Considering full sending it into flight school

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paneershlok@reddit (OP)

Ok so the general consensus is HELL NO lol ok I guess I will see if I can find something other way to pay off these loans 🙃

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ThatLooksRight@reddit

My initial reaction was that you’re a moron.

No offense. Just being real to you.

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As a med student, failing out of school with 300-400k in debt is unfortunately very common. It's a brutal situation. This comment is unnecessarily rude to someone who seems to be in a spiral and is just looking for options.

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ThatLooksRight@reddit

Fair. Other info wasn’t presented in the original post that was added in replies.

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Professional_Will241@reddit

My initial reaction was that this guy is a troll. It’s just so outlandish.

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Twa747@reddit

Just curious if finishing medical school is an option and flying one the side while you pay your loans back ?

Someone told me a long time ago

Be a doctor and fly for peanuts Be a pilot and live on peanuts

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Maleficent-Subject36@reddit

Holy shit, you need to get back into medical school if you want any chance of paying that off in this lifetime

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RexFiller@reddit

Based on his post history getting back into medical school likely isn't an option. He failed a licensing exam 3 times so he was given the option to withdraw or be dismissed. Im a doctor and in most states if you have 3 fails on licensing exams you cant get a medical license. He might be able to get into a Caribbean school and go through their process but medical boards will want transcripts and chronology of your schooling and if they find out he failed 3 times while at a US school he wont be able to get licensed so hes basically toast as far as being a physician goes.

OP might be panicking with trying to get ideas on how to pay off the debt with a new career and honestly there aren't many good answers besides getting into income based repayment and get loan forgiveness in 20 or so years or whatever repayment plan he can get into.

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Maleficent-Subject36@reddit

No legit bank would even give you a loan without a co signer

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TxAggieMike@reddit

Add me to the list of those that find your plane triple plus no good.

You are nearly half a million in debt, abandoning a potentially very lucrative career to chase butterfly dreams and no plan for getting out of debt.

You need to reevaluate what you’re doing and fix things before going deeper in debt.

Please read what our friend, u/RaiseTheDed, has compiled about Flight Training at ATP.

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Icy_Mythical@reddit

I just looked through your post history. Yikes.

Do not end up 500k in student debt dude. You will be paying that off until you die.

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butterpig@reddit

Normally I’d say that’s a bad idea, but I’m going to disagree with everyone else here. You’re already fucked, SEND IT

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Professional_Will241@reddit

😭😭😭

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ltcterry@reddit

Go get a check up from the neck up.

This is not the time to be borrowing for flight training and ATP is never the right place to go.

There is a massive oversupply of new pilots. Overproduction will continue for some time as reality slowly sets in.

Get your ass back in medical school. No one is going to loan you money for flight training. Become a doc. Fly for fun. Spend the rest of your working life paying off that debt.

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charles321222@reddit

This has to be a joke.

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Sad-Desk-9989@reddit

yup, a troll pair for sure

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Sad-Desk-9989@reddit

This is such a BS troll post and you guys are buying it. Med school students are really sharp, top 1% of college graduates usually. Getting accepted to med school is magnitudes of orders harder than becoming a legacy pilot.

OP is supposedly in med school, had the grades to get in, but with Al, his spelling mistakes he writes worse than a sixth grader.

Med students are known for their critical thinking and analytical skills. Yet, zero critical thinking in this post. $400k in debt would make someone a third or fourth year and this “med student “ is thinking of throwing in the towel. Yeah, right, no chance.

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TSFearNowRedRep89@reddit

You need to stay in healthcare to survive those loans. And then pay your way through aviation slowly.

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Negative_Swan_9459@reddit

Did you love the thought of being a doctor too? WTF happened there 400k down the road?

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paneershlok@reddit (OP)

Me and my wife lost our first child near the end. Caused my mental health to deteriorate and I ended up being unable to pass the final board exams needed to qualify unfortunately

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Negative_Swan_9459@reddit

That’s a terrible thing. Sorry you went through that. Did you take them multiple times? I thought there was some ability to retake?

I would seriously try and make medicine work. Starting from scratch flying is a very long road, not as academically challenging—but the path is not near as well defined and highly subject to outside factors.

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JetKeel@reddit

This is a key bit of context. I am really sorry for your loss. I can’t even imagine the impact this would have on someone. I wish you the best, and I hope you can find the support around you to dig out of this emotional and financial load.

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uktrucker1@reddit

a whole plethora of issues here, 400k in student debt! get that in order first, second is avoid ATP at all costs, they’ll just get you more into debt

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haveanairforceday@reddit

I dont mean to be rude but i think maybe you are having a bit of a crisis. Withdrawing from something as big and intense as medical school and sitting on 400k in debt would put anybody in a weird mindset. Are you attracted to the idea of a new profession/identity/source of value? If so, id be real worried that you arent considering the full reality of the situation.

Have you looked at something like dental school? I think that you might be better off betting on a career that is "guaranteed" rather than signing up to be a cfi for the next 2-5 years making peanuts and just hoping you dont lose your medical qualification before you can pay off your debt. You can still fly for your passion, but it might not be the best professional path for your situation

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mydogisratchet@reddit

As an ATP instructor, if you are 400k in debt, absolutely do not do this

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Flying21811@reddit

Politely bro NO

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FishrNC@reddit

Don't quit your day job.

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diqface@reddit

Big dawg, do part 61 school and pay as you go. No reason to go into more debt at this point.

Alternatively, join the military. You can be a warrant officer helicopter pilot in the Army. If you have a degree, you can be a commissioned pilot in the air force, navy, or Marines. There are commissioned pilots in the Army, but you end up having to do command time and staff roles instead of flying.

The military can repay some of your loans or give you access to the GI Bill

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k12pcb@reddit

That’s half a mil in loans- that’s a nope

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KCPilot17@reddit

But Delta WB Captains make $600k/year! He'll easily be able to pay that off when he makes it there in 5 years.

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k12pcb@reddit

lol love it, he’s obviously got staying power as you can see from the 400k medical school debt so what could go wrong when he’s grinding at a Part61 getting 4hrs a week when it’s shit weather in NC and he’s on so little money he can’t pay for gas out to KLHZ to instruct?

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AGroAllDay@reddit

Not sure why you got downvoted. Someone clearly doesn’t understand sarcasm lol

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DisregardLogan@reddit

Get your money up

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stuck_inmissouri@reddit

You’re going to be a million in debt before you can start repaying those, and getting your ratings with ATP will likely cost a hell of a lot more than $92k.

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Schwalbe262Guy@reddit

I’m losing my shit over my flight school debt being 90k… and my car debt. 400??? And add another 90k? Brother… being a pilot will not solve your debt immediately. You still might be paying your loans for a WHILE.

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BrtFrkwr@reddit

Steer clear of ATP.

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Ok-Border-8929@reddit

You need to do some serious soul searching.

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Ok-Money2811@reddit

So wait…you are $400k in debt for basically nothing???

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Additional_cheme5655@reddit

Broski, aviation is expensive. There are flight schools that teach you the same thing ATP does for far cheaper. Plus, 92k is just the tuition bulk rate, you still have to pay for commutes, DPE expenses, FAA written expenses, and a whole bunch of other expenses that are going to rack easily. I get flying is great, we all do here, but if you're already sinking in 400k in debt, Aviation will easily add 70-100k to that.

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injahwetrustt@reddit

heck no. steer clear away since you already have whole lotta debt you don’t want to add more high interest rate debt on top of it. i’d suggest if possible, finish up your medical degree somehow, pay off the 400k debt ASAP

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potatoeconsumer@reddit

With interest that is really an incomprehensible amount of money to be in debt. Under no circumstances is it a responsible choice. And there are a thousand factors that might prevent you from ever making it to the airlines. Anyone who is actually offering you sound advice and not being predatory will tell you under no circumstances should you make this choice.

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Viral_scape@reddit

You either need a lot of money to cover payments from parents or something, or have a nice paying job that you are doing on the side, but progress will take a lot longer. The payments on that 400k alone is going to be rough.

Idk the pace of that school but I would expect 3 years is a good estimate for most people on private to commercial-multi/CFI-CFII

Not to mention that just gets you your certificates

No telling how it will be in 3 years, as you see in here all the time with these posts. Aviation is anything but stable

Once you have your certs, you now need to pay monthly on 500k in loans, while probably working a CFI job making 30-40k a year.

Do that for about a year to a year and a half if you are able to get a job a decent time once you hit minimums and now you start making decent money.

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AccidentCommon208@reddit

Holy cow and I am freaking out over my 19,000 flight loan. Get the debt under control. Things are very slow right now. Worst thing you can do is add another 100k+ to it. Pay out of pocket to get your private to see if you really like it.

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RaiseTheDed@reddit

Please read my post on ATP Flight School here: https://raisetheded.blogspot.com/2026/04/on-topic-of-atp-flight-school.html

And please read my post on loans here: https://raisetheded.blogspot.com/2026/04/on-topic-of-unsecured-flight-training.html

With 400k in school loan debt already, you will pay most likely more than a million dollars by the end of the loan terms. You do realize it will take you 5 years to possibly break 6 figures, right? You realize that you won't make 300k for 10-15 years? You're going to be drowning in debt.

Also, ATP costs 120k.

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JetKeel@reddit

I’ve seen posts from people in their 40s saying how they ruined their finances in their 20s and $200,000 in debt is cited.

$500k in debt is an absolutely astronomical amount of money.

I would not take on another cent of debt without a $150k a year salary AT A MINIMUM.

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InJailForCrimes@reddit

Dog, you gotta get your money right first.

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Hey!

I recently completed my discovery ride at the ATP in RDU and really liked the facility/instructors. I am strongly considering going full-time into training to become an airline pilot and wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on the current state of the industry and whether or not this is truly something worth pursuing.

Important to note is that I recently withdraw from medical school and currently owe 400k in student debt and would likely incur another 92k in order to progress to becoming a CFI. I really love flying and could see myself doing this long-term, but I am open to other suggestions if anyone here has any. Thanks in advance!

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