The career path of a Professional Pilot begins at MDC. After completing the course the student has two basic options which have both yielded positive results for past graduates of the program. Either you begin working as a flight instructor or you use your commercial multi-engine license to begin working in charters or miscellaneous flying jobs such as small cargo, banner-towing, etc…

For many, the goal is to acquire flight and job experience to be eligible to work for an airline where you will earn top pay. Airlines usually seek job candidates with more than 1,000 hours of flight experience but there have been exceptions of students beginning work with far less than 1,000 hours.

The airlines are not by any means the only way to choose piloting as your career. Here are some examples of other pilot careers outside of the major airlines:

• Corporate Pilot - Fly executives and staff personnel in a company-owned aircraft. The types of aircraft can vary from light twin-engine turboprops to business jets.
• Regional Pilot - Fly shorter routes from major airports to smaller airports not serviced by the major airlines. Often called "Air-Taxi"-type operations, these types of routes are extremely important and are often promoted by major airlines. For a pilot, it is also a great way to build up flight time.
• Commercial Pilot - This path includes everything from Alaska and Grand Canyon sightseeing tours to highway patrol, aerial photography, banners, and flying ambulances.
• Flight Instructor - Teach students to fly through the instruction of important, basic techniques in areas such as airmanship, navigation, weather, and regulations.
• Patrol Pilot - Low-level flying is key to a career path that involves aerial inspection of power lines, gas lines, and other types of essential resources.
• Ferry Pilot - Transfer aircraft from location to location, whether delivery a newly manufactured airplane to its new owner, or transfering a used aircraft from its current owner to a new one.
• Agricultural Pilot - This path involves using an aircraft to dispense material on a ground target, whether you are fighting a forest fire or crop-dusting a range of farms. The flying is low and hard in an environment that is exciting and challenging.
  

The ideal use of this degree is to give mechanics the college degree required by the airlines where the top paying jobs with the best benefits are found. With this degree, students have the chance to work as chief mechanics and then earn promotions to the maintenance management department where their job is to supervise and direct mechanics as needed to meet the challenging and time critical situations which occur during scheduled operations.

The other path a student can take with this degree is to open his own repair station, starting small and fixing small airplanes and gradually progressing to work on bigger airplanes and then Jets. There are Maintenance managers in charge of maintaining business jets making over $100,000 according to the U.S. department of Labor.

Here are a few specific career paths for Maintenance Management graduates:

• Major Airlines - The airlines employ over 50,000 aviation mechanics for both routine maintenance duties as well aircraft overhaul facilty services. They are primarily located at major hub airports.
• General Aviation - GA mechanics work on smaller single and twin-engine aircraft owned by corporate or private owners. Duties include scheduled servicing, aircraft overhauls, and aircraft upgrades.
• Maintenance Instructor - Teach students the techniques needed to service complex aircraft and their various systems.

Join the nation’s largest college and take advantage of the most up-to-date Aviation Administration associate degree program in the country; a program that prepares its students for Aviation Management in today’s environment. Here at Miami Dade College we strive not only to provide our students with world class Professors who have real world experience and keep their fingers on the pulse of the aviation industry, modifying our program to suit the demands of the day.

Our students who choose the Air Traffic Control option have the added benefit of using our state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control simulators. These devices bring lessons to life in a manner that is rivaled only by the real world. Join the scores of MDC graduates who are currently making a difference in Airports, Airlines and Air Traffic Control Towers and En-route Centers across the country .

Here are a few specific career paths for aviation administration graduates:

• Air Traffic Control - ATC personnel control the safe and regulated flow of both aircraft on the ground at airports and aircraft that are airborne. They are essential component of aviation safety and airport management.
• Flight Dispatcher - Dispatchers create flight plans in conjunction with the pilots that will fly them. They determine the safest, most efficient routes in regards to weather, payload, alternate airports, and other factors.
• Instructor - Maintain the proficiency of flight crews and other airline personnel through careful and thorough training..
• Aviation Meteorologist - Reports and analyzes weather patterns and forecast information and presents it to the pilots and flight dispatchers.
• Ticket Agent / Station Agent - Essential customer service staff who sell tickets, answer customer inquiries, and manage the boarding of the aircraft, amongst numerous other duties.
• Air Freight Agent - Maintain the logistics of air freight shipments.