Professional Aeronautics Certificate PAC

NEXT COURSE STARTS August 2025

JUMP TO SECTION… Courses, Equipment, Cost, PAC Manager, FAQ’s

Program Overview

The Professional Aeronautics Certificate (PAC) is a 21-month accelerated program designed for students seeking a fast-track pathway to a professional flying career. The PAC program is certified under Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 61, and using best-in-class technology, the PAC program positions graduates ahead of their peers by training them on the most advanced equipment available.

Specifically, students will learn to fly Technologically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) equipped with the most modern, digital avionics as well as Advanced Aviation Training Devices (AATDs) running artificially intelligent (AI) weather-simulation software developed with research funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to train pilots to make safer decisions. The PAC program also utilizes Boeing’s ForeFlight® Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) running on wifi and cellular-enabled iPads for pre-flight planning, comprehensive weather analysis and in-flight traffic and navigation alerts and information. These three ingredients will ensure that our graduates are the most highly sought-after professionals, competing head-on with much larger programs at a more competitive price.

The total program cost is estimated to be $98,954 (see “Cost” section below for details), but actual costs will be determined by the flight hours required for each student to achieve flight proficiency in each course. Ground school will be taught at McHenry County College’s campus. Flight training is provided by JBA Aviation located at 5112 Greenwood Rd, Wonder Lake, IL at Galt Airport (10C).

Educational components include ground school, flight training, and home study, all of which are critical to gaining employment as a professional aviator. The total time commitment for the PAC program is approximately 15-20 hours per week while enrolled and is designed to facilitate exciting career opportunities for traditional college students, returning adult students seeking a career change, military Veterans, and high-school juniors and seniors who want to dual enroll and get started early to capitalize on an explosive hiring market in professional aviation.

The PAC program progresses students through ground-school courses and flight training to earn the FAA-issued licenses and ratings required to become professional aviators. In this program, students earn their private-pilot license in the first fall semester and their instrument flight rating in the second semester (spring). Summer is spent building hours with no ground classes. In year two, students will earn their commercial-pilot licenses in fall semester and their certified flight instructor (CFI) and certified flight instructor instrument (CFII) ratings in spring.

During the first two semesters, ground school will meet from 6:00pm to 9:00pm EST one evening per week on a day to be determined (TBD), and each student will be assigned a 2.5- hour time block, first come, first served, on Mon, Wed, and Fri (MWF) or Tues, Thurs, and Sat (TThS). Students will be expected to be at the airport every other day 5 minutes BEFORE the start of their flight time, which will be 7:00a – 9:30a EST, 9:30a – 12:00p EST, 12:30p – 3:00p EST, or 3:00p – 5:30p EST. An attendance policy is designed to ensure successful program completion for all students, and make-up flights will be scheduled on Sundays and whenever extra flight spots open. Students in this program are expected to be 100% committed to flying whenever the opportunity arises, which is not a difficult commitment to uphold because FLYING IS FUN, challenging and life-changing.

Second-year ground school will also be one day per week for three (3) hours at a time to be determined (TBD), and the same 2.5-hour flight blocks listed above will be assigned MWF or TTHS on a first-come, first-served basis. PAC graduates will typically enter the aviation workforce as certified flight (CFIs) instructors eligible to be hired by JB Aviation as well as other flight schools in Illinois and around the United States. Flight instructors typically spend 15-20 months teaching private, instrument, and commercial students, building flight time and gaining valuable experience required to qualify for commercial pilot jobs with corporate flight departments, air freight operators, regional/national commercial airlines, or other professional aviation careers. This program is designed to progress students from zero experience to a six-figure salary as a first officer in about 40 months.

Courses

Private Pilot License (PPL), Airplane

The first semester of the PAC program is designed for students to earn their FAA Private Pilot License (PPL) in fixed-wing aircraft (airplanes). Students will study all subjects necessary to become a private pilot. Lecture topics include aircraft structure, mechanical systems, flight instruments and avionics, aerodynamics, aircraft performance, aviation meteorology, airport operations, navigation, aeromedical factors, rules and regulations. PAC employs a blended learning format with both synchronous (in-person) and asynchronous (self-study) instruction that allows for in-depth subject-matter expertise.

Instrument Flight Rating (IFR), Airplane

The second semester of the PAC program is designed for students to earn an Instrument Flight Rating (IFR) in airplanes. During this semester, students will study the subjects necessary to become an instrument-rated pilot so that they can legally fly in clouds and under other restricted-visibility conditions. Lecture topics include Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) applicable to Instrument Flight Rules (IFR); air traffic control; IFR navigation; IFR enroute and instrument approach procedures; aviation weather reports, forecasts, and observations; hazardous weather detection and avoidance; safe and efficient operations under IFR rules in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC); aeronautical decision making; and crew resource management. Again, blended learning facilitates deep understanding of airmanship and safe and efficient flight operations.

Commercial Pilot, Airplane

The third semester of the PAC program is designed for students to earn a Commercial Pilot Certificate (CPL) for airplanes. During this semester, students will do a deep dive with their instructors on all the subject areas covered in private-pilot and instrument flight training to become competent, safe and efficient commercial pilots. The commercial pilot certification is the minimum level of qualification required by the FAA to work for compensation transporting cargo or passengers. Commercial pilots can also find jobs in other operations such as aerial surveying, air tours, skydiving operations, search and rescue, and many more. Lecture topics include Federal Aviation Regulations applicable to commercial pilot privileges, limitations, and flight operations, as well as more in-depth advanced coverage of the topics learned during the first two semesters.

Flight Instructor, Airplane

The fourth and final semester of the four-course PAC program is designed for students to become FAA Certified Flight Instructors (CFI) with Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII) ratings for airplanes. Since PAC (and most flight other schools graduates) graduates students with only 250-300 total flight hours, graduates need an additional 1200-1250 hours to meet the minimum of 1,500 hours required to apply for an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license. An ATP license is required to be hired by the most reputable air carriers, cargo companies and flight departments, and flight instructing is the most common way in which professional pilots build their hours. Therefore, this Flight Instructor course teaches students the subjects necessary to become flight instructors capable of teaching other student pilots pursuing their own certificates and ratings. This course focuses on the fundamentals of instruction and teaches students how to develop lesson plans and teach the subject matter they themselves previously learned during their own training. At the end of this semester, students complete the PAC Program, and successful graduates can work for the PAC program as instructor pilots and/or find flight-instruction work at any FAA-regulated flight school to build 1500 hours, which normally requires 15-20 months of full-time instruction work.

Multi-Engine (ME), Airplane (optional)

Upon completion of the PAC program, PAC graduates have the option to obtain their Multi-Engine (ME) rating and either their Multi-Engine Instructor (MEI) certificate or up to 25 hours of ME flight time for an additional course fee (see “Cost” section below). Many airlines and corporate flight departments require a ME rating and 50-hour minimum; however, some PAC graduates may choose careers flying single-engine airplanes, so this course is optional. There is no formal ground school.

Equipment

Students in this program will be trained in Technologically Advanced Aircraft (TAAs) that are equipped with Garmin 500 avionics (see image above). The Garmin 500 is a modern, digital avionics suite that is used by select schools for flight training, ensuring that graduates are highly sought-after by regional air carriers and corporate flight departments.

The PAC program also employs Advanced Aviation Training Devices (AATDs). These flight simulators are certified by the FAA to a level of realism that allows students to log up to 50 hours of actual flight time toward their Commercial Pilot License (CPL). Specifically, the AATDs accurately simulate the flight characteristics of the aircraft as well as the functionality of its avionics, and the simulation environment includes a complete digital twin of the world with photo-realistic 3D scenery and over 24,000 worldwide airports. The weather system includes volumetric clouds, variable visibility from infinite to zero, storms with turbulence, and all forms of precipitation. Also, PAC students get access to the most advanced weather simulator available. It was developed with research funding from the FAA to improve flight training and increase safety, and its inventor is PAC’s architect, Dr. Christopher Johnson (see bio below). Dr. Johnson’s AI-driven weather simulator is available ONLY to PAC students, giving PAC students an advantage over students at other flight schools.

Finally, the PAC program utilizes electronic flight bag (EFB) technology whereby students fly with their own personal iPad loaded with the market-leading EFB application, ForeFlight®. ForeFlight® is a Boeing company that builds the industry’s most widely used EFB app. ForeFlight® runs on Apple iPads and is the most advanced EFB software available. It allows for holistic flight planning with features that include point-and-click route planning, comprehensive real-time weather information, in-flight navigation charts, flight following, traffic alerts, event logging, a personal logbook and records and documents management, so PAC students fly like professionals from day one.

Cost

The cost of the PAC program, which includes ground-school tuition, approximately 255 hours of flight time, exam fees and course materials, is estimated to be $98,954 per student (see cost table below). Each PAC course takes one semester to complete, and payments are made one semester at a time. There are four consecutive semesters total (two academic years), and each semester, a $5000 deposit is required for enrollment. The remaining fee for each course is due two weeks after the start of the course, and all payments go to JB Aviation.

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PAC Course Tuition Flight Fees Exam Fees Other Fees TOTAL
Private Pilot $590 $23,788 $825 $2,676 $27,879
Instrument Pilot $590 $26,164 $1,050 $1,032 $28,836
Commercial Pilot $590 $23,716 $1,050 $1,356 $26,712
Flight Instructor $590 $12,122 $2,300 $515 $15,527
PAC TOTAL $98,954
Multi-Engine (Optional) $0 $13,860 $2,200 $910 $16,970

Program Developer & PAC Manager

Prof. Chris Johnson, PhD, CFI, CFII, MEI

Prior to building the PAC program, Dr. Chris Johnson was an Assistant Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which is the world’s largest aviation university. He is an Air Force Veteran, commercial pilot, and certified flight instructor (CFI) with CFII and MEI ratings. He earned his PhD in engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2012 where he worked for over 12 years and built the foundation of the PAC program. Johnson created www.PilotTrainingSystem.com, which is the aviation industry’s only FREE online ground school with over 70,000 YouTube subscribers. He built PAC to help mitigate the international pilot-shortage crisis by producing the industry’s most qualified graduates to work for airlines and corporate flight departments worldwide.

FAQs

Right now is an ideal time to start flight training. The pilot-shortage crisis that the industry faced in 2017, 2018, and 2019 was only paused briefly by the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for air travel slumped during the pandemic but bounced back to exceed pre-pandemic demand in 2023, and there is a full-fledge workforce shortage that is forecasted to worsen in the coming year and to last for the foreseeable future. This international pilot-shortage crisis is prompting airlines to pay higher salaries than ever before to compete for pilot talent, and many airlines are lowering entry-level hour minimums and offering $50,000 to $100,000 for incoming first officers to help them pay down their flight-training debt. PAC is a 21-month program, after which graduates become instructor pilots for another 15-20 months. Once they have gained those all-important flight hours (1,500 hours minimum), they can qualify to apply for an Airline Transport (ATP) license, making them eligible to be hired by airlines in less than four years from the program start date.
After graduation, most students typically work at flight schools training other students while gaining the flight experience required to meet minimum qualifications for the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license, an FAA requirement for scheduled air carrier pilots and corporate aviation departments operating jet aircraft. JB Aviation will certainly be looking to retain a good percentage of graduates for training subsequent classes of student pilots enrolled in PAC. Based on national averages, flight instructors can expect to earn $32,000-$45,000 per year, and after 15-20 months of flight instructing, graduates typically move on to be First Officers at regional airlines and charter flight departments, earning salaries of approximately $80,000 per year starting pay plus benefits and a signing bonus up to $100,000. Career pilots enjoy yearly raises and career progression that put the average salary after two years at over $122,000 per year, and Captains of international airlines earn $300,000+ per year working 10-13 days per month.
Airline pilots fly scheduled passenger or cargo flights and must hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license, the highest FAA qualification. However, all pilots must start their professional aviation careers by earning their private pilot licenses. Next, they earn instrument ratings to fly in the clouds and low visibility, and then they obtain a commercial pilot license before they can apply for an ATP license. There is a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight experience required to hold an ATP license, so commercial pilots most often choose to become flight instructors and work at a school teaching new pilots while building their hours before taking the ATP licensing exam.

PAC is an accelerated, targeted, vocational program for aspiring professional aviators that is more flexible, less time-consuming and faster than the rigid, full-time commitment required for an associates or bachelors degree in aviation. Since PAC only requires 15-20 hours of work each week, high school students can dual-enroll in PAC while finishing high school. This allows them to enter the aviation workforce 1-2 years ahead of their peers, which is valued at $150,000-$200,000 per year. PAC is also designed to attract returning adult students looking for an exciting new career. PAC allows them to work part-time to pay bills while earning their professional flight certifications. In fact, PAC is also a valuable alternative for traditional college students considering an aviation college or university. Specifically, PAC is not tied to an aviation degree, which allows our students to earn a degree in ANYTHING they choose while simultaneously earning their professional flight certifications. This has an advantage over aviation colleges whose degrees are generally related to aviation science or aviation management because those skills cannot be applied to earn money outside of aviation. PAC students, however, can earn degrees and certifications in areas outside of aviation, allowing them to work remotely while sitting around airports and hotels between flights.

Unfortunately, GI Bill benefits cannot currently be used for flight fees under Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 61, but we are working to FAR Part 141 approval for the PAC program that will allow GI Bill benefits to be used for flight fees.
This program is built to maintain 9-12 hours of contact learning with instructors each week, and it is expected that students will spend at least another 6-8 hours of personal home study and flight preparation, for an estimated 15-20 hours per week on average. Students will spend three (3) hours in class one day per week. Additionally, students will be scheduled for three (3) 2.5-hour flight lessons each week. Ground school courses are scheduled according to the academic calendar: PPL in fall of year 1, IFR in spring of year 1, CPL in fall of year 2, and CFI / CFII in spring of year 2, but flight training is not as rigid. Flight training can start anytime, and PAC coordinators will work with your schedule to build a program that fits. Students will coordinate closely with their instructor on scheduling, and staying on track will require commitment to work around scheduling interruptions caused by weather and aircraft maintenance. Students should be prepared to make up cancelled flight lessons on any day of the week, including Sundays if required. Other outside commitments will need to be scheduled accordingly, and students must be flexible and ready to fly when the weather and aircraft availability allows.

Unfortunately, government-backed loans are not an option for flight training because the US Department of Education does not recognize flight training as an accredited educational activity despite the fact that flight training is tightly regulated by the FAA. Be that as it may, some banks, credit unions, and private lenders offer loans for aspiring professional aviators, and some airlines are offering sign-on bonuses big enough to pay back loans in full (up to $100,000). We invite you to secure your own lender and can recommend one of our preferred lenders after we have had a chance to review your financing plan. Loan eligibility depends on your credit history and in many cases requires a qualified co-signer. Scholarships and grants are also available at www.FlightScholarship.info, https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/learn-to-fly/aviation-scholarships, and https://www.natafoundation.org/education/scholarships/.

Yes. All students must obtain a Class 1 medical certification and submit a copy prior to enrollment in this program. A Class 1 medical certification ensures future employment as an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP). We highly recommend you speak with us before scheduling your medical exam by clicking the link below and completing our CONTACT form. After you fill out our CONTACT form, we will contact you and can recommend a physician with the proper FAA certifications near you.

JB Aviation provides insurance coverage for students renting their aircraft for dual flight instruction. Renter’s insurance is required for solo flight. For more information, and to get a quote, please click here.