becoming a pilot

[james28]

i've wanted to become a pilot the whole of my life and i haven't been able to find a suitable and reasonable way to do so. when i say become a pilot, i mean as a career. not something to do as a hobby or from time to time. the thing is, most companies want their pilots to have at least 1000+ hours of experience at a minimum before even thinking about taking them on. where i live, to rent an r22 for 1 hour it costs about $230. do the math, it's scary. getting your private and commercial rating is reasonable, but still plenty expensive. about 30-40 grand at my local school. but that's no where near enough hours to get a job. how do you get the hours in? join the military? also, does anyone know what it takes to become a military helo pilot? thanks a lot.

[DebosDave]

The most common "time building" position is to be a flight instructor. I would say it has to be over 90% of professional pilots (those who fly for a living) built their time as an instructor. To get an instructor job, you usually need 200 hours or a little more. This should be nearly accomplished by the time you train from Private to CFI.

 

Dave

[mechanic]

Hello james28,

 

If 28 is your age? You are too old for the USAF. I am not sure about the others. All but the Army require a BS degree, you go to OCS first, and then you go to flight school. Could be up to 2.5 yrs before you are a rated pilot, not counting college if you don' t have a 4 yr degree.

 

The Army has 3 ways to be a pilot.

1. Go officer, need a degree or I think at least 90 hrs min.

2. Civilian to Warrant, hardest way.

3. Army enlisted to Warrant, this is the most common way to be a Warrant.

Either way you need to be less than 33 yr old to not need a waiver and decent eyesite. Some eye problems can get waivers I hear.

 

 

Check out these links.

MOS 153A

Warrant Recruiting Homepage, go to the Warrant Quick links in the middle of the page and select Civilian WOFT Applicants.

 

Good Luck...

Edited December 13, 2006 by mechanic