Switching Careers

Posted by longliveprada@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 29 comments

Hello everyone, I’m looking for advice. I have decided at the young of 30 in a corporate job to swap into a career that I should’ve done a long time ago. Always wanted to be a pilot, but never committed and never started. The problem is, I’m seeing how expensive it is. I have only been doing research for the better part of 2 days. I just want to ask if any of these options are viable and cost effective. Option 1: Take out a big loan, take the accelerated program and hope to get a decent job, if not an airline job, right after the program. Option 2: Do all the basics, get 250 and then get a job as a banner tower or pipeline inspector and build my hours that way. Option 3: Do all the base licencies at a local school then move into an accelerated program to lower the cost. Option 4: Give up since I don’t have any where near that much money if I give up my corporate job to dedicate the time to lessons and flights.

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29 Comments

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sudo_vi@reddit

Go to a Part 61 school and pay as you go. I’m 34 and work in corporate cybersecurity and started flying a couple weeks ago. I’m hoping I’ll be able to land a CFI gig in 2.5-3 years, but right now I’m enjoying the process. Don’t spend years overthinking it. Just go on a discovery flight, see if you actually like it, then start training. Do not take out a loan.

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dkortman@reddit

For a flight school that offers a discount if you purchase hours in bulk, is that really a good deal? Would I be doing myself a disservice paying as I go for each flight if it ends up costing me more in the end?

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sudo_vi@reddit

Personally, I wouldn't do it. That's a large chunk of change to drop that you may not get back if you need to bail on flight school.

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A_Squid_A_Dog@reddit

Ehhh, don't pay too much at once. You can read on here about people paying 10k or more upfront and then losing it all when the school closes down. If you can buy like 10 hours at a time in a bulk discount, that's good. If the school tanks or kicks you out or something happens you're not out a ton of money.

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dkortman@reddit

Good point. I haven’t thought about the school going out of business. It’s a pretty small part 61 and it’s just recently been purchased under a new owner. I don’t think it was because it previously went bankrupt, I think the previous owner was just ready to retire. But it’s a good thing to keep in mind.

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A_Squid_A_Dog@reddit

In all honestly it's probably fine. But I've seen enough horror stories on this sub that I'd be a bit careful

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lordtema@reddit

It\`s great until it suddenly isnt and the school goes bankrupt and you lose all of your pre-paid money.

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pls_call_my_base@reddit

Highly recommend keeping your day job and flying when you can. I took that route, was able to get all the normal ratings plus some extra ones, and it was nearly 4 years to the day after starting training that I hit 1500, all with no debt or money stress. Personal life took a hit, but not having to stress as much over money is HUGE.

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bennjerriss@reddit

My advice would be to go with option 3, but don't quit your job. Likely, you can do both even if it means giving up your weekends for awhile and using some pto. Cfi is a great way to go once you're qualified

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dkortman@reddit

This is what I was going to mention. Keep your job to pay for flight training on the side and work for your licenses. A loan is a big gamble. It can either go great or horribly wrong and you’re jobless in huge debt.

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longliveprada@reddit (OP)

Thats what I was thinking too. I just keep seeing some pilots say “do the accelerated program and pay of your debt right after when you get the airline jobs” but everywhere I look for these programs that jobless + huge debt factor really makes me reevaluate that plan lol

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DefundTheHOA_@reddit

Some? Like what 3 people? The majority of people don’t recommend that you go to an accelerated flight school because you’re not going to find an airline job for a long time

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Shot-Preference-6485@reddit

You could “throw a stone” here and hit 18 of these posts from the past 3 days. Option 1 will be generally not recommended especially if you have real life to worry about, from what I see on here you won’t get a job at 250, most would recommend a local school unless going 141 university for RATP. Your priorities and responsibilities in life decide this for you, not us on Reddit.

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longliveprada@reddit (OP)

I understand my priorities and responsibilities will decide this, not you on Reddit. With that said, there’s not a lot of direct information and every single post or article I read has different information, so forgive me for trying to ask someone for their opinions based on what I have read lol

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CryOfTheWind@reddit

There are tons of these posts, often several a day here on this topic. Most get deleted fairly quickly, this one probably as well since we have an FAQ here that covers most of the information you're asking about. Spending a few days reading posts here would have answered everything you asked without having to make another. You have been getting some great answers so far though as is typical of our community here. My input no matter what plan you take is to consider your back ups if things don't go quickly at any stage of the game. PPL is where 80% of people drop out. The license is only 40 hours in the US but the average needed to earn it is around 70 hours these days. There is hurdle one. OK, the rest of training goes well and you have no failures along the way. What are your plans if it takes you 2-3 years to find a job flying? Others have posted the stats video and given the breakdown of how the low time pilot market in the US is at probably the most saturated it has ever been. Some of this comes from those things you read about paying a loan of when you get an airline job, well that was true for the 2 year once in the industry's history bubble where it was possible to be at an airline within a couple years of finishing training and after being a flight instructor for a little bit. That time is gone though and things are more normal. What isn't normal is the number of new people that jumped into it seeing a big pay cheque and not realizing the ship already sailed for that easy path. Now you need to stand out from thousands of others just to get the entry level job let alone the first airline position. What is you plan if you don't get an airline job for 10 years? It's a possibility. I have coworkers in my sector of aviation that went directly from school into a flying job and then never had any issues making it to where we are now. I took 6 years to find a flying job, had companies go bankrupt on me twice setting me back and other issues to get to the same destination career place. There is an amount of luck to what the industry is doing when you graduate that can dramatically change how your plan goes that you will have no control over.

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Shot-Preference-6485@reddit

Do you have a family? Do you have a savings? Can you keep your job and do flight training at same time? Have you even done a discovery flight? Do you have a local airport with school near you? Do you have medical history? Can you even get an approval for the loan you’re talking about and afford the payments? The fact that you are even saying get a job at 250 hours tells me that you haven’t looked into this all that hard. There is a wealth of information in the daily 10 “can I do flight training” posts that should at least drive you to doing a discovery flight and getting a medical. I’m happy you’re taking this step in your life it’s an amazing career but please don’t half ass this an mess up the rest of your life on a bad decision to take out a loan on something you haven’t looked into or tried.

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ThatLooksRight@reddit

Every time I see one of these I think, “I bet they haven’t even taken a discovery flight yet.”

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stikshift@reddit

Hello me, it's you. Corporate desk jockey in their 30s. Go for you PPL first, flying nights and weekends, and see if you even like it. Don't give up your job, especially if it can support paying for lessons. Also consider that flying *for fun* is a LOT different than flying *for the bread on your table*. A PPL might scratch the itch for you.

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ltcterry@reddit

So many misconceptions mixed into those four options. * In the Army we say "hope is not a course of action." * Don't borrow money. * Accelerated is not cheaper. Often quite the contrary. * Training "full time" is a bad option. Even worse if you leave job for it. * There are no airline jobs right after training. * You've totally ignored \~90% of the new pilot job market. * Cheapest is staying employed and flying alongside working. Not working makes something expensive cost even more. Here's [some numbers for you to chew on](https://youtu.be/yepvhknoGyk?si=F54UQG0G7X8-YDAQ): * In 2025 there were well over 20,000 new Commercial Pilots, but less than 8,000 new Airline Transport Pilots (and not all of them are or will be airline pilots). What are those other 12,000 people going to do? * There were more than 13,000 new instructors, but only jobs for about 4,000 of them. Both of these record setting numbers are only a bit higher than the 2x surplus numbers from 2023 and 2024. There is a massive and growing surplus of people who won't get jobs. Ever. If you want to fly, be super smart about how you go about it. Any program that graduates other people who have logbooks that look like yours is uncompetitive. The top 1/3 of resumes are going to get jobs. If you want to fly, learn to fly. If you want to make a career change, make a realistic plan to do so. Be smart. Be employed. Don't leave your current job until you are qualified for a flying job that can replace most of your income. Save. Pay cash. Being broke, in debt, and unemployed is a bad place to be. Don't make a plan with that as the likely outcome. You're just not so special that you'll just stumble into success. The [video](https://youtu.be/yepvhknoGyk?si=F54UQG0G7X8-YDAQ) linked above is FAA data. It's absolutely worth watching if this is what you think you want to do.

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TxAggieMike@reddit

Required reading if you’re considering using debt to fund the dream… Please read what u/RaisetheDed has to say about [Paying for Flight Training With Loans/Debt](https://raisetheded.blogspot.com/2026/04/on-topic-of-unsecured-flight-training.html)

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longliveprada@reddit (OP)

Great read, this one definitely gave me good perspective. Thank you, fully ruling out Option 1!

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the_meat_suite@reddit

Option 1: Take out a big loan, take the accelerated program and hope to get a decent job, if not an airline job, right after the program. You will not be qualified for a job as an airline pilot right after completing the program. You will be qualified for a CFI job where you will have to build hours for a year or two until you are qualified. Option 2: Do all the basics, get 250 and then get a job as a banner tower or pipeline inspector and build my hours that way. This is a potentially viable option but these jobs are few and far between. Personally, I wouldn’t bet a career change on getting one of these jobs. If you do get one, know that banner towing is dangerous, and like pipeline inspecting it is a VFR only job, so it doesn’t really help you build experience in the ifr environment which is important for your first jet job. Option 3: Do all the base licencies at a local school then move into an accelerated program to lower the cost. Why would an accelerated program lower the cost? Mom and pop pt 61 schools will save you a lot of money. This is the best option on this list IMO and you can possibly work while getting your ratings. That’s what I did. Option 4: Give up since I don’t have any where near that much money if I give up my corporate job to dedicate the time to lessons and flights.

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Ok_Witness179@reddit

Keep your job until you can get a full time job flying for hire (probably CFI unless you know someone personally hiring for something else, is very competitive for those jobs). Highly recommend don't take out a loan- it could be a very long time before you end up at an airline depending on job market at the time.

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Virtrudian@reddit

I went the loan + accelerated program route. I'm funded through my CFII and I'm putting every bit of money away that I can to get my MEI. My plan is to keep my current job and instruct part time, or get some other part time job if I have to and use the extra money to build hours on my own. Also hoping to win the lottery so I can pay my loan off 🙂

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gromm93@reddit

1. Never take out a big loan. You will *not* get an airline job, right after the program. You will, instead, be looking forward to living off ramen and doordashing on the bad weather days, for at least two or three years after getting all your certificates and finding your first flying job. Having to pay the loan during this period will crush you, especially when you live somewhere that "bad weather days" last weeks to months. 2. Right now, this is also an awfully optimistic plan. I wouldn't quit the corporate job until you actually land one of these kinds of jobs. That's okay, because it will be a few years before you're even finished your training anyway. 3. The word you're looking for isn't "accelerated program" it's "Airline Cadet Program". Specific to the airline in question. It's competitive, and you need to already be a pilot with a lot of hours to get in, not "pay your money and take your chances". There is no way to buy your way into an airline job, and there really ought not to be. 4. You don't have to give up your corporate job. You can work your way through your PPL, and most people do exactly that. You might (in fact, it's highly likely) find that flying really isn't for you during the process. Around 80% of people who start their PPL, give up before finishing it. It takes all the dedication, and all the money, just to get *that* far.

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Chojangunner@reddit

Option 1: Pros: Fastest option with potential for airline program affiliations Cons: most expensive option. Entails a lot of risk. Dual risk of failing out of the program and also having a huge loan on your head while not being able to find a job after your program. Option 2: Pros: cheapest option because you aren’t going accelerated and likelihood for success increases because you are training on your own timeline and can pause anytime you need it Cons: Slower, higher probability of getting a bad instructor due to lack of structure at part 61 schools (but you can easily change the instructor as long as you can recognize you are being poorly trained). If airline pilot is your goal, in the present day job market 80% of hires are either CFIs or cadets. If you don’t mind staying 135 or 91, thats not a bad option. Option 3: Best way to cheapen your cost and take your time understanding the private pilot level stuff which is where the failing out usually occurs, and then accelerating yourself later and joining a program that has affiliations to airline programs. Option 4: Realistically and financially this actually sounds safer and more reasonable. If you are extremely passionate about it and don’t mind flying at a poverty level wage for an extended amount of years to eventually reach your goal, then chasing your dreams and saying you made is probably worth the sacrifice to self-actualize your worth in life. But… it’s not going to be an easy journey, be prepared.

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caelum52@reddit

If you’re in the US, you cannot get an airline job right after the accelerated program. You would have to be a flight instructor or have some job to accumulate 1500 hours before you’re eligible.

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lordtema@reddit

Please read the FAQ, and also, C F I. There is basically no way around working as a flight instructor these days.

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity: --- Hello everyone, I’m looking for advice. I have decided at the young of 30 in a corporate job to swap into a career that I should’ve done a long time ago. Always wanted to be a pilot, but never committed and never started. The problem is, I’m seeing how expensive it is. I have only been doing research for the better part of 2 days. I just want to ask if any of these options are viable and cost effective. Option 1: Take out a big loan, take the accelerated program and hope to get a decent job, if not an airline job, right after the program. Option 2: Do all the basics, get 250 and then get a job as a banner tower or pipeline inspector and build my hours that way. Option 3: Do all the base licencies at a local school then move into an accelerated program to lower the cost. Option 4: Give up since I don’t have any where near that much money if I give up my corporate job to dedicate the time to lessons and flights. --- Please downvote this comment until it collapses. Questions about this comment? [Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods](https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/wiki/index/rflyingtower/). --- I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please [contact the mods of this subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/flying).