Originally Posted by
TimeLordPilot
I am considering aviation as just a hobby. My only worry is that it is a very expensive hobby to keep up with. But I also did some very preliminary research on owning my own plane. If I’m willing to buy an older Cessna, they seem to be not overly expensive. (A few I found cost less than what I’m paying for my car!) Obviously, there are much more expenses to it. Gas, insurances, hangers, etc. But the planes itself seem feasible. So if you have any advice on what I might need to consider if I was going to just do GA as a hobby and own a plane…I would be more than willing to hear what you’d have to say about that.
If you have a reasonable white-collar job airplane ownership is affordable. If flying is central to your lifestyle (kind of like some Harley riders) you can afford sole-ownership of an older ASEL. If it's just another toy among many, then you probably need to rent or own with partners.
Originally Posted by
TimeLordPilot
Yeah, the amount of money I’d be putting into it is what concerns me. Paying all that back off. I mean, I am taking out loans to help pay for it, but that’s more of a way to help me kind of “push” through school. My original plan was ot hurry up an do this flight school thing ASAP, and then pay it back with working both an aviation job and my paramedic job. I would have probably ultimately given up paramedicine for aviation (as it seems I would have to) but at least initially that would be my way of paying stuff off. And the schools do seem to be relaly bad with the whole “Don’t worry, you’ll have a job” but when I’m reading into sources that are not academic…the truth of the matter seem to be just the opposite. Moreover, I am currently pulling in approx. ~25K annually as a paramedic…I was also under the impression pilots made significantly more than that…
You will spend 1-4 years as a CFI making $10K-50K, most likely $15K-25K for about 2 years.
Regionals will start around $20K (after you buy uniforms), then go up to $25K-$40K for 2-6 years as an FO. A few small turboprop outfits may pay less.
After upgrade to regional captain, you will make $50K-80K for several more years before you get hired at a major. If you stay at the regional you can top out around $100K, maybe a little more. A few small turboprop outfits may pay less.
If you get hired at a major you will start at $40K-60K and then the pay will increase from there, topping out over $100K for FO's. Captains can eventually make close to $200K (FDX/UPS/SWA pay significantly more).
Originally Posted by
TimeLordPilot
But my concern is more for my future family. As I stated earlier, be it with my current girlfriend or Jane Smith, I want to be able to have some semblance of a family life. Be able to be around my future kids of holidays and such (and be able support them.) At first aviation seemed like an awesome field for that. Now…not so much.
You will miss a lot of major holidays, maybe for decades. You will be able to spend X-mas with your kids when they are on semester break from college though.
The upside is that you might be able to have significantly more days off than the average corporate drudge, and be able to spend a lot of quality time with your kids when they are young. But that all depends on airline, domicile, seniority, and whether you commute.
Originally Posted by
TimeLordPilot
I have considered going into other aspects of aviation. ATC, airplane mechanic, Aviation Management, etc. I almost feel like these might be something that I could also do concurrently with being paramedic. My CFI had told me with aviation management “you get to the money a lot faster.” So that is something I would definitely want to consider.
Mechanics have many of the same issues as pilots except they usually go home every day (after working all night when the airplanes are not flying). ATC is a different animal with it's own issues. Aviation management is just manegement with a different set of buzzwords.
Originally Posted by
TimeLordPilot
But becoming an airline pilot isn’t always my need-goal. Corporate pilots I think might be fun. Or just…anything that involves flying. I’d even considered maybe only going as high as getting the certs to being a CFI, and then just potentially maybe doing that on the side for some extra money. (On that note, does anyone have any potentially good sources for how I could go about getting just up to a CFI?) But it’s not like I’ve been like “I wanna fly 777s!” What exactly I did as a pilot didn’t matter. (It just seems airlines where were the money was.) Although, what “non-traditional routes did your friends take who got there? (Feel free to just send me a PM if it’s something you’d rather not post publicly.)
There are a FEW good non-airline jobs. Fractionals were considered the way to go a few years ago, but they have furloughed about half their pilots since 2008...and none have ever demonstrated sustained profitability. The great corporate gigs are very hard to get. Most 91 or 135 operations fall short on pay, QOL, work climate, or safety (or all four). There is a reason most of us pursue airline aviation, known quantity and known issues.
Part time, on the side, is most certainly an option. Especially for CFI's but also possible for some corporate or 135 gigs. You just need to put in the time to acquire the requisite skills, types, and flight time to be marketable.