Should I get an Aviation degree last?

inspiringpilot96 said:
Oh yeah I meant for behind as in not being current with flight time.
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Oh, I see now. Well if airlines/civilian are the goal it shouldn't take you long to build your time. Depends on the route you take but you can easily build around 1000 hours in a year. It's a grind but it can be done. I went to Phoenix so weather was almost rarely a factor and did 940 hours in 11 months. Had friends get around 1000-1500 total hours get snagged by airlines, corporate, part 135 cargo, or med flight. Some even went Navy and Guard after building some hours.

Once you're done with your commercial multi, you'll only have around 220-260 hours (depending on how you do your training, part 61/141). Either way it's pretty difficult (not impossible) to find a job on those amount of hours. Some people go fly Caravans right seat with 250 hours though. It's hard for me to not suggest instructing because of how valuable the experience is. Trust me I didn't want to do the CFI checkrides either, they worried me. Then after it was all said and done I was extremely happy I did it.

The only reason I started on JC was to try and get help with jobs at 250 hours. Pretty similar to you but it was right after college. I'll never forget I posted about Mokulele and how to survive on that pay in Hawaii, and some guys throw bags for some extra money. @BobDDuck firmly (not aggressively) implanted in me that I'm a professional pilot and should be compensated accordingly, not willing to throw bags to afford to live. That's what hooked onto me. Don't worry about so many details right now (as the industry changes a lot) but it's good to get this information so you know what you're getting yourself into. Nothing worse than those who are deer in the headlights after getting a commercial cert, like they can go fly a 757 for FedEx.

Also, like I said just take this advice with a grain of salt. Someone could have a much different path/opinion. This was just my experience from the civilian path to the airlines. Anything outside of that path I'm pretty clueless on and just talking from what I've seen, but not experienced. I know the last NASA app window someone here said he made it to like round 1 or 2 of interviews. Lots of resources around here for specific questions. Sounds like you want the SpaceX/NASA route so I'm not sure if an ATP is really necessary and all of this is a wash.
 
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inspiringpilot96 said:
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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You being a reservist might help with any military aero clubs around the country. Aero clubs are the way to go and you often can't beat the rates on instruction or airplanes. Some local ones might have a buy in or an annual fee, but they can be extremely good deals if you plan on flying a good bit. For example here's one in Colorado, but I know they have quite a few of them or used to throughout the country. Those are some extremely good prices https://www.usafasupport.com/ac-flight-tng-brochure.html

I have no idea how much of the GI Bill your eligible for as a reservist or how best to use it as I'm not military, but we have some great military folks on board here that might be able to help you out. @Lawman and @Flyinthrew

I'd also recommend looking into your local chapter of EAA (experimental aircraft association). Everyone's different, but I've met some wonderful people at Airventure and seen some really active chapters throughout the country.
 
hook_dupin said:
All the guys I know are military test pilot school graduates.
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This.

Also I can without knowing any of them make a bold absolute statement of these guys didn’t have “aviation” degrees but some kind of STEM degree that may have had or been from an aviation university.

Part of the application process to the XP course is a whole lot of very high end math where you both solve problems as well as find problems that are done wrong and correct them. The flying proffeciency isn’t nearly the problem.
 
Lawman said:
This.

Also I can without knowing any of them make a bold absolute statement of these guys didn’t have “aviation” degrees but some kind of STEM degree that may have had or been from an aviation university.

Part of the application process to the XP course is a whole lot of very high end math where you both solve problems as well as find problems that are done wrong and correct them. The flying proffeciency isn’t nearly the problem.
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Lawman said:
This.

Also I can without knowing any of them make a bold absolute statement of these guys didn’t have “aviation” degrees but some kind of STEM degree that may have had or been from an aviation university.

Part of the application process to the XP course is a whole lot of very high end math where you both solve problems as well as find problems that are done wrong and correct them. The flying proffeciency isn’t nearly the problem.
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What kind of math? Is it higher than calculus or physics?
 
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Lawman said:
Umm... all of it.

Dude I’ve got a degree in Basket Weaving so specifics would be a bit off. I can tell you my one pilot that went that way had two separate engineering degrees (electrical and aerospace) from a major university so I’d start with what those kinds of programs involve.
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Wow, 2? How did he manage to do it?

Unfortunately I am unable to go to a major University. I once considered going to Purdue because a lot of astronauts came from there and they call it the "cradle of astronauts."
 
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