Should I get an Aviation degree last?

I

inspiringpilot96

Well-Known Member
Hello. I am looking into double majoring in aviation( called Flight Education at my University which is Hampton University in Virginia) and Mechanical Engineering. If I start both at the same time, I know I will finish my Flight Education degree first. Should I instead wait to finish my Mechanical Engineering degree? I'm curious because If it takes me a while to get my engineering degree, how would I stay current with my aviation degree? The school's website says that after you finish this aviation degree, you can be hired as a first officer at least at a regional airline. I'm assuming the degree will make me have the qualifications equal to an ATP? How would I keep currency if I don't fly for too long? I don't think I will have any money at all to rent aircraft :( . What will happen?

The school's website and Flight Education degree
http://aviation.set.hamptonu.edu/page/Flight-Education
 
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My advice: if you've got the ability to be a mechanical engineer and you like it, you'll have the financial ability to get your tickets later and have little debt. I paid off engineering school about 4 years after graduation.

The regionals will all be hiring for the foreseeable future. Additionally, have you thought about doing flight test? It's possible to combine engineering and aviation into one well-paying profession.
 
Mech E. Do the rest on your own.

If you're looking for cold hard cash, CivE or PetroE. Both subject to ups and downs of their respective markets tho. But when its up, you can kill it.
 
inspiringpilot96 said:
Hello. I am looking into double majoring in aviation( called Flight Education at my University which is Hampton University in Virginia) and Mechanical Engineering. If I start both at the same time, I know I will finish my Flight Education degree first. Should I instead wait to finish my Mechanical Engineering degree? I'm curious because If it takes me a while to get my engineering degree, how would I stay current with my aviation degree? The school's website says that after you finish this aviation degree, you can be hired as a first officer at least at a regional airline. I'm assuming the degree will make me have the qualifications equal to an ATP? How would I keep currency if I don't fly for too long? I don't think I will have any money at all to rent aircraft :( . What will happen?

The school's website and Flight Education degree
http://aviation.set.hamptonu.edu/page/Flight-Education
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If you get your flight education (i.e. your pilot credentials) first, you can perhaps get a part time job as a flight instructor while you finish your other degree. That would keep you current, pay you a few bucks, and put a few flight hours under your belt.

My question is, what is the goal of the double major? How do you plan to dovetail two widely different career fields?
 
Take all advice on the internet with a grain of salt. You are the best person at making your own life decisions, only use the internet for resourceful information to make a better decision. If I made life choices based on previous forums, I'd never have become a pilot.

Just be aware, that degree you're pursuing will probably only put you around 230-250 hours. You will need 1,000 to become a First Officer, which means you'll probably need to instruct after you graduate or in school. It will depend on how busy you are and how fast you do your training. Unfortunately, they are hiding the costs of the ratings somewhere. Pretty much what you can expect from zero to hero at University prices is around $45-60,000. It will obviously be cheaper at a part 61 school, but some don't mind paying more for the training at the college.

Good luck. Best "job" I've ever had.
 
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Flying Saluki said:
If you get your flight education (i.e. your pilot credentials) first, you can perhaps get a part time job as a flight instructor while you finish your other degree. That would keep you current, pay you a few bucks, and put a few flight hours under your belt.

My question is, what is the goal of the double major? How do you plan to dovetail two widely different career fields?
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One of my goals is to get into the Aerospace Engineering field and my unrealistic goal is applying to possibly become an Astronaut and any aviation degrees, according to NASA, are disqualifying. So I chose Engineering as a backup.

Would a Flight Instructor job be enough to support myself living in an apartment on my own?
 
inspiringpilot96 said:
One of my goals is to get into the Aerospace Engineering field and my unrealistic goal is applying to possibly become an Astronaut and any aviation degrees, according to NASA, are disqualifying. So I chose Engineering as a backup.

Would a Flight Instructor job be enough to support myself living in an apartment on my own?
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Don’t give up yet on NASA: I know two guys who made it and a bunch of dudes who made the interview rounds.

I think being a flight instructor would easily support yourself if you live cheap.
 
inspiringpilot96 said:
One of my goals is to get into the Aerospace Engineering field and my unrealistic goal is applying to possibly become an Astronaut and any aviation degrees, according to NASA, are disqualifying. So I chose Engineering as a backup.

Would a Flight Instructor job be enough to support myself living in an apartment on my own?
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You can survive single on a flight instructor salary. I did a big school down in Phoenix, salary was $30k from January to the end of November. I budged myself every month and still lived pretty comfortable within the limits. You can definitely do it. Just don't go getting a brand new apartment downtown wherever you are and starving yourself because you pay rent/mortgage more than you can afford!
 
tcco94 said:
Take all advice on the internet with a grain of salt. You are the best person at making your own life decisions, only use the internet for resourceful information to make a better decision. If I made life choices based on previous forums, I'd never have become a pilot.

Just be aware, that degree you're pursuing will probably only put you around 230-250 hours. You will need 1,000 to become a First Officer, which means you'll probably need to instruct after you graduate or in school. It will depend on how busy you are and how fast you do your training. Unfortunately, they are hiding the costs of the ratings somewhere. Pretty much what you can expect from zero to hero at University prices is around $45-60,000. It will obviously be cheaper at a part 61 school, but some don't mind paying more for the training at the college.

Good luck. Best "job" I've ever had.
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thegriffinpages said:
Nothing more to add then I wish I could be an engineer but I apparently can't learn Calculus very well (I've tried).

Good luck with your studies. Engineering degree is probably going to be your first bet that way you've got a good fall back plan first.
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Thanks a lot but what would happen if I was exceedingly far behind with flying after I finished the degree?
 
hook_dupin said:
Don’t give up yet on NASA: I know two guys who made it and a bunch of dudes who made the interview rounds.

I think being a flight instructor would easily support yourself if you live cheap.
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Amazing! What backgrounds did they have? We're they former Airline pilots? One thing I'm trying to do is get some PIC time in the airlines and have an Engineering degree on top of that.
 
My degree in “Advanced Paper Cutting” has served me very well up until now. Now that things are going electronic, I rarely get to use my skill.
 
Kingairer said:
My degree in “Advanced Paper Cutting” has served me very well up until now. Now that things are going electronic, I rarely get to use my skill.
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Interesting.
We use electronic/digital manuals and logbooks at work (aircraft maintenance facility). Ironically, we use much, much more paper now than we did when we had paper manuals and logbooks.
 
inspiringpilot96 said:
Im not interested in being a military pilot though.
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You don't have to be a military pilot. I just went through again to check and a handful of the newest class weren't military pilots, so I made a mistake. It looks like half. Still a majority in the military doing other stuff, submarine commander, Navy Seal, etc.

Either way since there is no actual proven path to becoming a astronaut, your best bet is to read through profiles of those who got accepted. Sounds like you're on a good track with Engineering degrees.

https://www.nasa.gov/2017astronauts
 
inspiringpilot96 said:
Hello. I am looking into double majoring in aviation( called Flight Education at my University which is Hampton University in Virginia) and Mechanical Engineering. If I start both at the same time, I know I will finish my Flight Education degree first. Should I instead wait to finish my Mechanical Engineering degree? I'm curious because If it takes me a while to get my engineering degree, how would I stay current with my aviation degree? The school's website says that after you finish this aviation degree, you can be hired as a first officer at least at a regional airline. I'm assuming the degree will make me have the qualifications equal to an ATP? How would I keep currency if I don't fly for too long? I don't think I will have any money at all to rent aircraft :( . What will happen?

The school's website and Flight Education degree
http://aviation.set.hamptonu.edu/page/Flight-Education
Click to expand...

I don't know the prices for all the flight training, but those are a lot of credits and that's a lot of time you'd have to spend extra in order to get the degree. If you're bright enough to get a mechanical engineering degree I'm sure you're a good enough student that you could do as well going to a nearby flight school in your free time and learning it that way for much cheaper while being able to graduate sooner and start paying down your debt/supporting your flight training.

Best of luck with your aspirations on NASA though! Glad to see you aiming high and with an engineering background you've got so many great options to fall back on.

Who knows, with your engineering appetite perhaps you could help out someone with a homebuilt or experimental and build your own. You could build flight time in that for fun and affordably if you don't mind all the time you'll spend working on it.
 
srn121 said:
I don't know the prices for all the flight training, but those are a lot of credits and that's a lot of time you'd have to spend extra in order to get the degree. If you're bright enough to get a mechanical engineering degree I'm sure you're a good enough student that you could do as well going to a nearby flight school in your free time and learning it that way for much cheaper while being able to graduate sooner and start paying down your debt/supporting your flight training.

Best of luck with your aspirations on NASA though! Glad to see you aiming high and with an engineering background you've got so many great options to fall back on.

Who knows, with your engineering appetite perhaps you could help out someone with a homebuilt or experimental and build your own. You could build flight time in that for fun and affordably if you don't mind all the time you'll spend working on it.
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I am an enlisted reservist(Air National Guard) as well. How much of the G.I bill would be able to help out with the aviation degree? I know it's not as much as it would be for a state school.

I'm also looking at Space X, Moon Express and Virgin Galactic.

It's a difficult degree I don't think I have the aptitude for or natural ability so doing the flight degree with the Mechanical Engineering one at once is not a good idea. I'll do what was posted earlier about going to flight school after I graduate college and put all of my focus on studying math, haha.
 
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