An Office With A View: Commercial Pilot
Gary Bradshaw
Being a commercial pilot is not as hard as you might think, and
the demand for pilot’s due to the growth of regional airlines
and corporate aviation travel is making this a great aviation
opportunity. And the demand for aviation education focused
flight instructors is about to get very good.
Until I visited my local airport and just started hanging
around, I never knew that this was something I could do
someday. And even more important was that by working at
something that was fun I actually enjoyed studying and looked
forward to every day.
To me there is something really special about learning to fly
and being a student pilot was the most special time of my life.
What I was looking for was a new mountain to climb and something
that would make me feel good about my life, and I found it in
aviation training. So much so that instead of going to an
airline career as a pilot, my goal was to be a flight
instructor and help other people change their lives and reach
new goals.
When I first thought about a career in aviation the price
really scared me away as a flight education was expensive, at
least to me. However with the student loans that are available
and the fact that flying lessons were just so much fun it all
started to make sense.
In order to look into the idea of being a commercial pilot
there are some things you will need to research however there
are over 1200 flight schools that can help you. So what’s the
first step? Well the first step is to learn some terms.
Student Pilot
A pilot that is learning how to fly, at the stage in your
aviation training you fly with a flight instructor until you
are skilled enough to fly on your own. Usually in 15-20 hours.
After about 65 hours then you become a Private Pilot.
Private Pilot
This means that you can fly with passengers and go places. The
great thing about being a private pilot is that “the world will
become a smaller place” as my first flight instructor told me.
To become a Private pilot it will cost anywhere from $4500 to
$9000.
Instrument Rating
The instrument rating will allow you to fly in the clouds and
when visibility is not that good. The instrument rating will
cost about $4000 to $5000.
Commercial Pilot
This takes the most time and cost the most money. You will need
some specialized training and it will cost about $10,000,
however there are many ways to reduce this cost to make it much
more affordable. In fact a great deal more.
What now? Now that you are a Commercial Pilot you will need to
build some experience and most people do this by becoming a
Flight Instructor and teaching others how to fly. Not only will
you make money while you learn more, but you will have so much
fun.
Commercial pilots start at about $18,000 per year then rapidly
rise to $60,000 and then up to $100,000. This depends on many
factors. Notice I keep saying “it depends” – there are many
options and variables on the road to being an airline pilot. In
fact I tell people at my Learn to Fly seminars that the hardest
part of learning to fly is trying to figure out how the process
works!
Visit your local airport and flight school to learn more, it
truly a career that will make a difference in your life.
About The Author: Gary Bradshaw is a Commercial Pilot, Flight
Instructor that has earned the FAA’s “Gold Seal” for flight
training success. He speaks around the country at flight
schools on flight training. In his spare time he runs one of
the largest aviation websites on the internet at
http://www.pilotjourney.com
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