ACP443 Are Accelerated Flight Programs The Best Option In 2026?

Welcome to Aviation Careers Podcast. My name is Karl Valeri and today we're going to

talk about if accelerated programs are the best option in 2026. This question came in

from our listener feedback at aviationcouragepodcast.com. For those that don't know me, I'm an airline

pilot and instructor in the Airbus A320 and also been a career coach since 2001, helping

many people move forward in their career and their lives in aviation. Let's get into this

one because a lot of people are looking at 2026 as the year that they're going to start

flying and this person is wondering if accelerated programs are the best option for 2026. Let's

read his email. He says, thanks for the great content. I'm currently touring flight schools

with the intent of becoming an airline pilot. I came across your podcast on YouTube. I

listened to a great episode on the benefits of becoming an airline pilot in 2025. Thanks

for sharing such valuable information. I'm reaching out with questions regarding flight

schools. Like many, the expense is really the only thing giving me pause. I'm 38 years

old and on my own business, so time is something I have the luxury of creating. I have no

doubt that this requires 100% commitment and this will be much more than a hobby. My plan

is to turn flying into a second career. Hopefully through a pathway program to a legacy

airline. My question is, what are your thoughts on zero to airline accelerated programs? Do

you believe these programs set you up not only to be the best pilot, but for future opportunities

with legacy airlines? These are all great questions and I'm going to answer it with, it depends,

it depends on your situation and not all programs are the same. There is a big difference

between them, but you mentioned something first of all about money and one of the things

that I want you to do, even though you're older, 38 years old, we do have that scholarship

skyd and there are a few scholarships that are available to people in your age range.

And those are for the non-traditional pilots and the non-traditional scholarship winners.

You can check that out at aviationcouragepodcast.com, so that's scholarships, but also the sponsor

of this podcast, Stratus Financial, is giving away scholarship skies because they think it's

a great resource. So if you're interested, check it out at aviationcouragepodcast.com,

slash free, and use the coupon code Stratus. Thanks to our sponsor, Stratus.

Visit our sponsor, Stratus Financial, where dreams take flight. Stratus Financial offers

loans for pilot training and they understand your needs because they're pilots. You can

find out more at Stratus.finance. Whether you're financing your dream of flying or simplifying

the process by taking care of your student loans, their efficient, hassle-free funding can

connect you to the life of your dreams of becoming a professional pilot sooner than

you ever thought possible. Visit them at Stratus.finance. As a sponsor of this podcast, Stratus Financial

is giving away scholarship skies, and you can get yours for free by using the coupon

code Stratus. Visit aviationcouragepodcast.com, slash free, and use that coupon code Stratus.

Again, and please visit our sponsor, Stratus.finance.

But again, the difference between doing an accelerated program and just going at it

on one lesson at a time can be dramatic. And I think there's a couple of questions

here. Let's start with is doing it the 141, or I should say the accelerated program better.

Okay, in 2026. It depends. And first of all, 61 in part 141, these are two different

types of program. And there's another video out there about that. And one of the things

we have to realize is 141 usually allows you to get your ratings in less hours, less minimum

hours, but it also is very structured. Okay. And that means that you can many times

get your ratings done quicker, but sometimes not part 61, which is the traditional method

using the same number of hours that you normally would use to get your rating. That actually

can be quicker for some people. As a matter of fact, get this. Some of the larger programs

out there that you've probably been looking at, they are using part 61 for their accelerated

programs. So this is the important part of this, not the part 61, part 141 aspect, right,

on how they go about this. It's actually as long as the program is structured. Okay. And

it can get you further faster. Some of these programs, you know, part 141, it forces you

into being structured because the F A has to approve it. But, but one of the things you

have to realize is part 141 can be structured, but some are structured differently, some are

structured more towards airline flying. So you might want to look at some of those, especially

if it's going to be in one of these gateway pathway cadet type of programs. And there's

so many of those out there. So as long as this program, no matter what it is, is structured

properly and they have a great syllabus. Obviously, you have to have one in part 141, but

part 61 can have one too. Now another thing too, and I really highly recommend you go out

and get some individual coaching because you actually have a unique situation, which many

people do, in that we might want to look at a hybrid approach. So let's take a look at

a hybrid approach. Let's look at doing an accelerated program, but within your own time frame,

you own a business, you have a little bit of, you know, alacrity and the way that you

can get your ratings done. But you also have some flexibility in what you have in your

job because you own the business and flexibility as part as far as hours, but you can't take

all the time off because if you decide to go fly full time and do your ratings, you still

have to keep the business running to pay for it. And also you need to concentrate on the

flying. So let's talk about this. Let's talk about hybrid where you actually do accelerated

ratings, accelerated ratings, one rating at a time in an accelerated manner. This is

something I highly recommend to people at own a business. That's actually what I did.

I owned a business at a computer consulting business, at a food business at one time. And

I was doing all my ratings in between. And what I would do is this, I would take time off

large chunks of time. Sometimes I would just take three to four days in a week and concentrate

only on flying in three days or four days in a week, just concentrate on my business.

So I would actually have the money so I could pay for the flying. Plus while I was flying,

I was concentrating on just flying. Now, what do I mean by flying? It's not just flying

the airplanes. It's being in a simulator. It's studying the books. It's everything to do

with aviation. So remember, we talked about 141 61 and also accelerated programs. It's best

of course to work full time at this. But this hybrid approach is similar to working full time.

When I was training Air Force pilots, right, we actually, we would have them fly five days a

week and then two days off. That is great. If you can do seven days a week, that can be good. But

there, you know, you may not actually be absorbing as much if you don't take a break. But that is

important to actually concentrate your training so that you don't forget what is happening from

lessons to lesson. You don't have to go back and retrain and review. And that really depends on

what you can do financially. Again, that's why we need to talk on a one-on-one basis or listen

to some of the people like in our mentorship program. By the way, check that out. aviationcareerspodcast.com.

slash mentorship. It's really a great price and it allows you to come into our community where

we have these discussions and I do a lecture at least once a month, sometimes twice a month.

And it talks about these types of things and you can bounce ideas against each other. We run

it more like a mastermind and a group session type of thing. It's really a lot of fun. But

but going back to this, it always is better to work full time. Again, like I said, some of these

programs are, or all the programs are not the same. But some or more airline

ask, you know, the more like an airline program. What do I mean by that? They'll use actually

the checklist. So I work for an airline and I'm in the training department and I teach people how

to fly the Airbus. Well, it's amazing when I get people right from the Piper Cherokee into the Airbus

and how well they perform when it comes to checklists and procedures. And I didn't at the time when

I first got started, no much about this program. I said, boy, you guys are great. You know,

do you have a simulator in your basement or something? And you know, some said they did. But

one of the important aspects that I want to relate to you is that having a checklist and having

that, you know, formalized SOPs operating procedures just like at the airline that you're going to

really does help again, setting you up for success with that airline. Obviously, the best thing you

can do to be successful in the airline you're going to is to get into a program where you are going

to be trained by them from zero hours until you are working for that airline. There are very few

people that actually do that in the United States. I know those programs are out there and they're

talked about, but they are really, really great programs. And if you can do it, that's wonderful.

A lot of the European countries have been doing that for years. I was doing interview prep for

Turkish Airlines many, many years ago. And that's what we were doing, getting them ready for that.

They've taken from zero to the airline flight deck. And you're in that operation all the time.

So let's talk about some of the things that, you know, any program has shortfalls in. And that's

actually the actual depth of knowledge. Remember this, no matter what program you are in,

your depth of knowledge is up to you. It's up to you to learn as much as you can about flying.

Getting this pilot certificate is just a license to learn. You have to constantly be reading and

constantly looking at different, you know, YouTube videos at different, you know, online forums

and learn more about the airlines and look at me. I mean, I have all these books out here that I'm

constantly reading about aviation. And I've been flying for over 35 years and I'm constantly

learning new things. So depth of knowledge is up to you. And this is something I would challenge you

with or anybody that's watching this or listening is go out there and try as hard as you can to learn

as much as you can about a specific topic within aviation. And I'll give you an example.

Maybe it's weather and learn the aviation weather and aviation weather handbook. Maybe read that

from the FAA. Get in depth on that. But you do that while you're training if you can, but definitely

after your training has been complete. So depth of knowledge obviously comes from study and studying

can be both on you studying or in a formal program. That's why people that go to a four-year

college program in aviation have an incredible depth of knowledge on many different aviation

topics. And that could be anything from high altitude flying to IFR. If you're spending all this

time discussing those topics, you can have a much greater depth of knowledge. Do you need that depth

of knowledge to fly? Well, to meet the minimums for the airline? Maybe not. But you know what?

You should constantly try to expand your knowledge as much as possible. So here's the conclusion

on this. If you're looking at an Accelerate Flight program in 2026, do I think it's worth it?

Absolutely it is. If you go to the right program. And remember, it doesn't matter if it's part 61

or part 141, 141 being that program that's approved by the FA that allows you to get your ratings

in less hours. The most important thing is that program actually structured. Does it have a syllabus?

Do you follow that syllabus? And do you actually structure this similar to like an airline where you

have operating procedures? And do they follow those operating procedures? And most importantly,

and something I would invite you to do is look at our program at aviationcouragepodcast.com

slash mentorship. And you can sign up. And as a matter of fact, we have a coupon code,

Coachit Ford, where if you sign up, you get one month free. So the first two months, you're getting

for the price of one. And that enables you to get into this group where we discuss some of these

things on a one-on-one basis and in a group. Of course, we have that one-on-one coaching. And that's

us another special we're running to or you can actually have a month free of the group coaching.

If you sign up for one-on-one coaching. But most importantly, I really do think that these

accelerated programs are good. But for you, for the person that's the career changer, you're 38

years old, you're looking to move into something new. You might want to take that hybrid approach.

You might want to look at, you know, getting your ratings, getting one rating at a time,

or getting them all if you can take a huge break. And that's going to be six months to year to get

all those ratings. Can you do that? You'd have to answer that yourself. Most people cannot,

but some people can. I did the hybrid approach. I concentrated on my ratings. Then I relaxed for

a little while, went to the next rating. Then I relaxed for a little while. But during that relaxation

period, I learned, I studied, I built hours. Because you know what? Hours are hours. You need to build

those hours so you can get to that airline. Also, another important thing. Make sure you're

eligible for the airlines. Sometimes we don't, you know, look at this. But make sure that you have

the ability to pass a medical and also that you can look at your background and make sure you can

pass a background check at the airlines. We discussed that actually over on our group coaching,

which we have some really cool things out there, including our group coaching. By the way,

if you're getting ready for an airline interview, our pilot interview course is actually over there

in our group coaching and mentorship community. You have access to all of those. At least once a

month, I try to do one interview prep. Our next one I think is PSA airlines. We'll do United

Airlines. I have a lot of experience with United Airlines. We'll constantly do these courses where

it's a half hour to an hour going over those questions. But one of the most important things you

can do for me is after this discussion, after I talked to you about this, go out there and take

a step today to move forward in your career by looking at some of these programs asking questions.

If you have questions, feedback at aviationcareerspodcast.com or you can go to our YouTube channel,

put it in the comments down below and we'll answer that here or we answer all the questions

at our group mentorship. But most importantly, take one step every single day towards your career goal.

And I know you'll make it to that goal faster than you think. We'll talk to you next episode.

Say flying out there.