l love flying and l always wanted to be a pilot, but l found out that it is very expensive Does anyone know anyplace where it is cheper to be a commercial pilot

any central american country.

l will give you five to take me to cali.

you cant just ''buy'' a commercial pilots license,you have to have schooling,then you have to have so many hours of flying private aircraft etc before they will even consider you for commercial aviation,you have to be in good health,good vision.this isnt something you can jut up and do.and if you are so in love with flying as you say you are,you would know this already.

Pussy Creek, Ohio or
Fart, Virginia

Yes it is very expensive. Is it worth it? It really depends on the person. l am in debt up to my eyeballs, but l can not imagine doing anything else. If you decide to do it do yourself a favor and pick a school that will teach you the right way.

l am working on my commercial pilot is license. To get hired with an airline or commercial carrier, u will need (at a minimum):
- private pilot license (to fly basic single-engine airplanes)
- instrument rating (to fly in clouds & low visibility)
- complex airplane endorsement (just what it says)
- commercial license (demonstrate skill & judgment)
- multi-engine rating (just what u think it means)
- high-performance endorsement (to fly planes with more powerful engines)
- high-altitude endorsement (different physiological factors, airplanes fly differently at high altitudes, extra aircraft complexity due to systems like air compressors, heaters, anti-ice equipment, radar, etc)
- turbine engine flight experience, or LOTS of jet experience

Most airlines & commercial flight operators also require:
- CF l license (certified flight instructor)
- CF l (instrument)
- CF l (multi-engine)
- CF l Instructor
- teaching time, helping others to learn to fly
- a four-year college degree (in any subject)

If u r high-school age, try the Civil Air Patrol or Explorer Scouts. If u r of college age, try Air Force ROTC (be careful, u might incur a service obligation from that training, so check it out first). These will all get u some initial training relatively inexpensively, but wo not get u all the through even the ''basic'' private pilot license.

Most cities (and even very small towns) in the US r near rural airports, try some of those around ur area. The smaller Mom'n'Pop places will be less expensive, less of an assembly-line, & will likely offer more personalized instruction. Do not be fooled by the national training places, most of them r not worth the (much more) extra money they charge. Airlines, FedEx, etc, do not care where u earned ur licenses & ratings, as long as u do have them & have a clean record.

A good place to find airports near you:
http://airnav.com

Stay out of trouble with the law, including speeding tickets & DU l & any drug use. Airlines wo not hire speedsters or drunk drivers or dope-heads to fly their multi-million dollar airplanes (which happen to be stuffed full of people).

Get a college degree - does not matter in what subject. You will not be competitive in the pilot hiring market without one.

The military offers the least-expensive training route. They will also pay for four years of college if u qualify, as part of the deal. BUT there is the service obligation; very high entry standards; & very high washout rate. Your life will not be ur own for the duration of ur time in the military. Having some flight time before going to military training will also help a lot. The military wants pilots who r degreed in the hard sciences, for the most part. The ''Top Gun'' picture most civilians have is largely a myth - we're talking about people who fly extremely expensive hardware with nuclear armament capability. no bozos or idiots or hotdogs or show-offs or rule-breakers allowed.

Some civilian colleges also offer flight training & instruction time as part of their curriculum. Embry-Riddle is the most famous of these, but also the most expensive - not neccesarily any better than any of the others. ( l am an Embry alumnus; many other schools r just as good)

Currently, the US is the cheapest country in the world to obtain flight instruction. Mainly because fuel costs & government regulation r not as high as in other places. Most foreign countries send their people to the US to get trained (civilian & military).

Airline pilots do not make much money at all for the first few years - starting salary as of July 2008 is around $18,000 to $24,000 in US dollars (annual). It takes several years to earn enough seniority to make very good money. Then, u normally move from a smaller regional carrier to an airline or cargo company that flies bigger jets - where u start at the bottom of the seniority ladder again. The pilots who make the crazy money r the ones who've been doing it for 30-35 years or more & fly 767, 777, etc. most jobs with equivalent educational requirements pay far more.

Your school loans will be about as much as an M.D. is loans; u will have about as many years in training & apprenticeships (residency, flight instructing) as a doctor before u get hired on making more than food-stamp wages; & u will make far less money.

Commercial pilots also have to stay in at least decent physical shape; be able to pass a complete medical every six months (including electrocardiograms after the age of 40); have no traffic tickets; & stay out of trouble with the law. Once u r a pilot, maybe one speeding ticket (for doing close to the limit) might be OK - a DU l or fast speeding ticket will get u barred from flying commercially.

While the pay per-hour flying is very good, the total annual salary is very low. That is because ur time spent in recurring flight training (have to re-qualify every six months); other mandatory training; regular working-job stuff; sitting on the ground at airports; waiting in airport terminals; & medical exams - is not paid.

Sorry for the long post, just trying to give u a complete picture - good & bad. Flying is not as terrible as I've probably made it sound. Most pilots really love to fly more than anything else.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Do not go cheap.

You can write off the training in your taxes. Volunteer at the flying club, do test flights after engine changes for free hours. Help with maintenance, AME is always like an extra set of hands. Again, in return for free hours.

l did all of this to build my hours for my commercial rating.

Then l joined the military and got everything for free and had to break bad habits.