17 years old. What do I do?

[Lucas7]

Deleted

[CpnCrunch]

Well if you look at the pilot jobs on Westjet's website it says:

Desirable Assets:
Post-Secondary degrees/diplomas

So while it isn't required, it will likely get you closer to the top of the pile.

[toelessjoe]

17 years old?! I'll tell you what to do, GIVE ME YOUR YOUTH YOU LITTLE BA$T@RD!!!

Just funnin' with ya. (Although I kinda hate you a little bit right now)

- Toeless

[Rowdy]

I thought they'd changed it, to say something more along the lines of 'post secondary an asset'. meaning that you should have some higher learning and it'll get your resume further up the chain.. but probably not by much

better yet.. go get a useful engineering degree or something in the trades that'll pay you enough to buy your own or a share of an airplane and fly FOR FUN, instead of getting into this mess that is commercial aviation

[Conquest Driver]

A degree may get you to the top of the pile, but if you don't have the flying qualifications you won't be in the pile at all. If you're in Winnipeg you could do a lot worse than start at Perimeter. If you really want a degree you can get one part time at Athabasca University and still keep your flying going.

[esp803]

If you're in Winnipeg you could do a lot worse than start at Perimeter. If you really want a degree you can get one part time at Athabasca University and still keep your flying going.

I think this is probably some of the best advice given to a new/aspiring pilot on this site in a while. If the airlines are your goal this would be the perfect gig. Work your way up the ladder at a stable reputable company close to home while working on a degree, wish I had done that.

E

[fish4life]

Do a trade instead of university degree much more useful, it will also pay better than most uni degrees and can also be a good side job to help you get by during the first few lean years of flying.

[Meatservo]

Boy, I have given up on having a boy of my own but never stopped thinking about what I would tell my hypothetical son if he ever asked me if I thought being a pilot these days was worth the trouble, or whether he should go to university or not (for the sake of simplicity I have chosen to use the masculine forms of the third person singular pronouns referring to progeny; of course if I had a daughter who was interested in flying I would obviously be saying the same thing). I myself never bothered to go to university, I did go to one of the colleges that was offering an aviation program back when I did my training in late 80s/early 90s. I have always been conscious of a lack of a degree, but if I were to be completely honest I have never been made to suffer for that lack. It's more that I am conscious of where I fit into the corporate scheme: the bottom. The flying world is becoming more and more corporatized, and there is an emerging aristocracy within that world, and one of its hallmarks is the university degree. I feel like as time goes by the working world will become even more stratified along these lines and frankly, it is my opinion that if you don't want to be on the outside looking in, you need to have a degree. The absurd thing is, any degree will do (almost). In the past it was possible for a pilot to become one of the big decision-makers at an airline. This is still true, but I fear that in the near future the lack of some kind of a degree will be the limiting factor in this regard. Not for any sensible reason, you understand, just that without the degree you won't be welcome in the club.

Maybe I sound a little bitter; it's just that it seems to me that if you want to achieve in the corporate sense, even in aviation, given a choice between a degree and a pilots' license, you'd certainly be better off in the long run with the degree. Unless you love to fly, that is.

You being 17 and all, I have to ask: Do you love to fly? If the answer is yes, how do you know you love to fly? Personally I love to fly, but I have come through periods where I loathe flying and would have given it up if only I knew how to do something else. But I don't so I kept going, and now I have reached the point, finally, where I don't think I could live without it. So I have stopped having an inferiority complex about degrees and things and learned to be content that I found something that a person is able to be in love with, and get paid, and is worthwhile getting good at, and it's OK.

So I guess, I think you're wise to be thinking of a degree. I have a great deal of respect for tradesmen, and the advice in the posts before mine is all good. I'm afraid however, the world is stratifying, and it would be nice to have a couple of pilots in the top strata, as it were, so I wouldn't discourage someone from getting a degree. I wouldn't discourage someone from wanting to be a pilot, either, despite what you sometimes read here, it continues to be an honourable way to make a living. If you ever aspire to management, get a degree and learn to fly at the same time or one after the other. If you like doing trades-like work, why not learn to be a pilot and an AME? They are complimentary and desireable skill-sets!

[CanadianEh]

From the initial program I was in, 26 started and 11 finished the flight part and out of those who finished there are only about 4 steadily working as a pilot. The idea of being a pilot is a lot nicer than the actual thing. Be prepared to sink a lot of time, money and hard work with no guarantees of success in an industry that is notorious for over promising and under delivering. Make sure you LOVE to fly before you get too far into it. Start with your PPL and take it from there is my opinion.

[Rowdy]

From the initial program I was in, 26 started and 11 finished the flight part and out of those who finished there are only about 4 steadily working as a pilot. The idea of being a pilot is a lot nicer than the actual thing. Be prepared to sink a lot of time, money and hard work with no guarantees of success in an industry that is notorious for over promising and under delivering. Make sure you LOVE to fly before you get too far into it. Start with your PPL and take it from there is my opinion.

Interesting.. of my com. ground school there were 25.. only two of us are still in aviation!

[sky's the limit]

Go to school, whatever you choose, go to schoot. Trades, degree, whatever... just do not hook your cart to the aviation horse only. This industry is brutal and has chewed up and spit out more people than you can imagine.

Get some type of education in your pocket, then go flying if you so choose.

[Hudson]

I worked with a guy who flew floats in the summer and then went to school in the off season. He went to college for his commercial licence first, got the job in the summers and then did more college come September. If I had it to do over again and had the money to do the commercial licence privately that's how I would do it.

[Dash-Ate]

If you are going for a degree/diploma get something like this from SAIT or NAIT.

Something which will allow you to charge $20-50/hr once up and running.

But if you get a B.A. degree you can charge only Min. Wage an hour. $9-10.
Yes that's it.

http://www.sait.ca/programs-and-courses ... m-list.php

You want aviation or money making?
Ok get your PPL/CPL on the side while you work and earn a living.

[Colonel Sanders]

My advice for any young person:

This is hard. No one at age 18 knows what they're
going to be doing when they're 45.

You need to choose something to do which

1) you enjoy
2) creates value
3) cannot be learned in one day

re: #1 - you may be surprised that this is #1, but
unless you enjoy doing something, you will never
be motivated to put out the effort to get good at it.

re: #2 - in our pseudo-capitalist society, you need
to pick something to do which creates value. For
example, I might choose to be a surfer in Hawaii
but I fear that might not create much value for
anyone else, so I might starve. But with a nice tan.

re: #3 - not learned in one day. What many people
don't understand is that with the falling of protective
trade barriers over the years is that fundamentally
every person in the world is in economic competition
with every other person in the world.

That's kind of a weird statement, but keep in mind
that if you learn a job in one day - say, tightening
lug nuts at the Ford plant - there is someone in
Korea or China who is willing to do it for a buck a day.

There are many people in North America are having
that problem right now. Don't be one of them.

You need to pick something to do, that you enjoy,
that creates value, and can't be learned in a day.

Now onto aviation, because this is an aviation website.

There are plenty of jobs in aviation other than pilots,
but you would hardly know it.

I understand that you are interested in becoming a
pilot. I'm not sure how much flying you have done,
and I'm pretty sure you haven't done much of the
kind of flying that you would do for a living.

So a big question mark is whether or not you really
want to be a pilot that badly. Is it just a nice idea,
or is it what you meant to do? Only you can answer
that question (and you certainly don't need to tell
anyone else the answer).

Pilots almost always get into aviation because they
just love to fly. But as they get older, the only reason
they stay in aviation is for the money. Hard to feed
a family on $21,000 a year.

Most people want to be an airline pilot, because they
think it's the most money for the least amount of work.
Maybe they're right.

This may surprise you, but the biggest determining factor
of whether you will be an airline pilot is the year you were
born.

The industry is very cyclical. Some years, you can have
20,000 hours and 3 moon landings and a Space Shuttle
type rating and a perfect tan and perfect teeth and no one
will care, because no one is hiring, because times are bad.

Other years, they will hire anyone. If you can see lightning
and hear thunder, you're our boy.

I will mention that the path to becoming a professional
pilot can be pretty long and daunting (and underpaid), if
your timing isn't perfect, and because of one other factor.

Supply and demand. Many pilots struggle with understanding
this relationship, but it's actually quite simple. If there is plenty
of a commodity, the price drops. If there is a shortage of a
commodity, the price goes up. This assumes constant demand.

Because an awful lot of people want to be pilots - too many
bums chasing too few seats - the pay can be pretty miserable.
This is not because airline executives have forked hooves and
carry tridents and have horns on their heads, but instead is a
simple result of the law and demand.

This is probably too much information, but I thought I'd try.

-- edit: Here's a career suggestion. Let's say you really like
feet, and you happen to live in Nova Scotia. Become a foot
surgeon! 3,500 people want you!

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/26 ... ames-long/

[careerpilot?]

This is a little bit off of your post, but have you considered the Military option?

Under the ROTP program, you will get a Bachelor degree and your pilot training, whilst earning great pay and benefits (especially when compared to the rest of the industry).

It is a very tough road with very strict selection criteria, and you need to be prepared to not only be a pilot, but a leader (and all the sacrifices that come with that title). You will also spend time in non-flying positions, but IMHO these positions merely make you a more well rounded individual - such that, should you choose to leave the military after your 7 years of obligatory service, you will be far more employable in both flying and non-flying jobs. You will learn to lead and manage, which is invaluable anywhere you go.

My only advice, should you choose this route, is this:

1. Get flying experience before you start training. The learning curve is incredibly steep for an ab initio student. If you fail training, you will find yourself in another CF trade to finish out your obligatory service - it's happened to many friends of mine already. Civilian standards are far looser than those you will be held to in Military training (no disrespect to my civilian pilot friends, of course - but TC's practical test standards are loose, I think you'll agree!). Keep this in mind and ask your flight instructor to be hard on you from the start.

2. This also applies to Civilian flying, but in the environments the military operates in, you are responsible for the safety of your crew and passengers - which means you need to LEAD. When the poop hits the fan, you need to be prepared to be that rock that your crew will lean on - see Denzel's character in Flight (but skip the drinking and cocaine - they tend to ruin a military career). If you don't think you can do this, the Military isn't for you.


If you'd like more info, I recommend you speak to a recruiter. You can also PM me if you like, I can give you what I know, but I will always defer to the recruiter as policies and standards are constantly changing.

Hope this helps!

EDITED for spelling mistake.

[FlowPack]

This is what you should do. Go to business school learn how to manage a small business. Take a risk - generate some capital and start your own company. Work tirelessly for 10 years and then get your own single engine graduating eventually to a kingair to fly you and your family to your winter home in Arizona or beach house in Florida or to visit the grandparents in saskatchewan. Forget 10yrs on the ramp and the bush and especially the airlines. There will be no greater pleasure flying to be had.

[182-SS]

You can do an aviation diploma/ degree at a number of colleges.
Okanagan College works with Carson Air in Kelowna,
Selkirk College in Castlegar bc.
Mt Royal in Calgary.
The aviation programs at college can be some of the most fun times you'll have, the girls at the college still really dig a pilot, trust me!
I'm sure there are more school but these are the ones I know of out west.
Don’t let the prospect of making money and getting your job get in the way of an education.
in such a tight economy and with all the competition a diploma or degree does not guarantee a job but not having one can guarantee you don’t get it if your up against someone who does, and so many do nowadays.

Knowledge is power, and remember you cant Google everything

[vstrom]

..., and remember you cant Google everything

Sure you can.. Rule 34

[Lemon]

Knowledge is power, and remember you cant Google everything

You sure can google how to spell College though...

[privateer]

Skip the degree. Go to a flying club and get a licence!

[tellyourkidstogetarealjob]

Listen to Meatservo. His advice is very sound.

Take the degree now, while you are young. Don't put it off or do it the forever and ever part-time method.

This industry isn't kind or generous to its' young. With a degree you have more flexibility . If you get sick of aviation you can go into another field. Many jobs don't exactly take any degree, but they will accept similar degrees to what they want. You would have options in other transportation fields and some junior management positions in unrelated professions.

Make use of the career councellor at your school and don't be shy asking questions. They get paid generous amounts of taxpayer money to provide answers. Research the kind of program you want and contact the prospective school to get as much information as possible. Check out what the degree could be used for (type of jobs, advance credit for another degree) if aviation proves to be a bust for you.

Always have a "plan B" up your sleeve.

[brownbear]

Don't aspire for a life in aviation. Being a pilot is a thankless shit job driving a bus. 2% have dream jobs. Other than that you are making crap pay and being forced to fly in all kinds of bad weather.

If you have the money for university and the smarts, get a degree in something useful that you can make a career of, not BA of Arts BS. Then you are making enough money to own a private airplane and enjoy aviation as a hobby. 99% of commercial pilots don't make enough money or even want to step into a private plane on their days off.

[182-SS]

Knowledge is power, and remember you cant Google everything

You sure can google how to spell College though...

Touche Lemon......Touche

Dont click "change all" on your spell check if you have a typo lol.

[RatherBeFlying]

There's lots of different ways to decent careers.

1. Make it something you enjoy

2. Before committing years of your life, $20,000 - $100,000 in tuition, choose something where you can get a job after graduation -- whether university, college or trade school. Co-op programs where you alternate between work terms and academic terms have the advantage of exposing you to job opportunities and paying the bills.

3. You may as well choose an occupation that pays decently.

4. After being downsized after 3 decades in IT, I can't recommend IT as 95%+ IT folks get downsized between 45-55.

5. The best deal is an occupation where you can ultimately run your own business -- hard to get downsized as long as you take care of your customers.

==================>

GET A VOCATIONAL ASSESSMENT

Knowing which occupations best fit your abilities and aspirations will spare you untold amounts of wasted effort and grief.

To scratch your flying bug itch without spending great gobs of money, check out the Winnipeg Gliding Club: http://www.wgc.mb.ca/index.php

There's Junior rates for membership.