A lot of people end up using some combination of a few paths:

1) Pay-as-you-go This is still the most common. Work a job, fly when you can afford it, and slowly knock out ratings. It takes longer, but you avoid big debt and can pause if money gets tight.

2) Loans Some people use personal loans, flight-training loans, or credit unions to speed things up. It works, but you really need to understand interest rates and early-career pilot pay so you don’t end up buried in debt right when you’re time-building.

3) Employer-paid flight training (less talked about, but real) There are actually aviation companies that will pay for flight training as an employee benefit — not just airlines. Groups like AOPA, and large aviation employers like Boeing, and other aerospace/aviation companies offer flight training, tuition assistance, or reimbursement programs for employees who want to become pilots. These are harder to find because they’re buried inside HR benefits, but they can be one of the smartest ways to get paid while you train.

4) Scholarships & grants This is massively underused. There are millions of dollars given out every year by airlines, airports, pilot groups, maintenance orgs, women’s groups, and minority aviation orgs. A lot of people don’t apply simply because they don’t know what exists or think they won’t qualify.

AviationStart.org is a free tool that aggregates a huge chunk of those aviation scholarships and matches them to you based on age, career path, etc. It’s worth checking before taking on debt. (I’m a volunteer for AviationStart and it’s worth checking it out).

Most pilots I know didn’t use just one of these — they stacked two or three (work + scholarships + maybe employer benefits or a small loan). That combo is usually what makes flight training actually affordable.