The U.S. Armed Forces offers aviation training to qualified enlistees interested in becoming helicopter or airplane pilots, air traffic controllers or commercial flight engineers. Instruction covers flying techniques, emergency procedures, navigation, weather, combat tactics, operation and inspection of aircraft, communications, radar procedures and air traffic control procedures. In choosing military aviation training, an aspiring pilot skips the hefty instruction fees charged by private schools and even gets paid to learn -- although he does have to enter the military to do so. Once he finishes his training and his service, however, he will have gained more actual flying experience than the typical, privately trained pilot.
As a less time-consuming, but more expensive alternative, aspiring pilots can attend private flight schools, some of which are approved by the FAA. Pilot training is available at most airports, so the schools are not hard to find. Choosing a school might prove to be more difficult. Students might instinctively seek out only FAA-approved schools because, obviously, they can assume instruction and planes already meet certain minimum standards -- and they do. Schools not listed as FAA-approved for whatever reason -- and the FAA admits that some of these schools are good in spite of the lack of approval -- must require more flight hours of their students than FAA schools do.
Other factors to consider when choosing a school are the type, extent and intent of the flight training and whether each school can adequately address these concerns. You also may want to consider the type of aircraft you want to fly, such as a helicopter, small or large airplane, gyroplane, glider, balloon or some other craft. A license is not required to legally fly an ultralight vehicle. The other aircraft do require licenses, but the training differs and may not be available at every school. Also, the FAA issues different types of licenses for different situations and training. A recreational license, for example, is more appropriate for someone who wants to fly as a hobby, while someone who wants to fly passengers or cargo for a living must have a commercial pilot's license. Licenses issued by the FAA include student licenses, recreational licenses, sport pilot licenses, private licenses and commercial licenses. Not all schools are capable of meeting training requirements for all of these.
Although some small airlines hire pilots with only high school degrees, most larger airlines and companies require a pilot to have some college education, if not a degree. For this reason, it may make sense to obtain a license concurrently with a college degree, and it may be more practical to attend a college or university that can offer both. Aspiring pilots taking this route may find it helpful to include college classes in math, English, physics and aeronautical engineering in their studies.