Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Ways to acquire flying hours for commercial flying

Asked by: 2159 views ,
Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations, General Aviation, Student Pilot

 I am working as a Software Engineer and on H1B.I am currently undergoing training for student pilot as a hobby. When I think of acquiring flying hours for commercial pilot, I have restricted options as my status does not allow me to work as flight instructor (also it will be a risk switching my profession entirely). Or I can fly as much as possible on weekends but it is difficult given other responsibilities. My question is , what are other practical ways to acquire  that many flying hours in 3 to 4 years?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Dan on Jan 21, 2018

    Check out FAR 119.1, it lists what a commercial pilot can do without an operating certificate. There are opinions out there such as sightseeing flights, survey flights, banner towing etc.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. KDS on Jan 21, 2018

    There are three time tested methods for building flight time:

    (1) Join the military.

    (2) Go into debt up to your eyeballs or have a well-heeled parent.

    (3) Find a chief pilot who has a very ugly daughter and marry her.

    However, given your situation as a a professional software engineer who cannot flight instruct, the best advice I can give is to forget it. Make money hand over fist as a software engineer and use it to fly for fun. Enjoy flying. Believe me, the fun of flying professionally is very short-lived.

    -1 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.