feederdryver: Go for it, but it ain't cheap and UPS is probably not going to pick up the tab (Unfortunately
)
Figure this:
You'll need to have your private pilot's license. At a FAR141 school, that's a MINIMUM of 35 hours. Most pilots complete the private pilot license in about 50 hours. This will cost you roughly $5000. That means that you're qualified to fly a private single-engine airplane less than 200hp, basically a Cessna or Piper. Then you'll need a commercial license, which is another 150 hours. Probably another $15K. Now you can fly passengers for a fee in a single-engine plane < 200lbs. Next, you'll need multi-engine, which is about twice as expensive as single-engine (Gee, any coincidence?). At this point, you can fly passengers for pay in a single-engine or multi-engine but only in VFR conditions (Visual Flight Rules). You still have to get an instrument rating so that you can fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules). Then you need jet flight training. Figure the cost up to this point to be somewhere around $80-$100K.
Now you're set, right? Technically, yes. You have all your ratings, your endorsements, but you still lack flight hours. Yes, you need thousands of hours before you're a virtual shoe-in for an ATP.
Hopefully, I didn't kill your enthusiasm. Go for the private pilot and you can at least fly you, your family, friends, AND your packages around. Over time, you can always step-up to additional ratings. Personally, I think that I'll stop at an IFR rating with a complex endorsement, but I'm only 36, so I have time to get into other aircraft types.
