Be very careful about choosing this industry for a career. This industry is highly dysfunctional. There is no other industry that I can think of that has the regulatory, economic, and political pressures that this industry enjoys.

To be fair, I am part of the generation that has been hosed, and I would hazard to say that is a large portion of who is in the industry currently. Most of us got started in this industry right after 9/11. So we have felt the effects of 9/11, the economic downturn, and the age 65. I like most of my contemporaries am pretty jaded on this industry.

Having said all that, I still love to fly airplanes and I think that it's a good job. The flying however, is the only good part about this job. The rest of it sucks!!! Being away from home 300-400 hours per month (if you live in base), the fact that you could lose your job due to furlough or your company files CH 11. The only ones in this industry that make money anymore are the corporate execs. You will start at a Regional carrier making between $18K to $24K per year. Second year pay can usually get you up to where you can pay your bills, but not much else (roughly around $30K). Add to all of that commuting (if you choose to) and trying to commute on full flights with a low boarding priority.

I do think that there is going to be a pilot shortage beginning here in the next 3-5 years because there are going to be a ton of manditory retirements and there is no one in the pipeline. It's anyones guess to how much of a shortage though. The aforementioned shortage could be limited by anyone of the Legacy carriers caving on scope. Which would decrease the size of the Major airlines and increase the size of Regionals. Mergers could also limit the shortage due to redundancies in the route structures. Also, I think that foreign pilots / ownership are a huge threat to our industry. Just some thoughts...