cost smaller carriers, but the low cost means lower salaries. If you're still in a position where you have other opportunities, you might consider flying a plane as a hobby, not a career.
2006-10-02 12:16:40 · answer #1 · answered by ratboy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Commercial Pilots is a pretty good license to becoming a pilot. Yearly you can make about 20K - 35K a year, maybe a little less. ATP (an airline transporter) can make up to 80K - 250K depending the plane you drive and your rank (i.e. co-pilot, pilot-captain). And there are some cases which say that military graduates have a higher chance in getting hired for Airlines, but commercial you don't have to be a military graduate. However, if you think about getting your ATP in the near future, military air force graduates are getting fewer and fewer and in the past couple of years civilian pilots are 65% of the pilots.
Hope this helped and happy flying!!
2006-10-04 20:46:44 · answer #2 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being an airline pilot is a good career if you love flying. If you want to be a pilot for the money and lifestyle, look at another career.
The major carriers are no longer hiring the majority of their pilots from the military, that was certainly true in the past, but now the military is producing fewer pilots, they have longer service commitments (ten years in the Air Force), and better incentives to stay in for a full twenty years before retirement.
2006-10-02 23:55:03 · answer #3 · answered by Ghmorris6348D 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a great profession! However you may have a lot of trouble getting a good paying job (like the airlines). A major percentage of the airline pilots are ex military pilots with thousands of hours in jet aircraft. They are pretty hard to compete with.
If you can get a good job as pilot of company aircraft, you can still do well! However you will probably have to double as a company employee in some capacity within the opeartion .
I have a commercial rating in prop driven aircraft, and have never flown for hire yet. I did it to make sure I had the profoiciency to fly safely no matter what came up ( barring catastrophe)!
2006-10-02 23:30:50 · answer #4 · answered by guess78624 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes of course this is a great idea.
there are so many othre places you can fly besides
the big comercial airlines it isn,t even funny.
first of all emery-ups-purolater-fed-ex
all have huge fleets of aircraft that never have been
or will be effected by 9-11.and so do alot of the
smaller package delivery places.
second there are all kinds of places to fly in the middle east and egypt due to thier religous beliefs.
a good friend of mine was a pilot in egypt for over
20 yrs,he was paid huge bucks-his room and board were paid for,so was his travel too and from the airports,he was given a new mercedes benz as incentive to go there,he had a maid that cooked all his meals and did all his wash,
3rd there are so many other places they need pilots
air ambulance-water bombers for firefighting,private jets,the king of gabon has a fleet of planes and hires mostly american pilots,There will always be room for big time pilots and thier proffession,
but it takes like 8-10 yrs of schooling and thousands of hours flying to be a good one.
2006-10-03 11:08:04 · answer #5 · answered by rottentothecore 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you would have to define good. Do you mean money, fun, adventure, security?
Fun= flying in the bush
Money=Airlines, but boring flying
Adventure=Bush
Security=None of the above (but the airlines would come closest to being the best.) That is until they computerize the aircraft and move down to one pilot
2006-10-03 13:41:16 · answer #6 · answered by walt554 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I too am wanting to fly commercial but can't for health reasons. I know that it isn't like it used to be, and they will hire more civilian now. I know a 19 yr old working for a commuter company and she loves it.
2006-10-03 05:07:45 · answer #7 · answered by shawn f 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I THINK ITS GREAT TO BE A PILOT. ITS LIKE U BIENG IN THE AIR 24 HOURS. BUT THERE IS A RISK OF GETTING KILLED BY TERRIST OR BY SOME ACCIDENTS.
2006-10-03 13:50:59 · answer #8 · answered by Tim 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋