On the Topic of Unsecured Flight Training Loans

So it has always been your dream to be an airline pilot? Awesome! And now you’re ready to take on the training to achieve that dream? Absolutely fantastic!


But you’ve just realized that achieving that dream and doing the required trining comes with a big price tag. So now you’re considering using a loan (debt) to fund that training.


However, you need make certain you’re thinking beyond the dream and considering some reality. This post is not really aimed to make you not take of a big loan, but more to make you really think about what you're doing when you sign the dotted line. In aviation, we have Threat and Error Management to mitigate risks. This post is to give you all the Facts, Options, and Risks so that you can make a Decision based on them. (FOR-DEC model, anyone?)


With that being said, I really don't want you to get yourself into debt either way, but I want to try to be as objective as possible here.


Many folks on r/flying will say the same thing: avoid flight training debt at all costs. Let's examine why. 


Let's start with the numbers:


• Many flight schools offering a “Zero to Hero” program advertise a cost for the program of $100,000 to $120,000. This takes you from Private pilot to flight instructor (typically 250-300 hours of flight experience). (don’t forget you need 1,500 to be eligible for Airline Transport Pilot). It may also include certification for Commercial Pilot-Multiengine Land. Maybe even Multi-Engine Instructor.
• The interest rates for an unsecured loan (which this is) is about 13-18%. Unsecured loans are loans that do not have an asset that the lender can reposses in the event of nonpayment. They are riskier than secured loans, so interest rates are generally much higher. Credit cards are also unsecured.
• Term length on these loans are often 7 to 10 to 15 years.


For our illustration and our discussion, let’s plug into a debt calculator $120,000.00, 15% interest, and a 10 year term length. The results are:


• Monthly Payment = $1,936.02
• Total Amount of Interest Paid = $112,322.34
• Total Amount of your flight training using debt = $232,322.34


Using a loan to pay for your dream and your training just to get started in aviation will cost you A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS!. That is million with a very big M. That's a house in the Midwest.


Some additional things to know:


• These loans are not federally subsidized
• You will need to begin making payments on the loan immediately (some loans defer for certain periods of time or certificate, whichever comes first)
• You set off paying on the loan like student debt.  This isn’t student debt.


So beyond the dreamy idea of “I want to be a pilot and fly for a living," you must ask yourself these questions:


• Have you really considered the true costs of initial training?
• Do you have a plan to repay the loan?
• Do you currently have the income to cover the additional monthly $1,950.00 pressure to your personal budget?


Now let’s say you get the loan, trained hard, obtain your certification to be a flight instructor, and got really lucky to find a job at a flight school. FYI: don’t fall for the sales pitch that the flight school you trained at will hire you as an instructor. Unless you posses a signed contract saying they will do that, it’s likely they won’t. Most likely you finish their program and need to find employment. The math doesn't work for schools to hire every student that makes their way through instructor, they'd be hiring dozens a month, and they'd very quickly have more instructors than students.


In the 2026 world, finding employment as a very low time instructor is very difficult. There have been posters on r/flying saying they have searched for CFI jobs for 6 months and submitted hundreds of applications. 


The 2025 FAA Airman Statistics data has been released. Please check out Seth Lake's video discussing it. Also check out the r/flying post on the statistics as well. This will give you an idea of the current hiring market. Will it be different when you finally get your CFI and looking for your first ob? Yes. Will it be better or worse? Ask me again when you get there. 


Anyway, you’re employed. And you have a $2,000 a month loan payment to make. And you need to pay rent. And you need to buy gas for the car. Oh, and you want to eat too, yes?


Again, let’s work the details and the numbers:  


• Most CFI’s make at best $35,000 to $40,000 a year.... before taxes. Many make less.
• Most schools employ you as a 1099 contractor. That means you are the one responsible for paying income tax to the IRS, not the school
• Estimated self employed income tax on $40,000 is $12,000. Leaving you $28,000
• Divide that by 12 months, you have $2,334 to cover your monthly nut
• Loan payment made, you have $334 remaining to cover your rent, your transportation, and feeding yourself.


Oh, and that’s just the average over the year. Did you consider the months, such as winter, where you are not flying hardly at all? No flying means no income. And you still must make the $2000 payment.


And we’re not touching on what it costs to live in different regions like expensive California or the Atlantic Seaboard.


Looking at this closer, after taking on that training debt—can you even afford to exist? Looks like you need to find a second, maybe a third job... just to exist.


What are you going to do if you lose your flying job and maybe your other income? Even with no income, you still gotta repay that $2000 per month.


Let’s wrap up with some additional reading and examples:


1. This post from 2023 covers an example where $30,000 was borrowed for instrument flight training.  The borrower wound up repaying $116,000 just for his instrument certificate.
2. This post from 2024 discusses the results of borrowing $70,000 and was surprised by an additional $15,000 fee. The interest rate starts at 15%, then jumps up to 20% after just one year of payments. 
3. This post from 2024 shows someone borrowing $123,000 for a flight training program. And the terms of the loan mean their training would cost them more than double that amount.
4. Think Sallie Mae is the answer? Check out this post from 2025 and what $125,000 of training debt was going to cost the student.
5. This poster from 2026 (post now deleted by OP, historical post data in the comments) took out a loan for the entire training cost and then had to stop due to medical reason. The school had Meritize disperse the entire loan, and then the company sold. OP is stuck with paying the entire loan, despite not completing the program.


Your dream to become an airline pilot is admirable and a good one. But we want to make sure you are not stuck in the dream world and are being provided with some down to earth information on the realities of using debt to fund flight training. And as a result, make some really bad financial decisions.


Yes, using debt to fund a dream can work for some. But for many, and possibly you, it can take a wonderful dream and create a very cruel financial nightmare with a massive payment you are not able to make. Please consider how you fund your flight training wisely. 


Thank you for reading this far. Here are some other topics that I wrote that may interest you:

Note: these links will be updated when I eventually migrate them to this blog.



Thank you to u/TXAggieMike for editing my original post for clarity. I'm finally updating the main post I made for others to reference any updates to. 

If you have any questions regarding loans, have anything to add, or want to point out a mistake, feel free to message my reddit in account, u/RaiseTheDed.

Update log:
April 2026: posted to blogger. Added video discussing 2025 FAA airman statistics.

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