So you want to be an Airline Pilot
I've been in the advertising business and have also been a pilot. Mary Wells was wrong, she was the head of a trendy New York advertising agency and once said... "advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on."
True, advertising is fun, but compared to flying, advertising is just a little snuggle. I am often asked by dads and sometimes young guys, what do you have to do to become a pilot? The journey can be a tough one. You have to get through lots of tests and ratings and frankly, you have to have some "luck."I never thought I had much luck when I was zooming through the air but looking back, I had my share.
I came out of the "general aviation" ranks. That means I went out to the airport, paid the nice folks $25 for a test flight, and $10,000 later, I was in the front end of a Learjet. Trust me, I got lucky. I had no business being in the front end of a Learjet at that time in my career.
Baby Pilot, one of my dearest friends, went to school to become a pilot...a pilot college if you will. He went about it just like you would got about becoming a teacher or a business person. He went to class and his "labs" were in the air. He is zooming around the skies in a 747 somewhere and was one of the youngest guys to ever become a "left seat" driver. (Left seat is the captain. Right seat is the copilot. Sideways is the flight engineer. Not all planes have engineers anymore. There role has been replaced by computers and demands by airlines to cut cost by cutting the engineer.)BP went to Emery-Riddle Aviation University.
There is no guarantee you will get that cushy airline job just because you went to an aviation university! Aviation is also a brutal lover. It's about supply and demand and standards are very high. It's a popular career, too. If you want to check, just ask 5 of your friend if they would like to know how to fly a plane? Then ask the same group if they would like to become a bridge designer. You'll get the idea.
The government is the biggest supplier of pilots. The Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines turn out tons of them and these pilots are popular with the airlines. Delta loves them! So, if you want to be a pilot and serve your country, why not check out the services? Most of the service pilots will come out of the officer corp so you should check into the service academies and use some congressional pull to help get you in.
Frankly, "pull" is another big part of aviation. You'll need some. Make pilot friends. Got to the airport and say hello. You also have to be healthy. In fact, everything revolves around you being healthy. A pilot's license is good for life but you have to have a current medical certificate before you can get in a plane and fly it.
There are three medical classes. Third Class Medical. Your heart is beating. You can hear fairly well. You can see. Get this and you can fly but not "for hire."
In other words, you can fly but not be paid for it-no career potential. The certificate is good for three years and you have to be examined by a doctor certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Second Class Medical. This one is a little more complex. It's usually reserved for pilots who get paid to fly but who are not airline captains. It's good for one year.
First Class Medical. Any pilot sitting in the left front of a commercial airliner has to have this medical certificate. It's a much more complex exam and is only good for six months.
So, if you are wondering what it will take to become an airline pilot, here's a great place to start. Find an approved FAA doctor-the pilots at the airport can help you with that or ask your family doctor-and get a first class medical exam. If you pass, you have a shot at it. If you don't pass, get passionate about something else and save yourself tons of money! Plus, you get a cheap physical!
On to the business of learning how to fly. Category. Class. Type. Those are important words to the FED's and you!
It's how the FED's sort things out and see who is qualified to fly what. Category refers to stuff in the air...airship, balloon yada.
Class refers to single engine and multi-engine with ratings such as the instrument rating. Type refers to the type of airplane.
If an airplane is over 12,500 pounds in weight, you need an airplane type rating to fly it. In other words, you need a type rating to fly a 737 but that rating will not let you fly a 747 or a Learjet.
The FED's, or pilots they appoint, check you out to make sure you can fly that equipment. That "test" is called a check-ride. Today, most check-rides are given in simulators at the airline level and in the airplane at the little plane level. So, to sum up so far, in order to be a pilot, you will need:1. A current medical certificate.2. Rated for the category, class, and type of plane you want to fly.
Congrats! You can fly on nice sunny days! But what happens if it is cloudy and foggy? Well, you will need an "instrument rating." You will have to learn how to fly using the information presented to you in the airplane without any benefit of outside "clues" such as where the sky is and where the ground is. Ground school, flight training and check-ride required. This rating makes a pilot a pilot.
Now you have:1. A current medical certificate.2. Rated for the category, class, and type of plane you want to fly.3. An instrument rating.
Pretty big stuff! Now do you want to make a living at it? Well if you do, you will need a commercial pilot rating. The FED's want to know if you can fly the plane with smooth precision. That's import if you don't want to spill your coffee. Flight training and Check-ride required.Now you have:1. A current medical certificate.2. Rated for the category, class, and type of plane you want to fly.3. An instrument rating.4. A commercial rating.
Plenty neat. Now you really are hot stuff. You can fly a single engine land plane in the clouds smoothly and be paid for it. But how many single engine airliners are there? The FED's want to see more from you! It's called a multi-engine rating. Can you safely fly something with one or more motors going or one of those motors not going? Flight training and check-ride required.
Now you have:1. A current medical certificate.2. Rated for the category, class, and type of plane you want to fly.3. An instrument rating.4. A commercial rating.5. Multi-engine rating.
Gimme the damn plane time? Nope. Now comes the toughest test of all and the FED's have nothing to do with it. The insurance companies call this one.
They want to see some experience before you go zooming off into the clouds and pay-for-play skies. 1,500 hours of flying experience would be dandy! Do the math for this one. Training can take up about 300 hours @ $130 an hour. 700 more dinkin' around in the sky @ $75 an hour. 500 hours @ $150 + depending on the twin and you have some pretty good experience. You are not going to come out of flying school all ready for the airlines or insurable to fly a corporate airplane.You have to "earn your wings." And that means back to the ratings. Pilots teach other pilots how to fly and it is often the pilots with the least experience that are the teachers. They are "building time" to reach that all important 1,500 mark so they get more training and become a "certified flight instructor." That will allow them to teach new pilots how to fly on sunny days. Get an "instrument instructor" rating and you can teach them how to fly in clouds. Get a "multi-instructor" and you can teach them how to fly multi engine airplanes. Get the picture? Can you log the time sitting in the RIGHT seat and nagging a young pilot in the left seat like an ex-wife at a son's wedding?
Last but not least, the ATP or Airline Transport Rating. You need 1,500 hours of experience to get this one. It's the master's degree of aviation and that will help you get a better job. Hopefully, you will, but always remember that first test. There are a lot of pilots out there and as fuel prices go up and airlines merge and fold, the number of jobs is getting tighter. It's a tough business. It demands perfection.
That's a lot of work to become a pilot isn't it. Is there another way, you ask? Sure. Join the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, or the Marines and hope you have the health to become a military pilot. They will take it from there.
Even with a tough road ahead and no guarantees, it's still the most fun you can have with your clothes on!
