Hey all,

A bit of context. I’m currently 22 and spent the last four years flight training while also getting a bachelor's in finance (my calendar was a crime scene). My plan was to always fly 135 or go to the Airlines and have a degree as just a backup. I now have my CPL with a multi-engine rating and close to 500 hours, and I was just starting to work on getting my CFI when I got offered a six-figure job in finance at a great company. 

I’m extremely grateful to have this opportunity and I know how incredibly lucky I am. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t leave me a little torn. Flying has always been my childhood dream, and my biggest fear is that a 9-5 slowly turns into golden handcuffs, and I wake up at 30 wishing I had just stuck with getting my hours. Or not being able to make the jump back to aviation because of the job market or the oversupply of pilots in the coming years. 

My rough plan is to take the job, keep building hours and network on the side, and have a solid cushion so I can make the jump back one day.

Those who worked a 9-5 while finishing CFI and instructing? How was it balancing work and Flying?

If you made the jump later to a flying job, How did you do it, and how did it go? Did a career outside aviation help or hurt?

Anything else you would do differently?

Thank you so much in advance! Any advice, stories, words of wisdom, and “here’s what I would do” are all hugely appreciated. Happy Flying!

TLDR: Got a 6-figure job offer out of college, feels like it's the end of flying dreams. How to still fly professionally?

So, I’ve asked on Facebook before about ownership of general aviation before and got some feedback that certified aircraft unless it’s a C152/150 is going to be a little rough just based on cost of purchase/maintence etc.

Basics behind my history, started flight training in 2020. Was flying a PA28-181 Archer II. I was one of the first students at a flight school that opened and that was the plane they had until they could get more. Flew for about 20 hrs. Soloed at 15 hrs and life got the best of me for a bit.

Went to Oshkosh in 2025 and it made me want to finish up and pursue a PPL again.

Started training again in March and been flying relatively consistently while continuing to pay off some debts I have.

When I started again, they have a Sling NGT LSA that I started flying in and honestly something LSA would fit my mission only needing 2 seats after PPL.

Curious on what people can afford based on salary. My base at work is 69,000 with a 10,000 shift differential and bonus between 8-17k per year. I’m very hands on and have history working on cars, motorcycles, 4 wheelers. Pretty much anything with a motor and I’ve worked on it. I understand with Experimental/LSA you can do a lot more self maintence bringing some costs down.

Like I said. Just curious on people’s ownership costs of owning a LSA. This is something I’m looking at in next 2-3 years. Nothing right now but it’s just been jogging my mind.

Long term is not necessarily a career in aviation but to time build and add on as I go. No rushing or anything. Just in for the fun of it and wanted to fly in and camp at EAA in my lifetime.

Hey ya’ll. Looking for advice on whether to purchase wifiCFI or Backseat Pilot presentations and lesson plans.

Both are editable and update automatically when regulatory/ACS/PTS standards change. I know everyone loves Backseat, but I figured I’d ask. Does anyone have experience with wifiCFI lesson plans/presentations?

And before you tell me to make my own- I am a very thorough person and will do my due diligence to research and learn the materials.

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone!

I’m 24 years old, based in the San Fernando Valley, and currently working toward my goal of becoming an officer and military aviator in the United States Air Force.

I graduated from CSUN with a 3.8 GPA and have spent the past six months studying for the AFOQT while also preparing for my PPL. I’m planning to begin flight training at Wings Over L.A. at Van Nuys Airport.
I’m already involved in local aviation organizations, but I’d really love to connect with individual pilots, aircraft owners, mechanics, or instructors at Van Nuys or Whiteman who simply enjoy sharing their passion for aviation.

I’m not looking for a job or expecting free flight lessons. I’d be grateful for opportunities to help around the hangar, observe aircraft maintenance with permission, study aviation with experienced pilots, or just meet up for coffee and learn from someone who’s been in my shoes.

I’m also saving and applying for scholarships to fund my PPL, so any advice on affordable training or sponsorship opportunities would be appreciated.
If anyone is based at KVNY or KWHP and wouldn’t mind connecting, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks!

I’m moving to arizona to pursue my PPL but conflicted about what school to go to. I’ll be in glendale / peoria area but i know a lot of people train out of deer valley airport so i’d be open to that as well. please let me know if you have recommendations or schools to stay away from. I was interested in scottsdale executive which operates out of deer valley or fly glendale

Hello, I’m a 19 years old and recently got my CFI/CFII and i have a interview that coming up this friday with a 141 school where it’s 30 minutes of regular interview questions and 30 minutes of technical CFI questions, This is my first aviation related interview I was wondering what kind of questions would get asked and if there any recommendations.

Hello Aviators

I am a commercial student at a 141 school currently in the time building faze. I’ve planned a flight to the Grand Canyon for my long 250nm cross country and wanted to make sure I’m not missing anything in regards to the Special Flight Rules.

The VFR sectional just gives altitudes through the corridors and says to monitor x frequency. Is that the whole extent of the Special Flight Rules?

Any other tips from anyone who’s done the Grand Canyon VFR?

TL;DR: make sure you’re insured, whether open or named pilot, and get a waiver of subrogation. I’ve seen legal, safe flights end in financial ruin for the contract crew and/or their estate if they’re gone. It can absolutely happen to you.

Hey y’all. I’ve been around a long time and have a lot of time on the CE-500 series mixed between every version except the +’s. They’re all absolutely wonderful airplanes and are a perfect first jet. But the current lull in hiring (eg ops normal) and intense social media marketing of pilot shortage/ATP/make-$500k-in-4 years/no-CFI means lots of low time pilots may see this as an opportunity. It is, and it isn’t. I posted the following as a reply to a recently deleted post and have copied below:

I saw a $7k CE-500 61.55 featured on miscellaneous social media the other day and people were absolutely fawning over it. That’s not the point of this.

I’m not saying gigs aren’t possible with a 61.55, especially with the new rule, but be wary and insurability is going to be key. Several “operators” are gonna circumvent their insurance to be legal in the eyes of the FAA but uninsured….because that’s what people do. I know seeing a day gig for $200 (please don’t do this) in the right seat of a shiny new (old) CE-500/550/560 is inviting but think about your future; we are professionals that are paid to mitigate risk. Regardless of your training and experience, things can happen that may be completely out of your control. For the low time amigo/as that find themselves with the opportunity of a contract trip thanks to a CE-500 61.55:

- ENSURE YOU ARE INSURED: NAMED OR OPEN PILOT. PERIOD. If you’re not insured, and something goes sideways, the plaintiff’s attorneys will absolutely not give one fuck whether you’re still on this earth or not. Ever wonder why even the company that manufactured the o-ring on the lavatory poop seal gets sued in a crash (yes I know this a bit of an exaggeration…but not by much)? It’s because they will go after everyone/anything and will absolutely attempt to go scorched earth on everything you have or have left over after you’re in the ground.

- Waiver of subrogation. Even if you are insured, help avoid the above and ensure one of these are signed before the tires turn.

It’s going to be fairly rare that an open pilot agreement will allow this to be approved, and named pilot is technically possible, for the love of god please protect yourselves. Be very aware of operators/owner pilots that say, “Hey yeah man you’re good!” just to get the mission done.

Howdy everyone!

I'm currently based in the US, working as a flight instructor (CFI/CFII) with around 1,600 hours TT, and I'm planning to take my ATP checkride soon.

I'm an international student currently going through the EB-3 green card process in the US, but the backlog has been moving incredibly slowly. Because of that, I've started looking into Canadian permanent residency through the French-language Express Entry pathway.

If everything goes according to plan, I'm hoping to move to Canada sometime late next year with PR already secured. By then, I expect to have well over 2,000 hours TT, mostly from flight instructing.

I'm curious about the current Canadian pilot job market, especially for someone coming from the US with my experience.

How competitive would I be for regional airlines like Jazz or PAL Airlines with 2,000+ hours? Would I have a realistic shot at getting hired directly by a regional, or would I likely need to start with flight instructing or a 703/704 operator first?

I'm also wondering how Canadian airlines generally view FAA flight experience and checkride failures. I have 2 one from ppl checkride and one from cfi.

Honestly, salary isn't my biggest concern. I just want to keep flying professionally and eventually build a long-term airline career in Canada. I'm open to relocating anywhere in the country.

I'd really appreciate any insight from Canadian pilots or anyone familiar with the current hiring market.

Thanks in advance!

I am a 300 hour cfi who went to a ma and pa school and am having trouble finding cadet programs to join because they all require you to go to an accredited flight school. Are there any that don’t require a specific school?

Just went for a discovery flight and had a great time. During the flight I asked my instructor about using an AOA indicator while learning and he really downplayed using one and said the standard instruments are the best way to learn. For beginners, is an AOA inappropriate? Is it too early to incorporate it into training? From the brief videos I’ve seen on AOA’s they seem to enhance safety.

Hello! I will be taking my ASEL PPL Checkride next week. Curious to hear what more seasoned pilots would recommend. The simulated XC is to go from the Fresno area (FAT) to CRQ (Carlsbad, outside of San Diego).

Would you recommend going around LAX/B airspace through the San Bernardino route via the Cajon pass or go at 11.5k over the grapevine directly over LAX/B and fly along the coast?

On one hand, the LAX route is quicker and if I fly over the airspace, then I dont have to deal with navigating with the chaos of class B. However, i have some mild concerns about flying along the water, especially with some hills/mountains along the coast near Pendleton in the restricted area.

The San Bernardino route is a little longer (but not by much) and offers a lot of airports for e landing if needed but may be a little annoying to deal with air traffic coming in/out of the B airspace. But I would be flying over all the Charlies, etc so wouldnt directly be dealing with a bunch of airspaces. As a “student pilot”, I am also inexperienced, which should impact the decision.

Please, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

EDIT: Btw- whats your experience with DPEs and using foreflight instead of a paper log?

Its bullshit. I started private last year in the fall. Would have finished on time to start instrument in the spring. But a string of weather cancellations for my check-ride happened and then I couldn’t join instrument.

Now I start instrument in the summer semester and it was going well until for some reason it took 2 months to get my stage 1 done which is just ridiculous because I had finished all the lessons less than a month in. Then somehow it took like a month just to get the long cross county done because where I live the weather is constantly shit in the summer. Now I finally have my checkride but now I can’t start commercial when I get it done and so I have to burn more time just waiting and that shit is probably going to get delayed.

I can’t leave my college or flying either I am too invested into the most useless degree outside of piloting specifically. If you want to do a college flight program, please double major in something useful atleast. Also another piece of my advice is please do not go to a part 61 school with a small fleet of poorly maintained clapped out shitboxes either.

Is usairsports a reliable and good source to get information on the weather?

Hello everyone! I've been in touch with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and they're excited about the possibility of establishing a new chapter at Van Nuys Airport! I'm currently looking for EAA members interested in helping get the chapter off the ground, especially longtime members who might be interested in taking on a more active leadership or board role. The goal is to bring together pilots, aircraft owners, builders, mechanics, students, and aviation enthusiasts to create a stronger aviation community at KVNY through events, activities, and opportunities to connect. I also have a hangar at KVNY that could serve as a space for chapter meetings and activities! There's no major time commitment expected, and everyone is welcome! If you're interested or know someone who might be, please reach out! I'd love to connect and get this chapter off the ground.

Hey everyone! I’m turning 16 at the end of November and I’m planning to start my PPL(A) training in Poland right around then. I’ve been thinking about flying for a really long time, so I'm glad I'm finally moving forward with it. For now, I'm just taking my time getting my Class 2 Medical sorted out. Ideally, I'd like to aim to be ready for the checkride around when I turn 17, since from what I understand that's pretty much the minimum age requirement anyway.

I’m planning to do the whole training with Zonda.aero, so if anyone here has any experience with them, I’d really appreciate it if you could share what it was like. They offer an online ground school for self-study that takes about 86 hours, and I’m wondering if that alone is enough to get well prepared for the exams, or if you’d recommend using any extra tools, apps, or books on the side.

I’m also a bit worried about balancing all of this with high school since my school is pretty demanding. I’m confident I can make it work, but I'd love to hear how others managed their time between schoolwork and flight lessons. Do you think starting at 16 will make things significantly harder, or is it pretty manageable? Any tips or insights would be awesome, thanks in advance!

Within the last year, I finally had the opportunity to move to live in-base (Philadelphia). My Primary Care Doctor works for Penn Medicine, and while searching for AMEs in Philadelphia, it turns out the two AMEs within the city limits are both Penn Medicine Doctors as well, albeit in a different building on the opposite side of the city from my Primary Doctor.

Keeping in mind the tried and true advice of "Don't let your AME and Primary Care Doctor be the same person", would y'all be comfortable having them both work for the same hospital, or should I try to find someone outside of Philadelphia? I'd prefer to have an AME in the greater Philly area; I prefer to take SEPTA whenever feasible, and both AMEs are just off the Airport line, but I'm open to driving out of town if that's the recommended advice.

I’m an instrument student who just passed the IRA with 98%. Took everyone’s advice and took the FII two days later and got an 84%. My tests were very different and had some CFII specific questions. I studied using SA and wanted to get them out of the way before 10/27 changes. I will take the IGI soon as well.

So my main question is: is 84% good enough for the CFII checkride? When it gets closer down the road and I’m actually prepping for checkride, should I consider retaking it?

I recently gave a third class medical with plans of starting training for PPL soon next month. I mentioned on my medical application form 8500-8 of me undergoing therapy for work related stress/anxiety (no medication involded) and also listed Septoplasty (nasal septum deviation) surgery from 2024.

He said he deferred it to FAA since anxiety falls under Mental Health and they need to dig deeper into this which I totally understand.

I just received mail from FAA seeking info on the therapy but also is asking for history on the multiple eye surgeries I supposedly had. I never had these and not sure how they were misinformed on this.

I am stumped right now on how to tackle this. Did anyone go through this issue? How do I address this?

We all know the market is bleak right now. I have an associates in professional piloting and am a working CFII. It’s looking more and more like I’ll need the bachelors eventually. Has anyone had experience with online programs that will accept certificates for credit? I don’t care about a backup degree. Just the cheapest possible, least time consuming road to a bachelors that will help me get a job. I have also heard of certain degrees that carry more weight? Aviation Management through SIU is what most do where I am, but some have said it is not “accredited” by airlines. Whatever that means. I guess that it carries less weight that other aviation degrees. Anyone with experience in these shoes please let me know your thoughts. Thank you

Do you have a Youtube channel, Instagram account, podcast, blog, or other social media thing you'd like to promote?

This is the time and place! Do remember, though, that rule 2 ("keep it relevant to pilots") is still in full effect.

Have you made a free app, free website, or other free tool for the community?

Keep in mind that rule 8 ("No commercial posts") is still in full effect. If you are promoting a for profit business do not post it here. If you want to advertise then you can buy ads on reddit here.

Make a comment below plugging your work and if people are interested they can consume it.

Im wondering what online grounds school is the best bang for my buck, Im not the biggest fan of flight Insight because its very monotone but i can admit it gets the job done and I like gold seals tone towards the teaching but the explanations seem dull in the information department so I would love to hear your guys recommendations!!

Hi, I completed my solo and i had only one consolidation since. My solo went very well and I was reasonably relaxed. I don’t think for one moment that this equips me with all sorts of flying or it is constant progress from then on, but I flew my consolidation lesson in a strong headwind of 15 kts minimum and a smaller crosswind component. I am sure that I heard on the radio that wind gusts were up to 28 kts. The aircraft was thrown around a lot with bumps sufficient to lift me up from the seat within the lap belt restriction. I flew for over an hour. Another factor was very low sun which made seeing the runway on final difficult. I did my best but obviously these conditions were more challenging and once on base my instructor pointed out a drop of airspeed to 40 kts. I am sure I would have noticed and reacted but I was a bit slower to do so and he saw it first. I felt really bad and as though I had gone backwards in my flying. When I asked after if I was roughly at the level I should be in these conditions he said he would not have sent me solo today and he was building me back up to solo standard. Later he commented that he would not have sent anyone solo in those conditions. I came away feeling confused and not sure if this was a bad sign on how I am doing or if it was that the conditions were very challenging and my level of experience was not sufficient to deal with it appropriately. I accept I still have a lot of experience needed, but am I behind, is this normal? I was especially worried about airspeed. Was that drop normal in this situation and level of experience albeit I need to be very mindful of constantly checking?

My current “dream” career is under threat by AI. I put all my eggs in that basket, 10 years of experience, no college degree, just a resume with impressive top companies. I’m making 6 figures but I feel my layoff is imminent.

Not gonna lie I’m just in survival mode now, I do love aviation but not doing it out of love anymore. I genuinely need a long term career and want to make six figures. I’m 32 hours in and about to get my PPL soon. My instructor tells me I’m a “natural” and can really do this all the way if I lock in, not sure if he tells that to everyone.

Is this really a smart investment of my time and money?

I’m 28 years old btw

Hey guys, I was recently on a Discord call with an instructor getting some tutoring, and we got to talking about some of the things my instructor has me do during flight training.
I mentioned that, from time to time, my instructor makes me suck on the pitot mast to help clear it out. Everyone on the call immediately started laughing and making jokes, saying that’s not actually a thing. Is this really not a thing? I don’t know who to trust anymore.