Flight Training - May 2011 - 47

find it—that debt can be retired in five years at a monthly payment of $3,208.11. If he stretches it to 15 years at $1,344.35 per month, Andrew will be pushing 40 by the time he achieves a zero balance. Then there is the real issue of paying off the debt while supporting a family on an engineer’s salary, and then taking a 60-percent cut in pay when making the transition to full-time professional flying. And what is the monthly takehome pay during those first years as a regional, corporate, or air taxi pilot? Would-be professional pilots who need to satisfy the lust for the sky must

CAREER PILOT NEWS

VIRGIN AMERICA TO SERVE CHICAGO O'HARE
CALIFORNIA-BASED AIRLINE VIRGIN America will begin daily nonstop flights from both

Los Angeles and San Francisico international airports to Chicago O'Hare International Airport beginning May 25. The airline will occupy gate space at O'Hare's Concourse L.

What You Should Know About Rod Machado’s Pilot Handbooks
• Written by an expert CFI, not a consortium. Rod knows how to teach.
• Rod simpliﬁes. Easy-to-understand explanations of the whys.

WOULD-BE PROFESSIONAL PILOTS WHO NEED TO SATISFY THE LUST FOR THE SKY MUST REMEMBER THERE ARE MANY OPTIONS TO GET AIRBORNE OUTSIDE OF AIRLINE AND CORPORATE FLYING.
remember there are many options to get airborne outside of airline and corporate flying. Become a member of the Civil Air Patrol. Build up enough time on a reasonable, pay-as-you-go schedule and sign up as a contract pilot in a Navajo or King Air flying corporate or air taxi on weekends. Become a truly dedicated flight instructor and not someone who looks at CFI work merely as time building. Join the FAAST program and promote safety in the area by holding clinics. Start a flying club. Launch a business that requires the use of an airplane. Get experience and become a designated pilot examiner. The view out the window is about the same—only better because it’s on your schedule. Maybe, when you are in your mid-thirties, you can refinance remaining debt and make that jump into the airlines or big time corporate flying. Don’t give up the dream to fly, but don’t sink ever deeper into red ink. Choose a realistic path.
Send your Career Pilot questions to careers@ aopa.org and we’ll answer them here.

• Pilots can’t put the books down. Rod gets them excited about ﬂying. • High school students love his books, as do captains for GA review. • Universities switching texts see a 6% increase in FAA test scores. • Comprehensive, cost-effective, one-stop-solution, everything you need to master the information, with memory aids. • Workbook reinforces what you’ve read – Handbook quick references. • Rod uses humor. If it’s not fun, you’re doing something wrong. COMPARE Rod Machado’s Handbook with another text. Read one topic in each book. Which explanation do you understand best? Which book would you rather keep reading?

ORDER 800-437-7080 ORDER online: www.RodMachado.com Download audio and eBooks too!

MAY 2011 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - May 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - May 2011