Why do you feel you are not cut out for instruction?
I don't really have the patience to teach and instead tend to get fed up when concepts are not understood the first time through. This may be a result of bad teaching or just bad students, but either way its something that would severely impair my ability to be a good and professional flight instructor. I also am not a good salesman, and as a result, would have difficulty keeping my schedule full of students, since that is an important part of being an instructor.
Look at Sierra West and IBC Airways, they've both been known to hire guys with just a Commercial. Pay is low but it beats paying to fly.
Aerial Survey, pictometry, banner towing, pipeline patrol, crop dusting, ferrying aircraft (for hire) are all viable options besides flight instructing...
And if you don't like to do those things? Then your probably in the wrong line of work... flying a 10,495 lb turboprop, 48,500 lb radial, or 49,823lb turbo-jet (size of a/c I've flown) while different doesn't give you any more magic or gerth between your legs. Fun? Sure at time, but tiring and it wears off. No matter how cool it looks observing from the ground. I miss my instructing and ferrying days sometimes, all flying becomes routine.
Good Luck and pleeeeaasssee don't pay for a job!
Are you sure you are not cut out to be a CFI or you don't want to put in the time to be a better pilot? ( even if you do not teach you become more well rounded from the training) It seems you want short cuts because your age, if you feel like it is too late and you do not want to do it the right way then Spend away spendy, but I would rather spend the money on the CFIs because there is no way your going to meet 121 mins after your quality " sit in that seat and shut up" time you paid for. After that is done what will you do fly banners or jumpers? Not necessarily the flight time airlines are looking for. Good luck and please fly friendly
If I'm able to find a low time job after I finish my multi-engine, which should be within a month or so, then I'd happily take it over paying for any amount of time. That being said, and as ClarkGriswold has quite accurately brought up, I need to think about what kind of flight time the airlines are looking for. Sure "sit there and shut up" hours may not be all that great, but neither are many of the low time jobs. At the very least, the training program hours are multi-turbine, in a commercial operation environment, and I would certainly hope they bothered with CRM. The last thing I want to do is take a job which, while it would help me collect hours, diminishes my chances of getting where I really want to go.
I would also say that, while there might be a wrong way to do things, there is no definite right way, as there are many ways to arrive at the same place. You might think becoming a CFI is the right way to go, but thats for you, and its not the only way to get there, just like paying for a training program isn't the only way to get there. I am looking for the shortest, most direct path as a result of my age and my goals, if you really think that's the wrong way to go, then that is your opinion and you have a right to that opinion, but I also don't think you can fault me for wanting to reach my goals as soon as possible with as many years as possible remaining in which to enjoy them.
I know you said you don't want to instruct but if you change your mind its easily conceivable to fly 100+ hrs per month as a CFI. Even if you round that down to 80... 250 commercial + 50 (to earn CFI-CFII-MEI) = 300. Now, 80 hrs/month X 15 months + (original 300)= 1500 hrs.
Also if you pay for your job... 250 hrs to Commercial then another 250 that you pay for = 500... What if things go bad again (think fuel prices, furloughs) and this company replaces you with another person paying? Now your down $20K and still need to make another 1000 hrs? I've seen this happen before.
I have known quite a few flight instructors over the years and very few of them even get close to 100 hours a month. I would say the average monthly total for people that I've spoken with is more along the lines of 50ish hours. So with that in mind, I'd be looking at about 24 months to accumulate the hours, and that's not including the amount of time it would take me to acquire the ratings in the first place, which would most likely be about 5-7 months, so we're already at 2.5 years, and that's under what I would consider optimal conditions. Most likely, I would have even less monthly hours than that due to the factors I've stated above, and we shouldn't forget that flight instruction is just as susceptable to a bad economy as any other profession and according to more than a few sources, new pilot starts are down currently.
I think its also important to note that, no matter how I get the hours, I'm more likely to find a lower time job with 500ish hours than I am with 250ish hours.
First, yes, you are in a rush. How dare life get in your way. Second, there is a reason the program went away. Think about it...people payed a company to fly for them, and they shut the program down. You are 32, I think you said (too lazy to scroll up). Why would a company stop a program where people paid to work unless it was not working. I hope, in this day and age, people do their research and figure out this is stupid to do.
I was 30+ also when I started flying full time again. I will just say, I will never entertain the thought of hiring anybody that has participated in one of these programs. You are in your 30's. Use your head and think about what it does to the profession. Okay, waaa, you don't feel you should be an instructor...please do not instruct then. Find something else. Go use that $10-25K to buy some time. At least that would be legitimate time if you bought it.
Sorry for being harsh on this, but this has been discussed ad nauseum on here. Best of luck to you. Go find a survey job, or a meat missile job, or any job other than instructing. As a 30+ year old, if you feel you are not cut out for it, then you are not cut out for it...
As I stated before, the program went away because the company changed its operations and was not able to continue to offer the program. I have, after some changes in search methodology, been able to find several other operators which are currently offering similar programs, so its not an isolated example, and not necessarily a failed endeavor.
You said that you started flying full time AGAIN when you were 30+, implying that you had flown before and gone back to it, but I am only now working on my multi-engine. This puts me somewhere between 6 and 10 years behind the average career aviator. Those are years I need to try to make up for if I am going to be serious about pursuing a career in aviation and following a path that will further extend that time, such as becoming a CFI and then giving training for 3-5 years to meet part 121 minimums, just doesn't seem to make sense. Again, I'm not attached to the idea of paying for right seat time, but I have yet to see a viable alternative given my needs / goals. You may look down your nose at me because I don't want to instruct, but, as I've said before, just because you think its the right way doesn't mean its the only way. If there is a viable alternative to both instructing AND attending a FOTP that will allow me to accumulate hours which will work for me instead of against me, I'd love to hear it...