I'm poor. How do I fly?

[Guest Blackfox4242]

Does anybody have any ideas on how to get cheap, or paid for aviation training (scholarships/grants). I want to get my private piloting license before I try for a pilot slot at OTS in 2 years. I'm one of those poor college students with about 200 extra bucks a month to spend on myself, so any help would be much appreciated.

P.S.- I'll take donations too... come on folks? Think of the tax deductions!! :D

[sky_king]

From my experience, it's pretty hard to find a scholarship to fly. The best thing I tell people to do is to hang out at the airport and find that guy that loves to fly but doesn't care about logging the hours. Every airport has one and a lot of times, you can fly while that 'guy' sits there.

I worked for a guy who sold airplanes. I would wax them for him and he would let me fly a C-150 for $15/hr (about 8 years ago). We'd also go to several fly-in breakfasts and he'd foot the enire bill. I'd log all the time.

[slacker]

Southwest and Airtran have many fares for under $200.00 :D

I used to wash planes for a flying club, every plane washed was a $20 credit and a C-152 cost $32.50 an hour wet (1995).

Edit-spelling

[ 26. April 2006, 07:23: Message edited by: slacker130 ]

[Guest sleepy]

If you do the plane washing/waxing thing, do a good job. I've had half-assed jobs done; I let the dude fly, but only once. If he didn't care enough to do well, why should I?

$32.50. Not bad. $15.00 is great. I paid $42.50 wet (no club membership) in '96. Owning is much better.

[Carpetbagger]

Very few scholarships out there, but you can get "school loans" for flight training from Sallie Mae (SLM). You can get your PPL done over a summer while you work part time. Takes a little while to pay off the loan, but it is definitely worth it if you are strapped for cash like I was. The 3 or 4 thousand $$ loan is well worth it when that Guard or Reserve unit says "we would love to have you come fly with us." I took out a small loan and got a paper route during the last year of college to help pay for flight training and pay back the loan. Worth every penny.

[Guest ShortThrow]

I have heard of cadets taking out student loans for it, because it could be considered part of your education I guess. I'm considering doing it.

[Guest flecth033]

Lt. M,

You can join the Civil Air Patrol and get some good discounts on flying hours. You might be able to find a CAP pilot thats prior military and let him know your situation/aspirations and they might take you up with them. A lot of the older CAP pilots just like to fly and find any reason to go up,

Sleepy,

It sounds like you own a plane, I was actually going to start a thread to get some advice on buying a plane. What are the in's and outs to buying (is it good to do partial ownership,how much does average maintenance really cost, what are the different types of insurance, is it good to rent your plane out)? Thanks

[Guest twinkle toes]

I just took out student loan for ppl last semester. The way it works is it is called a "plus loan." You take what the school says it costs a student per year to go to school (not just tuition, but room and board, books, etc) minus what you took out in financial aid. I believe this includes grants also. The left over amount is how much you can take out in student loans. If this is not enough, you can take out personal loans, but you have to start paying those write away. I got mine through Great Lakes (first federal or what ever they call themselves now). You can get it through any student loan company though. Check with your Fin Aid office for more info about getting more loans.

[ 26. April 2006, 10:48: Message edited by: twinkle toes ]

[Guest RaptorKeeper]

Originally posted by Lt. Moody:

Does anybody have any ideas on how to get cheap, or paid for aviation training (scholarships/grants). I want to get my private piloting license before I try for a pilot slot at OTS in 2 years. I'm one of those poor college students with about 200 extra bucks a month to spend on myself, so any help would be much appreciated.

P.S.- I'll take donations too... come on folks? Think of the tax deductions!! :D

You know the other option is always the very bad, and very addictive credit card. I just ran up my USAA credit card knowing that I'd pin on Captain someday and be able to pay it off. Not responsible, but it does the trick when you're trying to get hours fast.

[Guest sleepy]

flyguy,

Feel free to PM me with any questions. We can carry that over to e-mail. I did own my own airplane, but I sold it due to upcoming class dates. I learned a lot, and I have many resources at my disposal. First piece of advice, do NOT buy a paint job.

[ 27. April 2006, 04:46: Message edited by: Toro ]

[Guest Cobalt]

I was in a very similar situation. I ended up applying for a job out at the local FBO and essentially getting paid to hang out there around a bunch of rich doctors...It could be a good deal, plus you can take that cash and turn it into flying. You can learn a lot from hangar talk. While it isn't quite bar talk around a bunch of military pilots, you can still learn a few things.

I don't know if the AF is still doing the IFT thing or not. They did it when I was a cadet and paid for 40 hours of instruction. Not sure what the deal is now. Either way, working out at the FBO allowed me to rack up 200 or so hours of flying time prior to UPT and I only paid for about half of that.

No worries though, even if you don't fly civil-UPT will teach you everything you need to know. Military flying isn't anything like civil flying-but a little knowledge of the basics can't hurt.

Good luck.

[Guest sleepy]

Two things in response to what Cobalt said.

1. NEVER get in an airplane with a doctor.

2. Be careful whose hangar talk you believe--most of it is bullshit.

edit spelling

[ 26. April 2006, 12:06: Message edited by: sleepy ]

[Guest mr_gordon777]

You might want to look at Pilot Finance. As the name implies, they give loans exclusively for getting your license, instr. rating, etc. They have pretty good rates and payment plans. Check out their site: pilotfinance.com

[nrodgsxr]

burger king is hiring...

+1 on student loans.. borrow the money from somebody.

[Guest Cobalt]

Originally posted by sleepy:

Two things in response to what Cobalt said.

1. NEVER get in an airplane with a doctor.

2. Be careful whose hangar talk you believe--most of it is bullshit.

edit spelling

True. Very True.

[brabus]

I got a loan through keybank specifically for flying. They have good rates and you do not have to start paying the loan back until after graduation. It's a good deal and definitely worth it, esepcially if you're trying for OTS, guard, etc. where having a license can really give you a boost.

[ 27. April 2006, 04:46: Message edited by: Toro ]

[Guest priorE]

I'm one of those poor college students with about 200 extra bucks a month to spend on myself

I took out a loan to do some flying at the aero club at my base and I paid approx 200 bucks/mo to pay it off. There ya go!

I know it's tough being poor and trying to fly but it's absolutely worth it!

p.s. As As far as login names go, I AM a Tweet stud for a couple more weeks

[Murph]

Originally posted by Lt. Moody:

Does anybody have any ideas on how to get cheap, or paid for aviation training (scholarships/grants). I want to get my private piloting license before I try for a pilot slot at OTS in 2 years. I'm one of those poor college students with about 200 extra bucks a month to spend on myself, so any help would be much appreciated.

Not sure if you're still reading after all the bickering, but the washing airplanes/lineman/airport bum deal is actually not all that bad. Ok, sure, it probably wont even cover the hourly rate for instruction but as you talk to the owners of the planes you get opportunities thrown your way. Business trips, ferry flights, airshows, etc always come up and if you're available and not annoying you'll most likely get those offered to you.

If washing planes isn't your thing, as previously mentioned, taking out a loan isn't a bad deal so long as you don't lose focus. Sallie Mae provides up to 100k (last time I checked) for approved pt 141 schools.

Finally, check out http://www.flightinfo.com/buildtime.htm for more inspiration.

Good luck

[Guest Blackfox4242]

Thanks for all of your responses guys! I have to say that reading through this thread has been most informational and entertaining.

I really like the idea of working down at the airport for the pilots. Heck, if I'll scrub my jeep and motorcycle down three times a month, then why not a few planes here and there! It'll be a day or two before I can make it down to the airport and see what they've got for me, but I'll make sure to let you all know what I find.

The loan ideas are good too, but I've got enough of those for my university already. *I'm lucky though, in a month my VA chapter 35 grant paperwork goes through... 4,000 in retroactive payments! Granted, after debts paid, I'll see 500... go figure.*

Hmm... I have thought of prostituting myself out, but then I think back to my days working retail, and I feel strangely dirty.

Thanks again! I'm gonna put this advice to work!

P.S.- I call myself Lt. Moody because I play WW2 simulations all the time, and, considering my aspirations, it's a pretty dull but clever title. It's awful to offend... here's a cookie... read a book.