Career In Meteorology - Can anyone provide me with some general info or opinions on starting a career in aeronautics?

Can anyone provide me with some general info or opinions on starting a career in aeronautics?

Hi. I am 17 years old and have about 80 hours of flight experience.... on Flight Simulator. In real life: 0 The time has come for me to decide what to do with my life. I've chosen a ton of majors or career paths including: aerospace/aeronautics meteorology psychology telecommunications and teaching. I have been researching a lot into aeronautical colleges, but since i live in missouri I almost must go out of state for college, which makes it a tough decision. I know if i join the air force that i have a slim chance to fly. My interests in aeronautics includes: (in order of interest) Air Traffic Control Commercial Pilot Airport Management Flight Education So what i'm asking is for you to help live my dream; give me some information on different schools and paths to go in order to be in a good spot for an aeronautical career. Thanks in advance.

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There are schools at which you can major in air traffic control. I posted a link to a list. There are several paths to becoming an ATC specialist which is the second link. In terms of becoming a commercial pilot, that is kind of a winding road. You can go to a professional flight university (I don't recommend doing this due to the cost). What I'm currently doing is attending a state college and majoring in something useful (computer science) and working on my flight ratings on the side at smaller, local flight schools. That way, in the case that you find yourself furloughed or unable to procure a job as a pilot, you have another career track to fall back on. Many aviation colleges have business programs with concentrations in aviation. I have no experience in the area, so you may want to see if you can contact the manager of a local airport and get an interview. I suspect that having flight credentials (commercial pilot license and certificated flight instructor license) and a bachelor's degree in business would probably be just as good. Flight instructors don't make much money. For many people, it is a stepping stone on the way to the cockpit of an airliner. It is very tough to make a living as an instructor, but it can be done. If you are interested in the military, I highly recommend applying for the Navy and Air Force ROTC scholarships. They cover full tuition, give you money for books, and a monthly paycheck. Some colleges will also throw in room and board for people with these scholarships. Your chances of flying are fairly good through ROTC. Even if you aren't selected for a pilot slot, four years as an officer is a great life experience (and pays quite well, even in this crappy economic situation). Good luck on your endeavors! See if you can get an introductory flight with an instructor somewhere near you to really get you pumped for flying.
You WILL fly in the Airforce if you have a degree in any college. If you don't.... toilets it it! "Not all airlines require a degree" That is a pile. In todays economy, if Bob has a degree and you don't guess whos getting the job. How To Become a pilot: There are several approaches to becoming a pilot. There are two types that are pretty much standard. Air force, or the civilian way. Piloting is all about competition. You need about 3,000 hours in an aircraft to even be considered for the job. They say you only need 1,500 hours, but in reality most people have more. The higher your hours, the better shot you have at the job. Airlines also say they don’t require a degree, but again it is competition… you NEED it. Military Route: The military route is quite a simple one. First you NEED a degree from college. You need to be an officer in order to fly aircraft, and you can become an officer through 10 years in the air force, or 4 year degree in anything you want. You have to commit 10 years to the Air force… (next option is 10 years also) Then you simply fly for your 10 year minimum service agreement and you have about 10,000 hours! Beats the average Joes 3,000 hours! Civilian Route: To do this route, go to college. Some colleges upon completion grant you a commercial pilots license. Go to those colleges. http://erau.com . That means that you have had 300 airborne hours recorded. Go and apply for a job at a regional airline flying aircraft like Delta Connections. Google American Eagle Airlines. Stay with them for about 10 years until you build up about 3000 hours… And then apply for the big paying Major-International-Airlines. No matter the route you take, becoming a pilot is simple, and most of the time… only requires a college degree! Airline pilots can MAXIMUM work 1,000 hours a year, and 100 hours a month. That is FAA law. Pilots start off with a not so good pay, but after 2 years with the company, their pay nearly DOUBLES. Look at this chart: http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/image... FO means that you are First Officer, right seat of the aircraft. You are incharge of programming the flight computer (really easy to do just import VOR's) and maintaining radios. CAPT: means you are in the left seat. You are in charge of taking off the aircraft, maintaining it, landing it, and ensure safe operations. Per Diem. This amount is usually around $2. This means that from the second you board your aircraft at your home base, until you get off an aircraft (usually days later) at your home base. Pay Expectance: First Officer: Expect about $100,000 a year average... (untaxed, taxed around 70,000) Captain. Expect around $150,000 untaxed. about 130,000 taxed. Schedule: You can only fly 100 hours a month... however airlines only guarantee you only 70. That means that you will get at least 70 hours. That means that you can only be in the air about 15 hours a week. Now pilots operate strange shifts. They leave their home base usually in the morning and fly Airplane A. That pilot flies that Airplane A from morning until dark. Usually 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. With Southwest, they usually have 2 hour flights. Add an hour to every flight to get the airplane "turned around" on the ground (fueled and stocked). So in one day, the pilot could have 4 flights. Totaling at an average of 2 hours a flight... 8 hours of flight. They get FREE hotel stay at usually a 3-4 star hotel... Not your Motel 6 (when I was at a pretty nice hotel... there was pilots staying their for the night). As a pilot, the next day you board and pilot a new aircraft to several destination, returning to your home. You get about 16 hours of flight for just over 2 days. Each group of 2-3 days is called a leg. You have about 1 leg a week. Some weeks you could have none, some 2. You will never work 7 days a week IN A ROW. Purchase Microsoft Flight Simulator X to familiarize yourself with aircraft controls… and systems Sources: www.airlinepilotcentral.com www.airliners.net www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulato...
Obtain as many secondary qualifications as you possibly can as secondary school is compulsory and so are the subjects your school does. While you are still at secondary school it is best and most advisable that you begin flying lessons in order to obtain your PPL license. This is the very first license you should obtain and after gaining your PPL you should continue to gain many other licenses and ratings: Private Pilot License. Instrument Rating; Commercial License; Multi-Engine license/add-on; Certified Flight Instructor (CFI); Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII); Advanced Ground Instructor (AGI); Multi-Engine Flight Instructor (MEI). There are quite a lot widely available. The first one you will do, PPL, you can start the lessons at a minimum age 14 years old, go solo at a minimum age 16 years old and obtain license at 17 years old. From there your instructor can advise you what to do next and from then on. After secondary school, go on to tertiary education (Known as A-level in the UK, short for Additional Level). You can choose 4 or 5 courses to take for one year. For the second and final year you will drop one course. Preferably you want to be looking at taking Mathematics, Physics, A Language and a subject you enjoy. (If you’re doing 5 subjects which is very rare choose something else useful e.g. Geography, Engineering or most of all English). For the second year as I stated you drop one subject. It is very advised that you drop the subject you enjoy as the other subjects are your main priorities. If you gain all of these then move onto university, choose any course you like, preferably the course that you are best at as airlines don't mind which degree you have as long as you have one (However it is sometimes possible to become a pilot without a degree but is unlikely). Remember that during all these stages and levels of education continue with your flying and gaining more ratings and try to log as many hours as you possibly can. This is very important when it comes to decision time. Airlines say that a degree isn’t required, which is partly true but the competition is extremely high and candidates with a degree are head and shoulders above the candidates who don’t have a degree. For university it is best that you choose to do a 4-year degree of the subject that you excel at the most. So, the subject you get best at A-Level, carry it on to degree level as airlines don't mind which degree you have obtained but as long as you have one (although a degree isn't a necessity). Or you could do a combinational degree as I did; I did Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and Spanish at A-Level and carried Mathematics and Spanish on to degree level. The choice is yours on which subject to do. Also, if you really want to become a pilot then you will be a better candidate if you have logged hours in a light aircraft. It is advisable that you log a bare minimum of 600 hours but really try to excel that target. So, while you’re still at secondary school I suggest you begin taking flying lessons to obtain a PPL (Private Pilot License). Minimum ages are: Begin lessons: 14 Go solo: 16 Obtain license: 17 Once you have obtained this you should log as many hours as you possibly can before entering university as you will be struggling financially unless you’re rich. So by the age of 22 you could have all your GCSE's, 4 A/S levels. 3 A levels, a degree and a PPL license. With this you are an almost perfect candidate and stand an extremely strong chance of becoming a pilot. This is the way I did it so I like to think it would help other people as well. For training for a PPL on a Cessna 150M here are the costs: 45 hours flying C150 - £5,175 Landing fees (estimate) - £300 Training items - £175 Annual membership varies for each school but mine is £99.50 Radio-telephony test fee - £55 Total - £5,804 GROUND STUDIES: Ground school (when required) £25 per hour Written exams - £30 each IMC test - £65 Radiotelephony test - £65 PPL skill test - £130 Class 2 medical examination - £140 If you want to do it in a better plane such as a Tobago TB10 then add £21 for every hour you take. Self hire for these aircraft are approximately £95 per hour including landing fee Class 1 Medical examination Study books (7 books at approx $30 each) Instrument Rating Radiotelephony equipment and test fee Landing fees (varies on size of airport) Ground studies and tuition Written examination fee PPL Skill test IMC test The only clothing you need is a highly visible vest (bright green or yellow) Membership Total cost approx £5500 I apologize that I don’t know which country your from so I can’t exchange the prices myself. The prices vary with which aircraft you learn in. To become CPL qualified and become an airline pilot you need a CPL. There are a couple of ways to do this. Pay for it privately which can cost from £55,000/$110,000. Which many people aren’t in the position to do this. The other way is to get all your qualifications and then get either fully or semi sponsored by an airline. This means that the airline will pay for all your training but once you start receiving a salary from being an airline pilot you pay them back out of your monthly wage. But, this money is like a direct debit, you don’t literally have the money in the first place so you don’t really notice its gone. One more way is to become an Air Force pilot and log as many hours as you can with them, between 3,000 and 12,000 is perfect. And then you can go straight onto airline. Pay/salary: At first the pay will not be amazing. It will be about £30,000 or $50,000 and you will be a co-pilot. But after you have worked with them for some time and have logged hours and have experience this number will continuously increase until you’re at the optimum wage and can’t get any higher than Captain. Future Pilot For Southwest - he is 14 years old.