I think that most schools that meet need require the financial information from both parents. You said your mom is low income. Is your dad low income too? Each school should have a net price calculator on their website. You can run it to get an estimate of what your cost might be. If your parents are divorced you need to run them twice: once with your mom’s income and once with your dad’s. Then subtract duplicate aid (the $5500 federal student loan, Pell Grant, and grants from your home state can only be counted once). If the net price isn’t affordable for your family don’t bother applying. If a school requires PLUS loans to attend and your parents are low income, it’s not affordable.
I understand wanting to get started in aviation early, but if it’s not affordable then your backup plan has to be to wait until you can pay on your own. As a former Pell student I can tell you that the road for us can be longer and less direct than for students from middle- and upper-income families. Choosing a major that requires grad school or specialized training to be self-supporting isn’t always possible. If you can find colleges that offer what you want that will come in under budget then apply, but make sure you have an affordable backup plan too. It might be that the aviation training has to come after your bachelor’s degree.
Joining the military should only be considered if you actively want a career in the air force. It’s not a scholarship service. A better option is to look for affordable flight training opportunities. One of my son’s high school classmates graduated from a community college with an aviation degree. He worked full-time at whatever job he could and paid for flight time. Once he had enough hours he was able to pick up part-time gigs (offering flight lessons) at a small airport. He now has a full-time job where he flies every day. When he gets enough hours he’s going to apply to larger carriers. It’s taken longer than 4 years, but he has no debt and he’s flying.
If your state community colleges offer similar programs that might be a good backup option for you. If you take the electives (physics, calculus, etc) at whatever 4 year school you attend then those courses could transfer back to the cc. Just check their transfer plans carefully and talk to advisors of the programs that interest you to make sure you’re on track.