Hi everyone,

I’m a 28-year-old B737 pilot with over 3,000 hours on type, an EASA ATPL and EU citizenship.

I’m facing a career dilemma: stay at a solid, mid-tier Latin American airline (not low-cost) and upgrade to B737 Captain in about 6 months, or move to Spain as a B737 First Officer at a full-service airline, with a potential transition to the B787 after approximately 2 years.

The decision isn’t just about flying or salary. My girlfriend is a pediatrician who can practice in Spain but not in our current country due to licensing restrictions for foreigners, so we’re also considering our long-term future, finances and family plans.
I’m also genuinely unsure which country would offer us a better quality of life in the long run. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Spain and really enjoy the culture, the people and the lifestyle. However, I do have concerns about the country’s long-term economic and social outlook, and I’m not entirely convinced that moving there would necessarily be the better decision.

Option 1: Stay at my current airline – B737 Captain
Expected upgrade in approximately 6 months.
Salary: €8,500 net/month after upgrade.
Pros:
Become Captain at 28 and start building valuable jet PIC time.
Excellent salary and savings potential.
Established seniority at my current airline.
PIC experience could open doors internationally.

Cons:
Continue living in LATAM.
Mostly short/medium-haul flying.
The airline operates an all-B737 fleet, with very little chance of ever flying widebody aircraft.
My girlfriend cannot practice medicine due to licensing restrictions for foreigners.
Household depends on a single income.
Private education for future children and healthcare can be significantly more expensive than in Spain.
If I decide to move to Europe later, I’d most likely have to start over as an FO at a legacy or CP at low-cost carrier, with the associated working conditions and lifestyle trade-offs. Direct-entry Captain opportunities at European legacy airlines are extremely limited.

Option 2: Move to Spain – B737 FO at a full-service airline
Expected salary:
First 2 years: €4,000 net/month.
After ~2 years: Expected transition to B787 FO at €7,000 net/month (not guaranteed).
Pros:
Establish seniority in Europe at 28.
Potential B787 long-haul flying.
Live in Spain and build a future in Europe.
My girlfriend could work and continue specializing as a pediatrician.
Potentially higher combined household income.
Access to affordable public healthcare and education for future children.
A culture and lifestyle I already know and enjoy.
Cons:
Give up a Captain upgrade just 6 months away.
Start from zero seniority.
Remain an FO for potentially many more years.
Uncertain B787 transition and Captain upgrade timeline.
Higher living costs in Spain.
Concerns about Spain’s long-term economic outlook and future living standards.

The family factor
I’ve been with my girlfriend for 3 years. She’s a pediatrician, and her medical degree is already recognized in Spain. She could work there relatively easily, earning approximately €3,000 net/month, while continuing her medical career.
In my current country, she cannot practice due to licensing restrictions for foreign doctors. There are discussions about changing this, but nothing concrete yet.
Estimated household income:
Current airline Captain: €8,500 net/month (after upgrade).
Spain, first 2 years: €7,000 net/month combined.
Spain, after B787 transition: €10,000 net/month combined.
Of course, cost of living, career progression, future family expenses and long-term savings also matter.

My dilemma
Staying would allow me to become a Captain at 28, accumulate valuable PIC time and potentially save more money early in my career. However, moving to Europe later would likely mean joining a low-cost carrier and starting over in terms of seniority.
Moving to Spain would mean sacrificing that near-term command opportunity, but both my girlfriend and I could build our careers in Europe, with potentially better access to affordable healthcare and education if we have children.
I genuinely like Spain and could see myself living there, but I’m not sure whether its long-term economic and social trajectory makes it a better place to settle than where we currently live.
What would you do?
Would you give up a Captain upgrade just 6 months away to move to Europe as an FO?
Considering both our careers, future children, quality of life and long-term finances, which option would you choose?
What factors would you prioritize when making a decision that could shape both your professional future and your family’s long-term life?

Thanks in advance!

I have my commercial pilot checkride coming up and last time I did a checkride I was up way too late trying to make my navlog for the cross country with the most up to date winds. Is it acceptable to use the foreflight generated navlog? I feel like if I’m able to show him that I know how the foreflight got the calculations then its fine right?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in the process of converting my foreign ATPL to a Transport Canada ATPL. I’m an Airbus A330 Captain and have already knocked out the SARON and SAMRA, and I'm taking the INRAT next.

Under the new policies (CAR 421.34), to get an unrestricted ATPL that meets ICAO standards, the PPC needs to be done as PIC on a multi-engine aircraft that is required to be operated with a co-pilot. If I don't meet this specific skill test requirement, TC will issue the ATPL with a limitation stating it doesn't meet ICAO standards.

On the general aviation side, I can't find any flying schools with an affiliated multi-engine aircraft or program that actually qualifies under the "two-pilot requirement" to let me do this checkride.
Has anyone successfully navigated this foreign conversion recently under the new rules?

Are there specific flight schools, charter operators, or third-party simulator centers in Canada that cater to this two-crew skill test requirement for individuals?
Is my only realistic path to accept the restricted ATPL for now and get the restriction removed once I'm hired by a Canadian operator and go through their initial type rating/PPC?

Any recommendations, contacts, or solutions to get the unrestricted ATPL directly would be hugely appreciated!

I'm 26, have the post 9/11 GI Bill and am planning on heading to a 2 year degree program for becoming a fixed wing pilot through a part 141 school paid for by the military. I am extremely motivated and committed to becoming an airline pilot and wanna know realistically how long would it take for me to achieve this? The school is 2 years and technically if I grind as a CFI could attain my r-atp license within a year. This is everything going right (which I know probably wont happen). I read all the time that it takes so many people 7+ years to become a pilot and I always wonder if this is because most people just don't commit to it full time or have the funding available. Would it be realistic for me to potentially get a job at a regional within 3-4 years being of full time working towards this goal? I guess mentally I just wanna know that if I commit to this I can probably be earning a decent living within 4 years vs something closer to a decade. I know there are a lot of unknowns and possible delays that could put me behind but I'm super motivated to try and achieve this.

Title: Best flight schools for PPL training in West Yorkshire? Is flying realistic between November and March?
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for recommendations for good flight schools around West Yorkshire, particularly near Bradford and Leeds, to complete my PPL.
My main priorities are the quality of instruction, instructor availability, aircraft availability, and how efficiently I can progress through training.
I’m also wondering how realistic it is to complete a significant amount of PPL flying between November and March, given the British weather.
I understand that winter brings shorter daylight hours, poor visibility, low cloud and more frequent cancellations, but I’d be interested to hear from anyone who’s actually trained during these months.
Is it still possible to make consistent progress, or should I realistically expect long periods without flying?
I’d particularly appreciate recommendations from anyone who’s trained at Leeds East, Leeds Bradford, or other airfields around Yorkshire.
Thanks in advance!

I’m a CFII reviewing §91.185 for an interview I have next week and I’d like to clarify a specific lost-comms scenario:

Let’s say I’m flying IFR from KAUN to KSAC. My original clearance limit is KSAC.

Enroute, ATC issues one of two instructions:

Scenario A: “Cleared to PIVSE, hold as published, expect further clearance in five minutes.”

Scenario B: “Proceed direct PIVSE, hold as published, expect further clearance in five minutes.”

PIVSE is not a fix from which an instrument approach begins, and I lose communications in IMC immediately after receiving the instruction.

My understanding is that in Scenario A, PIVSE becomes my amended clearance limit. Under §91.185(c)(3)(ii), I’d leave PIVSE at the EFC time, proceed to a fix from which an approach begins, and commence the approach as close as possible to my filed or amended ETA.

But in Scenario B, does my original clearance limit remain KSAC because ATC only amended my routing?

If so, would I be expected to hold at PIVSE until the EFC time, continue to KSAC, and then proceed to an appropriate approach fix?

More fundamentally, is Scenario B even a clearance ATC would realistically issue? Can an EFC time accompany a “proceed direct” instruction without amending the clearance limit?

I’d especially appreciate input from controllers or CFII/DPEs familiar with how this is handled in practice versus the literal wording of §91.185.

Thanks in advance for the help! I’ve tried to ask pilots I went to flight school with and this has been a bit of a stumper.

Edit: this has been answered for me, thanks for all the help!

Wondering if there’s any ABX FOs in here and if they have anything to say about their QOL. Including if you guys are commuting , how much are you flying and if you are on the 17/13 or 7/7 schedule with them. How the overnights are if you have any at all I guess. Im currently flying Part 91 and building time and just gaining some curiosity about flying heavies in the 121 world. Thank you!

I finally landed my first Flying Job with a survey company after a series of unlikely and probably divine events. Im very excited!

I was also not prepared for this because for a number of reasons I thought that ship had sailed until they called me up.

Any tips, anything to expect? I know its going to be a blast but its a long way from home for a long while. appreciate it

So this may be kind of Niche so I just hope that I can get one or two people in similar situations but basically I am a Senior in High-school who is planning on attending a 4 year university with a Aviation program. However I also play football and have a few D3 and D2 offers from schools with Aviation programs. However when Ive spoken to like students in these programs they always say that it is a HUGE time commitment so im just wondering if there is anyone who has played football or any college sport and balanced it and was it worth it in your opinion?

Last week I made a post on needing reassurance or advice on First solo nerves, I got my first solo on 10/10/26, my second on the 11th and third on the 12th.
Thanks to everyone who gave me the advice and the kind words super proud of myself for it and can say I enjoy flying a lot more again. Starting my cross countries soon!!

Edit: thanks everyone for the replies, the consensus is clearly that I’m overthinking it.

One thing I’d like to try to clarify: it appears to me that mentioning my engineering background led to assumptions about my mindset that I didn’t intend and I don’t think are correct. I don’t care if my instructor knows how the physics work. What I was uncomfortable with was the way he filled in his gaps of knowledge in a lesson. That’s all.

Either way this seems to have generated a lot of helpful dialogue and feedback, all of which I appreciate, thanks 🙏

——————

I’ve been working in aviation for awhile, it’s always been something I’ve been passionate about so I recently decided to pursue a PPL.

I signed up with what seems to be the biggest instruction company in my area. There are 3 or so, this one has the largest fleet and offers training from PPL through ATPLs. Anyway, they seem legit and convenient so I paid a €500 signup fee and am happy to make forward progress.

My first lesson before flight is a basics of flight and controls classroom thing. I have a degree in aerospace engineering and I’ve been working in the industry for awhile so a lot of it seems obvious to me, but I don’t want to be “that guy” so I’m smiling and nodding my head, and paying attention to the bits of info that are new to me (my experience is all jets so I have a lot to learn about little Cessnas).

Anyway: there were several parts of this guy’s theory instruction where he was just absolutely wrong. There were a couple minor things, such as describing how LE flaps worked, where his rationale was wrong but the effect was the same so I just continued to smile and nod my head.

Then he got into secondary effects of flight controls and spent like 5 minutes trying to explain about how when you use your rudder to yaw in one direction the lift will become uneven on your wings for XYZ reason, so you should also do XYZ with your control column. This wasn’t intuitive to me so I’m trying to wrap my head around it while listening to him and looking at the PowerPoint slide, and it’s clear he doesn’t understand it at all. At the end of his 5 minutes discussing the topic he looked at the PowerPoint slide he was working off of and realised it completely contradicted him, like he said you should be applying right roll when the slide said left.

To his credit he looked at the screen, paused, then said “my mistake…” and corrected his instructions to match the slide.

I’m probably overthinking this but I’m concerned about receiving flying instructions from someone who confidently explains things incorrectly. I don’t expect my instructor to have a detailed understanding of complex behaviours of aerodynamics, that’s probably not necessary to fly an airplane, but I also don’t want them to just make shit up when they don’t understand it.

I’m thinking of requesting from the flight school that they don’t assign this guy as my instructor going forward. They seem to have several instructors and I assume they can accommodate this request.

If you’ve made it this far through my post, thanks.

My questions are: * is less-than-strong understanding of aerodynamics normal for a CFI, so if I object to this guy I’ll probably just get more of the same? * Am I overthinking this? * If my instincts are on the right track, what’s the best way to approach this with the school? I don’t want to cause any problems with/for the guy, but I’m not comfortable receiving flight instructions from him based on this.

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!

When cleared for the ILS circling approach, is the FAF considered at the glideslope intercept or do we have to treat it as a non precision and wait until RAWlS?

Had a few different answers and thought i’d ask here. The confusion is coming from a circling being a MDA which makes me think we have to treat it like a non precision.

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 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?

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!

Completed PPL recently and figured I’d post the cost summary. Took about 1 year and ended in 10/26. This is Kansas City metro.

Flight + CFI at 77.5 hours (59.1 RX + 18.4 PIC): $19,093

Ground school at community college: $399

Check ride: $800

Insurance: $352

Written: $175

Fore Flight: $427

Headset: $1100

Books, charts, E6B, plotter: $250

TOTAL: $22,596

Wet rate for Archer is $190/hour and includes $5/hour discount for paying in $2500 blocks. Rate was $170/hour one year ago but at 9 gal/hour they had to increase the fuel cost. CFI is $65/hour.

if there‘s any costs to watch out for, it’s the long cross-country as that can easily be $600.

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?

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

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!

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.

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?