I have been consulting with an immigration Lawyer in Florida and he warned me that the J1 visa is a dangerous visa to have if you intend to stay in the US. The reason is that unless it is one of the rare versions that dont have certain restrictions after the 2 years max you have to go home and stay there for at minimum of 2 years. If you intend to live and work permanently in the US then you would be better off getting in on an H1-B visa for graduate professionals. This visa only allows you unfortunately to work for a company that is related to your degree, which is not very helpful if you want to fly. Another thing i found out the other day from a large school ( ATW i think) is that a new instructor will only earn only $10,000 to $15000 dollars a year because there are so many students that want to build their hours and this keeps the wages very low. The maximum i have read you can earn unless you are an instructor manager is $30,000