Hello all, my name is Raegan and I am considering a career change from EMT to a Commercial Airline Pilot (Hopefully!) I am working towards a degree in Hospitality Management and will graduate this time next year. I have zero experience with flying (a ton as a passenger) and was wondering the best way to break into this business. Thank you for your time!
Reagan,
Welcome tot the forums and thanks for posting! My brother used to be an EMT, so I have some understanding of how challenging a job that can be.
I completely agree with Eric that an introductory flight is the best way to get started. In the immediate future, take a good look around this forum and check out other people’s posts, along with the “Flying the Line” stories. There is a lot of information on this site about what the job is actually like and how we all got here. Perhaps most importantly ask us your questions, we are here to help in any way we can.
In simple terms, if you want to be an airline pilot you will need to get all of the licenses that are offered in the Airline Career Pilot Program as these are what the FAA requires. From there you will need to get up to 1,500 hours of flight time to be hired by an airline, which most people do via flight instructing.
Chris
Reagan,
INTRO FLIGHT, INTRO FLIGHT and did I mention INTRO FLIGHT! Chris and Eric are warmer and fuzzier than me on this one and I hope I don’t sound too harsh BUT the fact is Reagan you kind of answered your own question. You say you have “zero experience with flying” so before you spend another second thinking about a career in aviation I really think you need/should/must give it a try. Chances are you’ll love it, but many people don’t and some absolutely hate it. The fact is you won’t know for certain until you try it for yourself soooooo…
Adam