Ken14

Good day everyone,

I'm stuck in a situation that I can't wrap my brain around. It is a career and long term decision, and I am just looking for some input.

Two years ago I began training to be a private pilot and long term my goal was to be a airline pilot. Long story short, I failed the written test, but passed it the second time, I also failed the flight test and this is when I didn’t go back. I was treated very poorly by my school and was taken advantage on the money aspect of it. I would show up for a lesson and my instructor would not be there and this happened multiple times. When I did my air flight test, my instructor kept praising me that I was doing good with what I had been learning and I was ready for it. My gut kept telling me no I wasn’t, but I decided to give it a shot anyways.

The examiner told me I wasn’t ready and had been poorly instructed. I don’t want to put all the blame on the school, but I did study all the time and something I enjoyed reading about, I just didn’t grasp some stuff right away, or couldn’t remember all of what I needed to know. I look back on it now and wish I could do a bunch of stuff differently maybe study a section more or visual my self doing it. Other option would be to change flight schools and be some where happy.

What I am trying to figure out is, from reading aviation message boards there is a lot of negativity on the industry, that the pay is poor , that the divorce rate is high, etc. The thing is I can’t see my self at this point doing anything else but flying a airplane for the rest of my life. I also can’t figure out why I quit it so easily if I had a passion for it? Since I quit there always seams to be reminders that it’s my calling (Planes in the sky always above where I live, Books when I walk past them in the library always seam to pop out, commercials) I know everyone says this but I don't see my self doing anything else but flying a airplane for a living.

My second question is, I have looked in to doing a electrician course but I don’t know if I’m just looking at as a good money making job, home for dinner, etc. How does one know that this trade or that trade is for him?
Or a career in business is right for them?

Sorry a bit long, I appreciate any input.

rickair7777

I'm guessing that you may not have a college degree if you are considering the trades?

If not, better go get one before you contemplate an aviation career...this gig is hard enough without being handicapped by being in the small minority who do not have degrees. It wasn't always a hard requirement in the past, but it certainly will be going forward.

Once you are track with education, find a new flight school/instructor and have another shot at the PPL. Once you get it, fly around for fun for a while and think about whether you want to do it for a living...

It is entirely possible that a crappy instructor could set you up for failure, but there's no way for me to know for sure since I haven't observed your flying or study habits.