Purdue's aviation program

N

Neil Prabhu

New Member
I am currently a high school freshman, and I was interested in becoming an airline pilot via Purdue's Professional Flight degree, and had a few questions about it:
How many flight hours does the professional flight degree offer?
Does purdue provide R-ATP?
Can you fly anytime to earn more hours (even at night)?
Can you rent out aircrafts from the airport? What airlines can graduates join ( because most require previous airline experience)?
Also, if I wanted to do the two degrees in five years (bachelor's and masters in flight), how much would it cost for an out of state student in total?
And what jobs open up with the masters in aviation and aerospace management?
 
bike21 said:
Not enough girls, go to IU and fly at an FBO ;)
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Better yet, stay at Purdue, major in something else and fly at the FBO on the field. That way you're sure to receive a proper education and there are plenty of co-eds with which to occupy your time.




Boiler up!
 
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Neil Prabhu said:
I am currently a high school freshman, and I was interested in becoming an airline pilot via Purdue's Professional Flight degree, and had a few questions about it:
How many flight hours does the professional flight degree offer?
Does purdue provide R-ATP?
Can you fly anytime to earn more hours (even at night)?
Can you rent out aircrafts from the airport? What airlines can graduates join ( because most require previous airline experience)?
Also, if I wanted to do the two degrees in five years (bachelor's and masters in flight), how much would it cost for an out of state student in total?
And what jobs open up with the masters in aviation and aerospace management?
Click to expand...

In all seriousness these are great questions for a guidance counselor or contact at Purdue. I'm not sure how much the program has changed in the last 10 years. I wasn't a flight major but I did go through the FBO there and many of our instructors were Purdue products who were a great resource. That said, I do know the program has changed quite a bit since I was instructing there. Give them a call and see what they say.

Also, look into going to school in state and flying through an FBO. Out of state tuition at Purdue is expensive enough (ask me how I know) and when you add the flight program cost on top it's going to be painfully expensive. By going through an FBO I was able to get everything done up through the CFI/CFII/MEI for significantly less money and was able to exceed ATP mins by the time I graduated by instructing around my classes for the last 2.5 years at the same FBO.

As far as aircraft rental, there is an FBO, Purdue Aviation, on the airport through which you can rent aircraft. You're likely looking at going to a regional airline right out of school BUT...and this is a big BUT (I can not lie) if you're a freshman in high school now you're still looking at 8, possibly 9 years before you even realistically have to worry about the airlines. That is an eternity in aviation and the hiring landscape could look completely different than it does right now. Focus on doing as well as you can right now, look into flying lessons through a local FBO, and enjoy your time in high school while you can. Please don't hesitate to come to us with any more questions!
 
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I had a flight instructor over the summer here who is also an instructor at Purdue. I had to fire him and find a new instructor after just a few hours because he spent more time on facebook and taking selfies during our "lesson" than he did instructing. I had to tell him time and time again to put his phone away everytime we flew. I'm hoping he's an anomaly and not the norm of Purdue instructors, but consider yourself warned.
 
Earning a PPF degree at purdue does allow you the reduced minimums for an R-ATP, but you have to do the commercial and instrument certificates through the university flight program.

If you do the flight program at Purdue, it's roughly 4 semesters to earn private, insturment and commercial and will be about 200-250 hours of flight time. You can not rent the university aircraft for fun, but you can go to the field FBO and rent aircraft. The fees for the first 4 semesters of the flight program are roughly 10,000/flight course; On top of tuition.

Through the course Purdue requires that you do your instrument, commercial, Multi engine, 2 jet simulator courses and a Course in a jet to earn the degree. Do the Jet course sounds amazing, and it's a good course, but it is also a bit of a waste. CFI ratings are all elective and don't have to be done through the school, and you don't have to have to do the classes at the school to be hired as a university instructor. Thats just an overview of the program, contact the university for more info, and you still have a lot of time to evaluate other career courses.


Boiler Up!
 
To the OP, definitely do your research as you've started here. I try to steer folks toward the middle ground of big flight programs and cheap FBOs. While you're asking Purdue specific stuff I can't answer I do caution coming out of any program with mega debt. Keep your debt levels manageable, find a good program that will make you a solid pilot and you'll do well.
 
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