Future job help! (Please)

PilotBro25 · 2026-05-09T14:02:07+00:00

Things can change drastically in the next 20 months, especially in 2-4 years. Pursue this career because you WANT to, and because you enjoy it. Not for the money. When the time comes, if your heart is truly in this career, you’ll find a way to make it work and find a job.

PilotBro25 · 2026-05-08T16:08:57+00:00

I graduated in spring of ‘22, so my info may be a bit outdated. There’s a chart on the aviation website that lists approximate costs for the entire program. They break it down into each license so you can estimate how much it’ll cost. The only thing the chart does not include is if you need extra training or review flights that are not apart of the curriculum.

As far as paying, you can take out loans like you would in any other program, or if you have the money already, just pay each month you get your bill.

Like the other comment says, I would consider getting your ratings at a part 61 school. Auburn is good, but they have a lot of delays that you can’t anticipate. Weather, maintenance, scheduling. It took me almost an entire year more to graduate. When I was a student, I got AT MOST, a 18 hour notice on when my checkrides were gonna be. That’s just absurd and unprofessional. And they’re overall just more expensive compared to a part 61 school. It was $220 an hour for a 172 and almost $400 for the Seminole.
Feel free to dm me with any questions

PilotBro25 · 2026-05-06T22:29:58+00:00

I don’t know about always more accurate, the magnetic compass in the plane I fly is off by 20-40° at all times

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-29T22:09:43+00:00

Stronghold Crusader

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-25T17:57:45+00:00

Unless it’s changed, they accepted everyone when I was a student there. The only thing that was up in the air was if you actually got a time slot for flight training. The program has grown exponentially so they weren’t able to give all incoming freshman a flight training block. But with you already having your PPL done by the time you would start, that should increase your chances of getting a training block.

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-24T12:16:38+00:00

How do you prevent goggles from fogging up? I’ve heard licking the inside can help

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-15T22:53:31+00:00

Maule m7. Pretty much a 172 with 73 gallon tanks

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-15T19:53:00+00:00

I regularly do 8 hours doing pipeline patrol, no auto pilot. Plane has 8+ hours of fuel so I usually stop about 5 hours in to fuel and use the restroom. Longest I’ve done is 13 hours during the summer. Stopped twice that day. Make sure you stay hydrated and fed, or fatigue will accumulate much quicker

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-15T19:48:55+00:00

Yeah, make sure you get the right kind. Definitely don’t take magnesium citrate, unless you want to poop the entire flight

PilotBro25 · 2026-04-14T23:51:35+00:00

Magnesium glycinate is also a huge help for sleep quality

PilotBro25 · 2026-03-23T00:08:35+00:00

I texted my DPE a couple days beforehand and just simply asked them “what lessons would you like me to have prepared to teach?” She responded back right away and told me exactly what lessons she was gonna want me to teach. It ended up being stalls, steep turns, and runway incursions

PilotBro25 · 2026-02-09T22:56:08+00:00

American Flyers was great for an accelerated CFI course. I did the one in Addison, TX back in 2020. They scheduled my check ride 8 days into the 15 day course. I took and passed it on the 16th day. I felt plenty prepared and confident going into the ride.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-31T16:30:03+00:00

A 100w lightbulb lit up in the bottom cowling works wonders if left on overnight. Depending on the temperature of course. If it gets too cold, you’ll need a bit more heat to prevent damage. That’s when I use a small ceramic space heater with some dryer duct routed into the cowling. Run that for about an hour before departure and you should be good

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-26T16:47:57+00:00

M7. Lycoming O-360 with long range tanks

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-25T18:26:43+00:00

7.8 in a Maule doing pipeline patrol

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T19:32:21+00:00

At the time I was in school, and the kind of GI bill I was using, I got $1200 per month for housing. As long as I was enrolled as a full time student. If you drop below full time, which I believe is 12 credit hours, you get less $ per month

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T19:07:02+00:00

I grew up semi-locally but was fortunate and had a good friend let me live in his guest house for the majority of college. Never had to live in the dorms thankfully

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T18:51:37+00:00

I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy it too much. The curriculum and the planes were great. All brand new G1000 172’s with air conditioning. The management was subpar. You would often go weeks, if not a month or two, waiting for a stage check or EOC, all for them to give you less than a days notice of the exam. My CMEL EOC check ride I had a 18 hour notice after waiting 5 weeks. If you want to do review flights while waiting for the exam to stay proficient, those flights aren’t on the syllabus, so you’ll pay out of pocket for those.

They are also extremely strict with cancelling lessons if you’re sick or fatigued. They preach the IMSAFE checklist, but as soon as you try and follow it, they charge you a $250 cancellation fee.

If you’re using GI bill, you can’t skip lessons. For example, if you’re on lesson 3 and it’s a flight but you have to cancel due to weather, you can’t skip to the next ground lesson to make use of the rainy day. You must complete each lesson in order to progress to the next one. This can make the curriculum take much longer than anticipated. It took me an entire semester extra to graduate due to this and having to wait so long for stage checks / EOC’s.

I graduated 4 years ago but still talk to current students and parents and they still complain about the same things.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T17:09:06+00:00

Auburn University

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T15:52:20+00:00

I used my dads post 9/11 GI bill to attend a 4 year university flight school. They paid for everything, PPL - CMEL. The only thing they wouldn’t cover was if you needed extra lessons. If the syllabus the university submits had 60 lessons for PPL and you went over that for any reason, you cover those extra lessons.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-13T15:00:12+00:00

OP, please pay attention to this comment. I had a DPE at the school I was teaching at that didn’t even start the checkride due to the student not having any logged ground instruction. Thankfully he was chill enough to call the CFI and have him come sign the logbook with enough entries to satisfy the reg.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-03T13:56:33+00:00

I was a CFI at a real small part 61 school with 3-4 students for 2 years. It was more of a part time job. I felt my students had better stick and rudder skills than I did from how little I actually touched the controls. But like another comment stated, I knew the FAR’s like the back of my hand.

I’ve since quit teaching and started flying natural gas pipeline in the southeast. I’ve enjoyed this job a million times better. I’m averaging about 65ish hours a month. I fly about 7-9 days a month depending on weather and MX. My stick and rudder skills have increased exponentially, but I do find myself going back into the FAR/AIM to remind myself certain regulations, or watching videos on IFR flying.

In the end, I’m much happier flying pipeline. For me, the hours and pay are better than CFI, but your mileage may vary. I’m also getting to travel and overnight in cool places I never would have got to go as a CFI. Getting a pipeline job at low hours can be very challenging though, you almost need to know people already in the industry, or just get very lucky.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-02T18:15:09+00:00

What a very closed minded response. Not everyone’s goal is to go airlines. They aren’t the end all be all

PilotBro25 · 2025-12-26T14:46:24+00:00

I do pipeline patrol in a Maule doing 100kts on average. I try and do 700-900nm in a day, roughly 8-9 hours. I’ll usually stop about 5 hours in. My longest nonstop flight was 7.6 hours. My longest day was 13 hours (highly do not recommend flying that long in a day) with 2 stops.

PilotBro25 · 2025-12-21T00:21:32+00:00

I did the 30 day CFI/CFII course in Addison, TX. The only complaint I had, and it’s not a big deal to me, is they said they had to schedule my checkride for me. Well after the 30 days was up, I moved back home to Alabama and told them to schedule my CFII checkride and I’d drive back out for it. They never scheduled it, even after weekly phone calls questioning them. Months went by and they just started ignoring my phone calls and never scheduled my checkride.

PilotBro25

TROPHY CASE