CFI or charter airline?

[Springer]

15 hours ago, O Face said:

Springer subtlety slipped a name in there with a fascinating story, if you didn’t notice. I had the honor of hearing Dale Stovall (HH-53 pilot that flew the rescue) tell us about Locher’s rescue at a squadron function many moons ago. Glad he was able to get home and go to UPT with you. Here’s a quick synopsis. Legends!

https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/oyster-1-bravo-evasion-and-escape-in-vietnam/2/

Locher & Stovall story is one of the great ones.  Never met B/G Stovall but many years later found out he married a lady that was in my small high school senior class. Six degrees of separation.  Stovall went on to fly for FedEx.

Edited 3 hours ago by Springer

[brabus]

@ViperMan Valid points again, but devils advocate is using that logic he goes into WAY more debt early in life, betting on the premise his hypothetical future wife and/or kids will need his GI bill for a degree. I know how well my “in 20 years this is where my life will be” thoughts worked out - probably similar to everyone else! The hypothetical scenario is certainly realistic, but is it worth the gamble and taking on a shitload of debt right now? I don’t think there’s a right answer, but it is a large point to consider. Also depends on one’s view of college in general or what they think their future kids are “entitled to.” Some of us max out 529s and encourage our kids to go to college, some of us think college is mostly a for max profit bullshit scheme and useless outside of specific career tracks where it’s a hard requirement. If one is in the latter group, who cares about saving the GI Bill for kids. 

Edited 10 hours ago by brabus

[BFM this]

Not to mention, you could come up with some pretty wide spectrum comparisons for GI Bill usage.  The high end being some Ivy League private school with a yellow ribbon financial incentive, the low end being a trade program, or in this case ratings.  Everyone's GI Bill usage is going to be different.  The most important part is that it gets USED, which, tragically doesn't happen in a shockingly high statistical rate.

For the record, I was on the MGIB during school, before the rates started rising.  $465 a month baby!  Good news is that I got a year plus up under the P911GIB...which I intend to use for a rotary wing add-on 🤙

Edited 5 hours ago by BFM this

[wikz]

10 hours ago, brabus said:

@wikz If you’re good with commercial flying being your career (even if you never get hired to fly ANG), then the plan is decent. Personally I would use GI bill towards ratings, as it sounds like it’s not necessary to use it towards the degree you’re currently working on (is that correct?) keep in mind major airlines will require turbine time (and usually PIC turbine), so you will likely have to either move on from CFI-ing to fly for a local commercial company who flies turbines, or you’re doing two jobs simultaneously. Either way, it’s going to be bumpy road of low pay (relatively) for a while, but if you truly enjoy aviation (and teaching when you get to that point) it’ll be a fun journey and you’ll be somewhere you really want to be soon enough (199th, HA, etc.) Sure beats the hell out of sitting behind a desk every day!

I don't think id ever be "good" just flying commercial. Don't get me wrong, I love flying and would be VERY grateful to fly for an airline. However, if I ever pursued the airlines before going to UPT (if I ever was picked up), it would be to set myself up for later in life (be financially stable, meaning I can start to give back to my family instead of take, and also to be the best pilot I can be before going to UPT).

You are correct, i'm already 2 years out from my bachelors and college is pretty much taken care of by federal student aid. That's why the GI bill looked so favorable to use for ratings, but viper man brings up some good points which I will take into account. 

Kamaka air offers turbine time, so im glad you brought up what the majors airliners require. I'll definitely look more into that. 

Edited 4 hours ago by wikz

[wikz]

10 hours ago, ViperMan said:

Personally, I would take a loan before smoking through the post 9/11 GI bill. The GI bill will pay about $15K/yr for vocational flight training vs $27K/yr if used for college (2023/2024 dollars). That's .60 for $1. Not a great return. Can you take out a $60K loan to fund your flight training to preserve a $100K benefit? That math also doesn't account for what you lose in BAH when you're taking college classes. Average E-5 with dependents BAH is approximately $2K per month. Multiply that by 36 months of benefit, and you're looking at $72K of tax free income. No payroll taxes. No income taxes. Just money in your pocket. The BAH alone is worth more than what they'll give you in flight training benefit.

Just understand the total cost and make an educated decision. Don't be that guy who buys a brand new Camero on E-4 pay. The $60K flight training benefit is going to cost you about $140K.

It will surely help, it's just not an efficient use of the benefit.

Yeah, the ratio of the money returns between flight school and college isn't great, but with college almost done and the funds taken care of, it seems like I wouldn't be able to use it for anything else except my kids college and I hope by that time, ill be an airline pilot with no issues in paying for it. 

Also with being a guard guy, I dont get BAH unless on TDY's or deployments, and I dont get TA unless on orders that are a month or longer. Other than that, I believe I would only be able to get BAH while using my GI Bill like you said. 

I agree with your argument and wish I could've used the GI Bill for college to receive more money, but I think I missed that window. And like brabus said, going into debt now to save it for my kids college (assuming they want to go) to receive the maximum benefits of the P911GIB in the future is debatable.

Edited 4 hours ago by wikz

[Sua Sponte]

The VA’s VR&E (Chapter 31) will also pay for pilot license and ratings. It’s a better deal than the Post 9/11.

[ViperMan]

8 hours ago, brabus said:

@ViperMan Valid points again, but devils advocate is using that logic he goes into WAY more debt early in life, betting on the premise his hypothetical future wife and/or kids will need his GI bill for a degree. I know how well my “in 20 years this is where my life will be” thoughts worked out - probably similar to everyone else! The hypothetical scenario is certainly realistic, but is it worth the gamble and taking on a shitload of debt right now? I don’t think there’s a right answer, but it is a large point to consider. Also depends on one’s view of college in general or what they think their future kids are “entitled to.” Some of us max out 529s and encourage our kids to go to college, some of us think college is mostly a for max profit bullshit scheme and useless outside of specific career tracks where it’s a hard requirement. If one is in the latter group, who cares about saving the GI Bill for kids. 

Valid concerns.

2 hours ago, wikz said:

Yeah, the ratio of the money returns between flight school and college isn't great, but with college almost done and the funds taken care of, it seems like I wouldn't be able to use it for anything else except my kids college and I hope by that time, ill be an airline pilot with no issues in paying for it. 

Also with being a guard guy, I dont get BAH unless on TDY's or deployments, and I dont get TA unless on orders that are a month or longer. Other than that, I believe I would only be able to get BAH while using my GI Bill like you said. 

I agree with your argument and wish I could've used the GI Bill for college to receive more money, but I think I missed that window. And like brabus said, going into debt now to save it for my kids college (assuming they want to go) to receive the maximum benefits of the P911GIB in the future is debatable.

You guys are both on point, and I don't disagree. This is just my opinion. It sounds like @wikz understands the implication of using the GI bill for flight training. I don't think $60K is that much debt, but then again, I'm an airline pilot now who's biggest concern is when I see nearly $9,000 withheld from half my month's pay. It's effed. So my blackpill is trying to keep as much of my money as possible. Colors most of my opinions now-a-days.

On that note...if anyone has any bright ideas for hanging on to more of my money...I'm all ears.