While there is no college requirement to be a pilot, most airlines look for some college time and prefer an earned degree. College shows that you are trainable and that you can stick to a challenging curriculum and succeed — qualities an airline would like to know that you have before it spends a lot of money to train you. There are two major career paths to being hired as an airline pilot: civilian or military. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

In the civilian career path, you can attend a college that offers a two- or four-year degree (some universities even offer advanced degrees in aviation) along with flight training toward various pilot certificates. Several universities in the United States and Canada offer courses along with flight training so that you graduate with a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in aviation along with a commercial pilot certificate and multi-engine and instrument ratings. There are also technical schools that offer flight training toward a certificate, often in less time. In both types of programs, you often graduate with an instructor’s rating, and you’ve built up some flight time teaching others.

An alternative to a professional school or college is to get your flight training piecemeal from a local flight school. It will take longer, and the level of instruction might not be as rich, but all commercial certificates are equal in the eyes of the FAA. The agency doesn’t care where or how they were earned.

Civilian training costs a lot of money. Basic flying lessons start at about $80 an hour, and you’ll need at least 250 hours before you have your commercial rating. It also costs a lot to rent large, complex airplanes for instruction. I like to think of the expense as an investment in a rewarding career that will pay dividends for years to come. Scholarships (full and partial) do exist, but most pilots will end up investing a lot of money in flight training.

In the military, you commit to many years of service after your one year of pilot training (10 years of commitment in the Air Force). You must also meet other requirements, such as college course work, good health and adequate physical ability. There are no guarantees that you’ll pass the military flight training on the service’s rigid time schedule, or that you’ll get to fly a specific airplane. In exchange for these compromises, the military pays you to train, and you get the best training in the equipment that an airline pilot would fly (complex jets).

A military pilot lives a military life, follows orders, risks bodily harm and uses lethal weapons. These aren’t things to take lightly, so if you are considering the military (and that is a wide field that includes the Coast Guard), then explore it thoroughly and see if the timing is right for you and your career needs. It is an excellent experience for many people. Some pilots even make the military their career.

After a pilot is certified, he or she will have to get more experience and flight hours before an airline will hire him or her. Because of the military’s service commitment, a military pilot will probably get a lot of flying experience before he or she leaves to join an airline. A civilian pilot, or a military pilot who needs more flight hours, may work as a flight instructor, then perhaps move to a charter company. From there, he or she might move to a regional airline and then on to a major airline.

Training

Once hired, regardless of your background, the airline will train you based on its procedures and its FAA-approved training curriculum. Even though all airlines fly the same kinds of airplanes, each airline has slightly different methods and procedures. The goal of an airline is to train you to be qualified in your position and to be standard. Standardization is one of the pillars of a safe airline. The concept is that, within the airline, cockpit behavior and procedure will be the same in every flight, no matter which pilots are at the controls, to prevent confusion and misunderstanding.

The initial training at an airline takes about 10 weeks. Basic indoctrination lasts a week or so. Training on general subjects, which include regulations and company-specific procedures, takes another week. You will spend two weeks on aircraft systems specific to the equipment you’ll operate. Pilots will usually specialize in one type of airplane, such as 727s or MD-80s, until they move to a seat on a different airplane. After systems, you’ll pair off with a training partner and have two or more weeks of simulator training. In the simulator, you’ll experience just about every emergency and anomaly imaginable. You’ll focus particularly on crew coordination and successful landing. All maneuvers are practiced until they are satisfactorily completed.

Once the pre-checks, oral examinations and final check-rides are over, you will have completed the airplane training. But you’re not ready just yet. Next you’ll fly with a special instructor pilot and get initial operating experience. This experience, which includes at least 25 hours of flight time, will teach you to integrate your newfound technical skills with the daily requirements of the job.

After initial operating experience, you face another flight test, called a line check. After you pass the line check, you are released to operate scheduled flights as a crew member. Airlines are now required to set up 100 hours of flying for you after a line check, so you can get immediate experience. After all that, you’ll want a vacation.