The difficult path to becoming a pilot

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Carefully going through his checklist before the flight, Tony Onceler of South Minneapolis says what he aims to achieve through aviation is simple.

"Working for somebody, making good money," Oncelor says with a laugh.

He’s juggling a full-time job while working toward his commercial airline pilot license, with dreams of flying for Delta, American, or any of the big airlines someday.

"I got to kind pace it out because it’s very expensive," says Oncelor "They recommend flying more than do but I can’t afford that."

Tim Luedtke, flight operations manager at Twin Cities Flight,  says inquiries have increased so much this year the flight school based at the Anoka County Airport in Blaine has added $300,000 dollars’ worth of investments to help manage the growth. That includes two new planes being added to the fleet.

Two new planes will soon be added to the fleet, plus a flight simulator. The simulator already helping the growing list of students constantly looking to log more flight hours and work toward the various levels of required certificates for their personal goals.

"You don’t have to go through a major university," says Luedtke. "A lot of airlines have now eliminated their requirements for a bachelor’s degree to work for them or fly for them, which has opened the door to a lot of other candidates who may have been deterred or thought they were too old, or ‘I don’t’ want to go back to school and get a bachelor’s degree,' and then start training then you are looking at eight years of commitment and finances.

A perfect landing for recent high school grad 17-year-old Marlee Walker as she’s got her sights set on professional crop dusting or working aerial firefighting once she earns her commercial license.

"I loved the feeling I got wile I was in the plane, the freeness, and being up there and the exhilaration," says Walker. "It was wonderful."

As Luedtke points out, training to become a pilot is a large time and financial commitment. From day one to being eligible to fly for a major airline adds up to about $100,000 in training, plane rental by the hour, and airtime. 18 to 24 months to earn flight instructor status then another year-and-a-half-to two years training and adding more airtime.

Minnesota has added challenges thanks to the winter climate, which is why many hear hope the simulator will help more pilots in training stay on pace.

"When I’m in the similar I’m able to get in three to four times as many approaches to landing as I would in an actual airplane, says Nick Peterson. "Much more efficient and saves me some money."

From the start, it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.

"You always see them taking off at the big airport and wondering where they are going," says Peterson. "I get to be the person who takes people to those places and see some cool places myself."

If predictions about a shortage of 80,000 airline pilots by the year 2032 come true, for these pilots in training, the sky is the limit.

"Just the fact that there’s this big demand for more pilots just helps me out in the long run."