Airline Pilot Central Forums - View Single Post - Son interested in being a pilot

08-03-2012, 12:13 PM

#27

Can Pilot

Great White North

Joined APC: Jun 2011

Position: 777

Posts: 22

Quote:

Originally Posted by utroyalwulff

Hello everyone, firstly Im not a pilot and know relatively little about planes but I have a 13 year son that loves planes and aviation. He flies remote control planes and is now going to race pylon racers and messes with the flight simulator that I bought for him on the home computer trying to learn to put flight plans together and how to navigate between airports.

He is a very smart kid. I tell him that if he likes planes maybe he should be a pilot. He signed up with the local civil air patrol group last week. He went to his grandparents house that live by the airforce academy but it had been evacuated because of fires because he is interested in that, so maybe next year. I dont have alot of money so probably the government is going to help him learn how, which according to my friend that is a surgeon is exactly the right thing to do.

The university where I work has a flight training school, but I dont really know that much about it.

Since i guess most of you are pilots what do you think I should tell him? Should I push him towards another profession?

I like that he likes it because he is learning so much. but what does the future appear to look like?

I was in a similar situation as your son 7 years ago, around 13 years old and very interested in pursuing aviation as a career. My parents knew very little about aviation but were against my decision to start flying; they wanted me to go to med school. Usually I would listen to almost anything my parents said but the flying itch was too strong. I did not pursue the career that they had planned out for me and I must say going against my parents was tough but I wanted to give flying a shot.
Using the money that I had been saving from working the ramp I decided to do my private license at age 17 (no help/funding from my parents). After reading threads on this site it helped change my decision (was going to do the "zero to hero" program). To have a better QOL further down the road I learned that being debt free makes a huge difference. Obtaining my ratings has taken me longer than someone who used bank loans to assist them. I feel that working and paying for your own hours is a great way (other than the military) to train and can also test your flying passion.
I admire that you want your son to find his own career and hopefully something that he will love to do for the rest of his life.

BTW this is coming from a Canadian; things are a bit different up here regarding jobs. I can't say much about the future of aviation or anything regarding airlines since I am still new to the profession.

10 years from now I guess I will find out if I should have listened to my parents or not

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