How To: Getting Started with your Training

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One of the biggest issues I see facing students is the lack of dedication and discipline.  This career requires the learner to be mature, serious, and smart.  Unlike a degree in underwater basket weaving, the training to become a pilot is life-and-death.  When you reach the airlines, you are responsible for hundreds of lives every day you go to work.

Throughout your training, you will be given a wealth of knowledge.  Between a degree and flight training, the amount of knowledge is comparable to a doctor graduating medical school.  Goofing off and not paying attention in class for one day could be the bit of information you needed ten years later to bring your crippled plane back to the ground safely.

I always tell those graduating high school or in their early twenties, if you are looking for the tradition college experience, the party all night, stay up late, get blackout on the weekends- find a different career.  You see, the job of the flight school (general term) is not only to train you, but weed out those whom should not be an airline pilot; and we do a very good job at both.  Flight training has one of the highest attrition rates of any profession.  It requires a high cognitive ability, natural intelligence, ability to use common sense, and extreme attention to detail.  If we find you lacking in one or more of those, we will wash you out of the program.  This is done completely by objective data, rather than subjective feeling.

With that said, hit the ground running...

Each flight school, FTC, and/or university/college program is different.  They each have their own pace, training style, programs, systems, aircraft, instructor methodology, etc.  Asking someone from another program advice about your specific training is counterproductive.

Find two mentors.  One from your school who is a junior or senior, and one from the place you want to end up (airlines for example).  The one from your school is who you go to with questions regarding specifics about your training.  The other is who you go to when you need help making decisions, or have questions about subject matter that you just aren't quite understanding.

You will need to set aside personal time.  Thats right, you will need to put personal time in your schedule. All the other time is spent learning.  For me, I made a weekly schedule, broken down by the hour (The example is from my first term of undergrad). It had when I woke up, when I ate, when I went to the gym, when I went to class, flight training, studied, etc.  Each day I gave myself 30 or 60 minutes of personal time to just relax.  On the weekend, I took either Saturday or Sunday off to rest, refit, run errands, etc.  But for nearly three years, I had no life outside of a few minutes every day.  This is what it takes to become a professional pilot.

Now, to rewind a bit, getting ready for your first class is nerve racking.  Not knowing is the worst feeling of all.  But trust the system.  Your choice of training has been pumping out students to this profession for longer than you have been chasing the dream and often times, have even been alive.  They will provide you will all the tools and materials you need.  Do not go out and spend a ton of money on bags and headsets and crazy items until your school tells you.  They will provide you everything including how to be successful in your education.

At the university I went to, the first week has a "welcome" brief.  This brief is a few hours each day for the first week.  They give you access to every system and program you will need, they tell you how the school works, who to go to for what, where to be and when, and what to do when you just don't have answers.  A few students fail to pay attention or take notes, and you can always tell who those are.  So pay attention!  Your school wants you to be successful- not fail.

After your first week, if you are confused, ASK!  There is no way to cover every single thing someone has a question about.  Trust me, if you are asking, someone else wants to know too.  So ask the question!

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