Need Serious Advice

S

StrongSide

Well-Known Member
What’s up guys, I need some serious advice. I’m kind of stuck on what to do in terms of what choice I should make for flight training.

Geez how times flies by!!! I remember being 13 years old browsing this site dreaming about becoming a pilot and here I am 15 years later . I remember getting excited reading the section where pilots gave their stories on how they made it! Fast forward to today, I’m 28, currently a Police Officer and have about 2 years till I hit top pay. Right now things are pretty tight. I have a family and I don’t make that much and have a lot of monthly expenses. I have 60k alone in debt, mostly medical bills and several credit cards. I live in NYC and the cost for flight training is substantially high. Here’s where Im hoping someone can give me insight or advice on what to do for flight training.

Should I: Wait 2 years till I hit top pay, where I’ll be in a better financial situation and possibly pay as I go or attempt to take out a private loan/student loan and do flight school now? I have spent countless hours researching how to pay for flight training but unfortunately the options are very limited. The only 2 accredited flight schools near me I saw are ATP and Academy of Aviation which give me the options to qualify for Sallie Mae student loan or Wells Fargo student loan. However both are overly priced.

Ultimately I’m either trying to join our aviation unit which requires a (Commercial license) or resign from law enforcement and pursue an airline pilot career. I worked as a flight attendant for 7 years before getting into law enforcement but aviation is my true passion and has always lingering in the back of my head.

Any advice/tips or insight or even constructive criticism would help out tremendously. Aviation is my true passion. I remember as a kid I would sit by my kitchen window and count how many airplanes flew past my house. Many years later I still don’t get tired of watching planes fly by. I thought by switching careers I would forgot about being a pilot but that feeling never went away. Sorry for the long post and any grammatical errors, I’m typing this on my phone while on break. Thanks guys.
 
With a family and debt I would take the smart route and pay as you go and though it out. Then make the jump when you are hopefully less debt laden and have the credentials/time to be a full time CFI.

My dad is a retired officer and has quite a fantastic pension and retired at 51. I wish I could have the same. While I do make quite a bit more then he did at my age, his retirement will probably be close to what I get.

TLDR I say keep what you have and minimize debt and work towards a full time flying gig if that's what you want.
 
I would thoroughly research what you need to accomplish to stay in law enforcement aviation and decide if that's what you want to stick with. Most likely you'd be better off sticking with pay as you go and not be in a hurry. I'd only go hurry route if you are sure you want to leave law enforcement behind. In other words, the real decision is law enforcement aviation vs commercial aviation. You need to figure that one out.
 
Attempt to get a first class medical certificate before you do anything or spend any money. Can’t get that, the career isn’t an option sadly.
 
So...your going to add 80k of debt to the 60k you have to take a pay cut for probably a few years...but you can’t pay the debt now...I’m confused...what math and your family needs are you using? Pay as you go...had a 54 year old retired police officer in the new hire class at SWA. He flew on the side, did the min years for pension and went to Republic and 5 years later, at SWA.
 
Do not take on more debt.

Stay with the police force, pay down your existing debts, and start saving towards your goal.

Take a few lessons at your local part 61 school and get the feel. Meet a few instructors, make some friends, buy the AFM and PHAK and prepare for the written. Fly as you are able.

Do not take on more debt.

Do not take on more debt.

Do not...
 
StrongSide said:
What’s up guys, I need some serious advice. I’m kind of stuck on what to do in terms of what choice I should make for flight training.

Geez how times flies by!!! I remember being 13 years old browsing this site dreaming about becoming a pilot and here I am 15 years later . I remember getting excited reading the section where pilots gave their stories on how they made it! Fast forward to today, I’m 28, currently a Police Officer and have about 2 years till I hit top pay. Right now things are pretty tight. I have a family and I don’t make that much and have a lot of monthly expenses. I have 60k alone in debt, mostly medical bills and several credit cards. I live in NYC and the cost for flight training is substantially high. Here’s where Im hoping someone can give me insight or advice on what to do for flight training.

Should I: Wait 2 years till I hit top pay, where I’ll be in a better financial situation and possibly pay as I go or attempt to take out a private loan/student loan and do flight school now? I have spent countless hours researching how to pay for flight training but unfortunately the options are very limited. The only 2 accredited flight schools near me I saw are ATP and Academy of Aviation which give me the options to qualify for Sallie Mae student loan or Wells Fargo student loan. However both are overly priced.

Ultimately I’m either trying to join our aviation unit which requires a (Commercial license) or resign from law enforcement and pursue an airline pilot career. I worked as a flight attendant for 7 years before getting into law enforcement but aviation is my true passion and has always lingering in the back of my head.

Any advice/tips or insight or even constructive criticism would help out tremendously. Aviation is my true passion. I remember as a kid I would sit by my kitchen window and count how many airplanes flew past my house. Many years later I still don’t get tired of watching planes fly by. I thought by switching careers I would forgot about being a pilot but that feeling never went away. Sorry for the long post and any grammatical errors, I’m typing this on my phone while on break. Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
So where are you in your training? How much have you flown since age 13?
 
That's a tough one. I'm a family kinda guy, so I say take care of them and that means not going into another ~80k debt for ATP flight training on top of the current debt you already have for $60k.
Fixtur said:
Do not take on more debt.

Stay with the police force, pay down your existing debts, and start saving towards your goal.

Take a few lessons at your local part 61 school and get the feel. Meet a few instructors, make some friends, buy the AFM and PHAK and prepare for the written. Fly as you are able.

Do not take on more debt.

Do not take on more debt.

Do not...
Click to expand...

Agreed. Pay as you go.
 
You already have a crazy amount of debt. Don’t go in deeper.

the debt in this career destroys families.

to give you an idea, I financed everything to the tune of about 100k. It took almost a decade to reach a level of income able to make my payments. Now imagine you get all that debt and another downturn happens in the industry, sallie Mae don’t care and you’re left begging for jobs that pay 30k a year, overwork you, but you get “experience.” LOL.

If I we’re you the first thing I’d do is get rid of all that garbage debt you currently have before doing anything p. ESPECIALLY the credit cards. If you’re paying interest you need to balance transfer as much of that to 0% cards right now. Right now. Like right after you read this.

With 60k in debt you shouldn’t be fantasizing about jumping out of your current decent paying career to fly shiny planes. Especially since you’re not going to see a return on investment for YEARS or possibly EVER AT ALL if we have another downturn.

I can’t stress this enough, if I had a time machine I would avoid debt like the plague and if that means I wouldn’t fly in the first place so be it.
 
I think you have your answer. You really gotta map it out. Part of mapping it out is knowing where exactly you want to get. That's step one.

Also include your wife in the decision making in a real way. Unless she's financially illiterate she will not be okay with going that deep into debt, but she will hopefully see that it is something that you want to do and help pull the rope in the same direction you're pulling each step of the way.
 
You need to see a financial advisor about reducing your debt.

As far as a piloting career, you need to pay as you go. The way that I see it, the only way you are going to have a piloting career is by keeping your job and mapping out a ten year plan to get your CFI unless an LE piloting opportunity presents itself.

And, why do you think you would enjoy a career in aviation?

There are many of us on this forum that love to fly but don't necessarily love our jobs, or even like our jobs.

After you come up with a plan to reduce your debt, start working on your PPL and spend some time networking with commercial pilots. You'll find many that are jealous of your gig and your path to retirement.
 
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Pay as you go. Airline pilot pays better, but flying a helicopter for NYPD sounds a helluva lot more interesting.

Alternatively, you might want to look into moving somewhere with a more reasonable cost of living. You'll likely get your training done quicker.
 
It depends on a few things. Interest rates being one of the most important. If you can borrow money at low interest and fixed rate, I’m not against that. However, I wouldn’t do that until you get your current debt under control, especially credit card debt which is usually the highest interest. You might be able to consolidate that debt to one lower interest rate loan and that might be worth considering.

Do not quit your day job assuming that the wages you currently earn can not be easily replaced with a different job. Depending on where you live and work it might be worth considering moving to a lower cost of living suburb or neighborhood that would still allow you to commute to your day job as well as commute to a flight school. I don’t know anything about NYC or if any of that is actually possible.

I would research your department aviation job some more. How many pilots do they keep on staff? When are some retiring? How long does it take to get accepted? If there are only 3 or 4 pilots and they’re relatively young, even if you go off and get your ratings you might have to wait years before a slot opens up. Are you willing to do that? Me personally, I would absolutely stay there and wait for that. Get your ratings and fly on your time off for fun knowing that you will eventually move into that role.

You’re definitely not too old to be considering this and you absolutely do not need to be in a rush to do anything. Don’t let the glamour of expediency trick you into taking out a massive loan to finish your training as soon as possible. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing on this. You can borrow some and pay for the rest out of pocket. But you first need to address your current situation before you try to add another layer of complexity.

Good luck! Welcome to JC! Keep us updated.
 
You have way more than 2 Flight schools within an hourish of NYC. In NJ there’s at least 1 at both Caldwell and Morristown, Solberg-Hunterdon, and Central Jersey. On Long Island you have Heritage Flight Academy and Long Island Aviators at Farmingdale, and then Heritage and Midisland Flight Service at Islip. All the LI airports are easily accessible via the LIRR. I fly out of Islip with Midisland currently and have been very happy with them.
 
NovemberEcho said:
You have way more than 2 Flight schools within an hourish of NYC. In NJ there’s at least 1 at both Caldwell and Morristown, Solberg-Hunterdon, and Central Jersey. On Long Island you have Heritage Flight Academy and Long Island Aviators at Farmingdale, and then Heritage and Midisland Flight Service at Islip. All the LI airports are easily accessible via the LIRR. I fly out of Islip with Midisland currently and have been very happy with them.
Click to expand...
Second this.
 
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