Become a Professional Pilot

Over the last few weeks, I have been in the process of buying a house with my partner.  Once our offer was accepted, it was time to get the bank to send our lending request to the underwriters.  This is where I found out what seems pretty normal to the airline pilot, is completely abnormal to everyone else.  So, in an effort to help future pilots understand the pathway to a major airline or give you something to copy and paste when the lender ask, here is how this works... Speaking in generalities, there are two pathways to becoming a professional pilot: military or civilian. Though I was in the military for nine years, I was not in aviation at the time and did not start flight training until I was discharged from the Navy.  I completed my flight training at a civilian university (you can substitute a university program for a Part 61/141 non-degree program in the example outlined below).  My path has a pretty standard career progression. While in flight training at the university, as m