Originally Posted by
hausfrau
Before spending huge amounts of money (it's very expensive!) he can check out a local flight school to get his Private and Instrument while working. Most local flight schools have something like a "Discovery Flight" for about $25 (in this area, anyway) where an instructor takes the potential student up for a first lesson. Even if he decides against it, he can get his Private license and fly when the weather's good as long as he keeps his license current.
I agree. (i'm a pilot too).
The large schools teach ab-initio flying which is good and repititous, and I think the airlines like that. However, a good route is to go to the local airport and fly with different instructors. I've flown with 3-4 different instructors over the courses of my ratings which gives me a great perspective since all have a different opinion of the methods but the same goal (safe flight).
Since he already has a degree, going to a big-name school is of marginal value. Good luck to him.