Veterans Now Eligible for 100% Full Funding for Approved Flight Training

Chapter 33 G.I. Bill-eligible veterans may now receive full tuition, full funding of flight training, and BAH if they are pursuing an aviation degree at a public institution.  Santa Fe College, in Gainesville FL offers an A.S. in Pilot Technology in partnership with University Air Center at Gainesville Regional Airport.  As a FAA Part 141 certified flight school, University Air Center flight training qualifies under G.I. Bill benefits.  Santa Fe College is a public degree-granting institution that also qualifies. Besides earning the requisite academic credits for the degree, students will receive their private pilot license, instrument and multiengine ratings to include approximately 120 flight hours. Veterans wishing further information should contact the Program Advisor, Louis Kalivoda or Faculty Member George Mazzeo.

Contact Information:

Louis Kalivoda, Aviation Science Program Advisor:

352-271-2925   louis.kalivoda@sfcollege.edu

George Mazzeo, Aviation Faculty:

352-395-4472   george.mazzeo@sfcollege.edu

Santa Fe College Office of Veterans Affairs:

352-395-5505   veterans@sfcollege.edu

Now is an Excellent Time to Start Flight Training

Here’s an excellent article with the referencing link.  This is a great time to be starting your flight training.

By Paul Templeton on May 12, 2009 2:12 PM

On December 13th, 2007 then President Bush signed the law that allowed the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to be raised from 60 to 65. That means that in only two years we will begin to see the impact that pushing all of those retirements back 5 years will have on the airline industry. Retirements Since the new law went into effect, there has been an average of 2000 airline pilots retiring per year who were not forced to retire due to their age, according to airline consultant Kit Darby. Some have retired for medical reasons, some have been let go and the remainder have retired for a variety of other reasons. Beginning in the year 2012, the number of pilots who will have to retire because they have reached the age of 65 will begin to swell the number of those retiring for other reasons. Soon the number of airline pilots retiring each year will increase dramatically and there are not enough pilots currently in training to replace them. According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association GAMA, there has been an average of 9,130 new Commercial Certificates (which you must have to operate an aircraft for compensation) issued to pilots annually over the last 6 years. Foreign airlines have been booming for the last few years, and these foreign airlines have been sending their people to the U.S for flight training in large numbers. As a result, a significant portion of those afore mentioned Commercial Certificates have been earned by foreign students who have no intention of working for an airline in the United States. In addition, a portion of these new Commercial Certificate holders staying in the U.S. will go to work for Freight Operations, Part 135 On-demand Charter Operations, Corporate Flight Departments and work as Certified Flight Instructors. In order for a pilot to be a Captain for an airline, they have to earn an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certificate. If you compare the number of new Commercial Certificates (9130) to the average number of new ATP Certificates (4775) issued over the same time frame, you can see the approximate number of Commercial Pilots who will go on to be Captains in the airline industry. Compare this number then to the retirement figures in the graph above and you can see an impending pilot shortage. Add to this increased demand for pilots the 5% growth the FAA, Boeing and Airbus have forecast the airline industry to undergo through the year 2026. In order to meet the demand for pilots in the growing airline industry, 19,000 new pilots will need to be trained each year until 2026. Flight schools in the U.S. have recently been training around 16,000 pilots annually, but there are only about 9000 pilots who are training this year due to the recession and its affect on financing flight training. We are seeing a perfect storm of a pilot shortage developing for the airline industry.

Here’s the link:

http://www.pilotjobs.com/2009/05/age-65-retirements-begin-soon-how-will-that-affect-the-airline-business.html

Check us out:       http://dept.sfcollege.edu/ips/aviation/

Future Pilot Hiring…Is there a Pilot Shortage Coming?

From:

http://www.regionalpilotjobs.com/

When Will the Regional Airlines Hire Again? Over the past decade, several events have created the perfect storm for the airline industry’s financial health, and as a result, pilot hiring and aviation employment in general, has trickled to a near stop. 9/11, the surge in fuel prices, the age 65 rule, and an economic recession have all lined up, nearly at the same time, leaving pilots stuck in their present positions, and for some, furloughed or laid off completely. That is the bad news. The good news is that nothing is permanent, especially in the ever-changing airline industry. All of the issues above are troughs, not bottomless pits, in the cyclical nature of regional airline pilot employment. While there are no completely accurate ways to predict the future of the airlines, we can look at each of those issues and get a general idea when the pilot employment lines will start to move again.

9/11

9/11 was, without a doubt, the single-worst event that the airline industry has had to overcome. Aside from the terrible, personal tragedy, the demand for airline service dropped drastically overnight as the flying public gave in to fear and avoided air travel for a significant period of time. That led to drastic economic losses for the airlines, which in turn, led to huge wage concessions by the pilots. The aftershocks of 9/11 are still being felt by pilots today because wages have yet to return (and may never return) to their pre-9/11 levels. With regard to pilot employment, this issue has had a significant effect on pilot starts. Fewer people are willing to incur the expense and time it takes to become a professional pilot because the monetary return on that investment has decreased significantly compared to what it was in the late 1990’s. When the airlines begin hiring again, and they will begin hiring again, the number of pilots that the airlines will have to choose from will be significantly lower than it would have been, had 9/11 never happened.

Surge in Fuel Prices

Fuel and labor are the two biggest expenses for an airline. The fuel surge in 2007 and 2008 caused massive losses for the airlines. As a result, pilots again took wage concessions, and that further added to the issue of fewer pilot starts. In addition to the decrease in pilot wages, it costs much more to learn to fly than it did back in the 1990’s, largely due to fuel prices. In the early 1990’s, renting a Cessna 152 cost about $40 per hour wet. It is roughly double that today. Bottom line – more expense training costs means fewer pilot starts, which likewise means a bigger pilot shortage in the future.

Economic Recession

Like a mere raft on a vast ocean, the airline business will always surf the waves of the economy. As the economy swells, so does demand for air travel. When those swells subside, the result is a decrease in capacity throughout the airline industry, which adds to the number of furloughed pilots and pilots waiting in the employment lines for an airline job. The Fed is forecasting the economy to exit the recession sometime in 2009. This will signify the beginning of a new economic wave, and pilots can expect airline growth as demand for air travel increases because families begin traveling for vacations again and business travelers once again travel for meetings.

The Age 65 Rule

 Each issue above has been a body-blow to pilot employment this decade, but the knockout punch was the change to the age 65 rule for mandatory pilot retirements. The controversial change from the age 60 rule to the age 65 rule demolished aviation hiring for 4 to 5 years. The retirement numbers that were forecast for the major airlines when the mandatory pilot retirement age was 60, will remain a fraction of those numbers until about 2013. Pilot hiring at the regional airlines is largely defendant on pilot hiring at the major airlines, because experienced regional airline pilots get hired by major airlines, leaving vacancies behind. Pilot hiring will recover from the age 65 rule. Furthermore, the airlines will not wait to hire pilots at the moment they are needed. They need time to train pilots so they are not severely understaffed as the retiring pilots exit the airline industry. Airlines may spool up hiring up to a year in advance of their actual need for pilots. An effect of the age 65 rule that people may not be considering is that the number of annual retiring pilots around the year 2013 and beyond, will exceed the number annual retiring pilots that occurred before change to the age 65 rule. Why? Because more pilots will retire (and to be blunt, die) between the ages of 60 and 65 than they did between 55 and 60.

What does all of this mean?

It means that a future pilot shortage is not a myth. Assuming something completely unpredictable doesn’t affect the airline industry again, a drastic surge in pilot hiring is likely be seen in 2011, give or take a year.

 

Check us out:  

Check us out:  cisit.sfcollege.edu/ips/aviation

How do I get a medical certificate?

To fly as a licensed pilot or even as a student, you must possess a medical certificate issued by an FAA approved aviation medical examiner (AME).  The physicals are designated by “class.”  Class 3 is fine for private flying and Class 2 is good for some commercial applications.  Class 1 is required to fly as Captain on a scheduled airline.  To find an AME near you, check out this site:

http://www.faa.gov/licensecertificates/medical_certification/get/

.

Check us out:  cisit.sfcollege.edu/ips/aviation

Can a flight simulator save me money? How much simulator time may be substituted for actual flight time?

Certain FAA certified flight simulators can be used to substitute for actual flight time.  The degree of substitution is determined by the rating being pursued.  For instance 2.5 hours against the 40 hour minimum for a private license, 20 hours against the additional 40 hours required for an instrument rating, and 25 hours against the 250 hours required for a commercial rating.  Since many simulators rent for $100 an hour below the cost of aircraft flight hours the savings can be in thousands…do the math!

 

 

Check us out:  cisit.sfcollege.edu/ips/aviation

How much does an airline pilot make? What is an airline pilot’s salary?

According to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), their average major airline member Captain is 50 years old, with 18 years seniority and makes $182,000 a year. A non-major airline Captain is 41 years old with 10 years of seniority and makes $70,000 a year. The average ALPA First Officer member at a major airline is 43 years old with 10 years of seniority and makes $121,000 per year, while an ALPA non major First Officer is age 35 with 3 years of service and makes $33,000.

A major airline is a carrier with more than a billion in sales annually. American, Delta, Northwest, United, Continental, US Airways, Southwest, Alaska, etc.

 

Remember, these are just averages.  Some make much more, some less.

Check us out:  http://cisit.sfcollege.edu/ips/aviation/

How much flight time and what ratings do I need to be an airline pilot?

The answer depends on the type of airline and a number of other factors.  For current info, check out this site:

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/

 

Check us out:  cisit.sfcc.edu/ips/aviation/ 

I want to be an airline pilot…how do I pay for the flight training?

Here’s the key to keeping your flying expenses as low as possible (and that’s a relative term)…get somebody else to pay you to fly.  It’s pretty hard to avoid the initial costs of logging your requisite flight hours; you’ll have to finance your private, instrument, multi-engine, and commercial ratings.  That’s a minimum of 250 hours.  Once you get that commercial ticket, you can legally fly for hire.  Realistically, it will be hard to find anyone who will hire you with that few hours, but depending on circumstances, not impossible.  The key to the commercial certificate is that it qualifies you to pursue your CFI (flight instructor rating).  That accounts for 300 of the 1500 hours required for the airline transport rating (ATP) you’ll need to compete at a major airline.  The goal is to get someone else to pay for the next 1200 hours.

 

The CFI will allow you to fairly easily find work with a flight school.  You won’t get rich doing this, but that’s not the point.  You will be logging flight time, but not on your dime.

 

With any luck you can graduate to charter work.  It’s all about building those hours!

 

Check us out:  cisit.sfcc.edu/ips/aviation/ 

 

What is the civilian route to becoming an airline pilot?

Up to this point we have been discussing the military option to becoming a professional pilot.  How about the civilian option? The fact is that currently up to 70% of airline hires are coming not from the military, but from the civilian ranks.  This is primarily because the military services, in response to budget constraints, began reducing their aircraft inventories and therefore reducing their requirement for pilots.  This meant that for years the pilot production at military pilot training bases has been declining.  There are simply less military trained pilots around.

 

The advantage of going the civilian route is that you do not incur the service commitments associated with military training which average 10-11 years.  The bad news is that you have to find a way to finance the flying time to make yourself competitive.  Let’s just say that an airline transport rating (ATP) is the entering argument to be competitive at a major airline.  That requires a minimum of 1500 flying hours.  Were you to finance that completely on your own, the costs would be prohibitive. 

 

So, what is a workable (meaning reasonably affordable) strategy to get there?

 

More on that next time…

 

Check us out:  cisit.sfcc.edu/ips/aviation/ 

 

 

What is my commitment after Air Force or Navy Pilot Training?

If you decide to go the military pilot training route, you will incur a substantial service commitment.  The government needs to recoup its multi-million dollar investment in you. 

 For the Air Force it is 10 years after receiving your wings.  Since pilot training is about a year, it will be 11 years until you come out the other end.

The Navy’s commitment is 8 years after receiving your wings.  Since this process can take up to 2 years, figure about 10 years until you can pursue a civilian flying career

 

Check us out:  cisit.sfcc.edu/ips/aviation/