Program, all in
$120,000
Co-signing a flight school loan: what you are agreeing to.
Most students finance flight training with a co-signer, usually a parent. Here is what the loan costs, what a new pilot earns while repaying it, and what happens if things do not go to plan.
Program length
11 to 14 months
Est. payment
$1,244/mo
Credit check to estimate
None
What co-signing means.
A co-signer is a second borrower. If the student misses payments, the lender can collect from you, and the loan shows on your credit report from the day it is funded. Most ZTA students need a co-signer unless they already have strong income and credit of their own.
Thrust works with four lenders: Sallie Mae, Climb Credit, Stratus Financial and Edly. They approve on different criteria, so a no from one is not a no from all of them. A financial aid advisor compares them against your real numbers before anyone applies.
The payment against a new pilot’s pay.
Zero Time to Airline 2 is $120,000 all in and takes 11 to 14 months. Financed in full at 9.38% over 15 years, the payment is about $1,244 a month, or $287 a week. Here is that payment against gross pay at three points in a pilot’s first years.
| Stage | Monthly pay, before tax | Loan payment | Share of pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flight instructor low end of $40,000 to $75,000 | $3,333 | $1,244 | 37% |
| Regional first officer SkyWest, year one, 80 hours a month | $7,418 | $1,244 | 17% |
| Major airline first officer Delta, year one, 80 hours a month | $9,101 | $1,244 | 14% |
Estimates. The rate is an example for good credit, not a quote; lenders set real terms after an application. Airline pay is year-one first officer pay from published scales and rises every year of seniority. The loan payment does not.
Run it with your own numbers→How long until the airline paycheck.
- Training, 11 to 14 months. Full time, five days a week, zero hours through commercial pilot, multi-engine, CFI and CFII. Working a job alongside it rarely fits.
- Instructing, about 18 to 24 months. Most graduates are paid as flight instructors while they build the 1,500 hours the airlines require. Every ZTA student who earns a CFI rating is guaranteed an interview to instruct at Thrust.
- Regional airline, about three years after starting. First-year regional first officer pay runs roughly $90,000 to $110,000 and rises each year.
The tight years are the instructing years, when pay is lowest and the loan is already due. That is the stretch to plan for together, and it is where an income-based option like Edly can help.
What protects the money.
- A published total. $120,000 includes flight time, instruction, ground school and first-attempt checkride fees, plus a $5,000 contingency allowance that is returned unspent, to the student or the lender.
- Checkrides on the field. Thrust holds FAA examining authority, so a checkride is scheduled here rather than waiting on an outside examiner. Waiting is what usually stretches these programs, and a longer program means more living costs.
- Refunds on unstarted training. If the student stops, prepaid courses not yet started and the unused allowance come back. The loan itself does not go away.
- A medical first. Thrust requires an FAA first-class medical before enrollment, so the one thing training cannot fix is checked before anyone borrows.
Questions co-signers ask.
Is a co-signer equally responsible for the loan?
Yes. A co-signer agrees to repay the loan if the student does not, and the loan appears on the co-signer’s credit report. Some lenders offer a co-signer release after a run of on-time payments; the terms are in each lender’s agreement, so ask about it before you sign.
What happens to the loan if the student stops training?
The loan stays in full. Thrust refunds prepaid courses not yet started and any unused part of the $5,000 contingency allowance, usually to the lender. For the course in progress the refund is 66% with under a third of its flight hours flown, 33% up to two thirds, and nothing after that. A leave of absence is often the better choice than withdrawing.
When do payments start?
It depends on the lender. Some allow interest-only payments during training, some defer them entirely, and Edly keeps in-school payments low and ties repayment to income afterwards. The loan agreement sets the terms.
Does Thrust guarantee a job?
No. Every ZTA student who earns a CFI rating is guaranteed an interview to instruct at Thrust, not a job. Most graduates who want to instruct here do, and other flight schools hire CFIs too.
What should we check before anyone signs?
An FAA first-class medical certificate, which Thrust requires before enrollment because the airlines require one. It is the one thing that can end a pilot career that no amount of training fixes, so it comes before the loan.
Bring the co-signer to the call.
A financial aid advisor will go through the lenders, the payment and the timeline with both of you, before anyone applies for anything.
Talk to an advisor→This page is general information, not financial or legal advice. Loan terms, rates, co-signer release and repayment options are set by each lender. Pilot pay figures are estimates from published pay scales and change with airline contracts.