how do kids afford this racket???

[ant_321]

I dont see the big deal about owing a few dollars when you finish training. I wouldn't recommend racking up $100k or anything but a few thousand isn't going to make a big difference in the long run. I could have finished flight school debt free but it would have taken a heck of a lot longer. I left flight school with about 20k in debt. I think the advantages of finishing much earlier have launched my career far ahead of what would have happened if I did strictly pay as you go. Even with the low salary starting out I had my loans paid off in less than 5 years. One of my friends would only fly as he could afford it and it took him about 3 times as long to finish his training. He is now flying a king air 100, I fly a 737 and make nearly 3x his salary. Long story short, sometimes starting flying a couple years or even months earlier can greatly accelerate career progression.

[Redneck_pilot86]

I grew up in Ontario and got my CPL through Confed. I had exactly $0 saved up after high school. I got some grants/bursaries, and the rest of my costs were covered by OSAP loans. It took me 3 years to pay off the OSAP loans, in which time I flew approximately 1500 hours for 703 companies in Ontario and the NWT. I am now CP and Base Manager at a 703 company in the Yukon. I'm debt free, own my house outright, and am considering buying the company.
Hard work and perseverance, as well as a little bit of luck. Don't try to keep up with the Jones', don't compare your career to your classmates, but don't miss out on life either. I had absolutely no contacts in the aviation industry when I started out, yet I made it.

[Rowdy]

Along the lines of rp86.. I had like 1500 to my name graduating high school and my father (airline capt) told me to find my own way if I wanted to get into this terrible racket. I snagged a couple of bursaries and grants and one pitiful 'scholarship fund'. That got me through my PPL. Then I busted my ass off working three jobs and flying every spare moment I could. That got me close. Mom took pity on me and lent me the $1800 for a float rating (which I paid back at the end of my first season) and the rest is history. I think all said and done, it cost me 65k.. in 2002. Then worked a couple float jobs to pay for my MIFR.. Slowly but surely. Its doable!

[Cat Driver]

Bottom line is the harder you work the luckier you get.

Entitlement will be the end of society as we know it.

[jd832]

An example of what I did:

I learned to fly when I was a teenager at a local mom and pop flight school. I washed airplanes and all the money I made went to paying for flying lessons. I got a few small loans later for my Instrument and commercial to speed up training and then paid out of pocket again for my multi engine rating. I had my commercial by the age of 19 (ppl to cpl 3 year process). I then enrolled in school to be an A&P in which I paid for with government loans. After graduating I obtained a job as aircraft mechanic. I then used the money from that job to pay cash for my flight instructor qualifications. I then quit and became a instructor full-time which then lead to my first airline job. I now fly a 737NG at the age of 33 with a little over 10,000 hours of flight time. 90% of it is transport category jet time. This all took place between the period of 2002 and now.

This is a long and patient road to be successful in. Success doesn't fall in your lap. Have fun in the processes. Have grit and passion and everything will fall in place. I write this as an example of the road I took without ending up neck deep in dept. I always said if I can't fly them I want to fix them which is why I got my A&P.

[superbilly24]

After finishing high school, I went to university for a business degree. I worked part-time while in university and full time every summer. I managed to finish university without debts. I then worked for a year at a decently paying accounting job. That year made me realize I didn't wanna stare at those computer screens for another 30 years. That job helped me save enough money for half of flight training. The other half is being financed by government student loans/grants (not Ontario). I should also add that I am still living with my parents while in school, which is saving me a lot of money.
It can be worth it to work for a year or two and save some money, if you can find a decent paying job. It was worth it for me.
I will hopefully finish flight training in the spring of 2018, at 24 years old, with 20-25k in debts.

[rookiepilot]

Why should grants exist for flight training in Ontario? What is the rational public policy behind this?

I don't recall grants being offered to me to start my business. I worked for the first 2 years for free, living off my wife's meager income, with bankruptcy a near daily possibility. Took a lot more risk than walking into a secure job.

Yet most think we should tax small businesses more, to give more free stuff to the entitled.

[JohnnyHotRocks]

Those grants are remnants of the last "pilot shortage" of the 1970s. The government has certainly wasted way more money on less worthy causes!

[rookiepilot]

Those grants are remnants of the last "pilot shortage" of the 1970s. The government has certainly wasted way more money on less worthy causes!

What business does a government have picking winners and losers with our money? As an overall principle.

[CpnCrunch]

What business does a government have picking winners and losers with our money? As an overall principle.

I think of it more along the lines of allowing people that don't have rich parents to get a tertiary education without getting into huge amounts of debt, like you did in Vancouver (I see your Poly has 50% government funding). I guess you probably feel guilty for taking all those taxpayer dollars rather than working in the oilpatch like a good little conservative kid.

The only thing I don't understand about this anti-socialist thinking is why you're not against government-funded primary and secondary education. Can you explain that? Or are people like you against that too?

[Stan Darsh]

Subsidized college programs, trade school grants and high school elective courses are not "free".

[rookiepilot]

What business does a government have picking winners and losers with our money? As an overall principle.

I think of it more along the lines of allowing people that don't have rich parents to get a tertiary education without getting into huge amounts of debt, like you did in Vancouver (I see your Poly has 50% government funding). I guess you probably feel guilty for taking all those taxpayer dollars rather than working in the oilpatch like a good little conservative kid.

You have completely lost me. Or mistaken me with someone else. I'd suggest you get your facts correct before commenting next time.

[CpnCrunch]

You have completely lost me. Or mistaken me with someone else. I'd suggest you get your facts correct before commenting next time.

That info was from the Globe & Mail article about you a number of years ago. Unless it was about someone else with the same name in the same town who is also an at-home trader. I'm not going to post a link because I don't want to out you. If it's wrong, perhaps you can tell us what education you have, and who paid for it?

[rookiepilot]

You have completely lost me. Or mistaken me with someone else. I'd suggest you get your facts correct before commenting next time.

That info was from the Globe & Mail article about you a number of years ago. Unless it was about someone else with the same name in the same town who is also an at-home trader. I'm not going to post a link because I don't want to out you. If it's wrong, perhaps you can tell us what education you have, and who paid for it?

A) there's not an education to discuss, I do not have any degree. Couldn't afford to finish. Far as I remember, I paid for what I did do. Heck of a long time ago.

Don't you think, Crunch, at some point on a broader scale, governments who support everything, run out of cash? That is my point.

[CpnCrunch]

A) there's not an education to discuss, I do not have any degree. Couldn't afford to finish. Far as I remember, I paid for what I did do. Heck of a long time ago.

Don't you think, Crunch, at some point on a broader scale, governments who support everything, run out of cash? That is my point.

It seems a waste of time and money to start a course that you can't afford to finish. I'm not blaming you, but perhaps if your course had been funded more by government, you wouldn't have had to give up because you weren't lucky enough to be born to rich parents. It's just about fairness.

[Cat Driver]

The internet is a scary place.

Isn't it?

[rookiepilot]

A) there's not an education to discuss, I do not have any degree. Couldn't afford to finish. Far as I remember, I paid for what I did do. Heck of a long time ago.

Don't you think, Crunch, at some point on a broader scale, governments who support everything, run out of cash? That is my point.

It seems a waste of time and money to start a course that you can't afford to finish. I'm not blaming you, but perhaps if your course had been funded more by government, you wouldn't have had to give up because you weren't lucky enough to be born to rich parents. It's just about fairness.

Wasn't just the course cost. I was out on my own by then, and it was either education or eating. I like to eat. Wasn't easy, at the time. Not everyone has an easy road but it is possible.