Calculate Loan Payments
So you've had this dream to fly ever since you were a little kid. Now that you've had some time to research schools and see what your options are, you are now faced with the all important question. How am I going to pay for it? Flying has never been cheap and with the cost of fuel on the rise the prices flight schools are charging are going up too. Most people get loans to finance their flight training. But before you do, let's look at an example so that you will have a glimpse of your financial future. Not to pick on Joe again, but average Joe doesn't have $50,000 to burn. So he contacts the flight school's financial wizard and gets a loan for 50 grand. Joe is a good student and cruises right through his training right on budget. After completing his final rating his good buddy Fred walks his resume into Air Wisconsin and Joe gets a job as an FO.
Let's say that Joe takes 15 years to pay back his $50,000 loan at 8% interest. And let's also assume that Joe upgrades to captain in 4 years. In his eighth year, Joe gets his dream job at Continental Airlines. Just as he is beginning his sixth year at Continental (that's 13 years after graduation), Captain Joe steps into his 737, hangs up his spiffy blazer in the cabinet and drops into the left seat. I realize that this scenario is wildly unrealistic as an upgrade at Air wisconsin and at Continental may be (and probably is) much longer. This example is merely an attempt to put your finances into a framework that is understandable.
Below are two charts. The first shows what Joe borrowed and what he will eventually pay by the end of fifteen years. The next chart shows how much Joe will have left after he pays 15% Federal tax and his $477 loan payment. Since we are talking about the average Joe we should probably subtract more than 15% for taxes, 50% for alimony, and 3% for union dues, but then that might discourage prospective pilots. My purpose is to help and encourage not discourage, hence the over simplification.
Click the loan calculator link below to plug in your own values and see what the specifics of your loan will be. (You'll need Excell to open this link)
| Loan Amount | $50,000 |
| Interest Rate | 8% |
| Loan Term | 15 years |
| Monthly Payment | $477.83 |
| # of payments | 180 |
| Total Interest | $36,008 |
| Total cost of loan | $86,008 |
| | Year | Monthly pay | What's left after tax | What's left after loan payment |
| Air Wisconsin FO pay | 1 | 1875 | 1593 | 1116 |
| 2 | 2700 | 2295 | 1818 |
| 3 | 2775 | 2358 | 1881 |
| 4 | 2850 | 2422 | 1945 |
| Air Wisconsin Captain pay | 5 | 4950 | 4207 | 3730 |
| 6 | 5100 | 4335 | 3858 |
| 7 | 5250 | 4462 | 3985 |
| Continental FO pay | 8 | 2232 | 1897 | 1420 |
| 9 | 4032 | 3427 | 2950 |
| 10 | 4752 | 4039 | 3562 |
| 11 | 5328 | 4528 | 4051 |
| 12 | 5904 | 5018 | 4541 |
| Continental Captain pay | 13 | 10,008 | 8506 | 8029 |
| 14 | 10,152 | 8629 | 8152 |
| 15 | 10,224 | 8690 | 8213 |