I'm not a pilot but have a friend that is. He got his on his own and it took him years. I'm talking years even after he had his commercial license and 1500+ hours flight time with a ton of different ratings to even include float planes. He was always going somewhere to get another cert on his own time and dime. Even had all the instructor stuff done.
And when he finally did land a full time job it was with the small regional turbo-props (Embraer) where they severely overwork and under pay their pilots. He actually could almost qualify for food stamps or whatever they call that now. He was always staying in out of the way places or in deep blue cities that he wanted no part of but that goes with it. Funny thing is he was always staying overnights in Mexico. They had their own campus' there and they weren't bothered a bit. All the cartels know those pilots don't make anything and they always left them alone.
Tell him that it's doable but even after graduating it's going to be a long haul to get into a jumbo jet, so he'll have to be very determined and he'll be paying on those student loans for a long time on just above minimum wage salary. IOW, he really needs to think long and hard plus have a plan.
And when he finally did land a full time job it was with the small regional turbo-props (Embraer) where they severely overwork and under pay their pilots. He actually could almost qualify for food stamps or whatever they call that now. He was always staying in out of the way places or in deep blue cities that he wanted no part of but that goes with it. Funny thing is he was always staying overnights in Mexico. They had their own campus' there and they weren't bothered a bit. All the cartels know those pilots don't make anything and they always left them alone.
Tell him that it's doable but even after graduating it's going to be a long haul to get into a jumbo jet, so he'll have to be very determined and he'll be paying on those student loans for a long time on just above minimum wage salary. IOW, he really needs to think long and hard plus have a plan.