Originally Posted by
DreamToFlyy
I am a kid trying to pursue a career I know what I am going into, no matter what anyone says. I was just trying to get advice about a specific airline. It is upsetting because I feel like I am being attacked for being curious and open minded. I posted about pilots being pessimistic and not pursing opportunities because I see it in every field of work. I have been open minded from the start. You all know that there are pilots out there who are truly happy from the stuck at regional FO level to the widebody captain level, they are happy, so why are you trying to rain on a kid's dreams.
I know it sounds corny, but if you got the flying bug, you owe it to yourself to listen to your heart, give the career a shot, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And let me say this: if you go into a non-aviation career path for the money, then you will find it becoming harder, every year, for you to give up the money and go do what you love. If you go into aviation at a young age, without ever having known what it's like to make a bushel of money, you won't mind the low pay nearly as much.
I was exactly like you from about the age of 3 onwards -- all I ever wanted to do was be an airline pilot. When I graduated college at age 21, however (way back in 1994), not even Amflight would talk to anyone with less than 2,000 TT. The regionals, such as they were, wouldn't talk to you without 3,000 TT and 1,000 ME.
So I went into a non-aviation career track instead, and chose to use my income to afford all of my ratings through ATP. I've spent the past 18 years (I am now 40) working in the corporate world while flying and instructing on the evenings and weekends. I'm married, own a house and a rental condo in one of the most expensive cities in America, and own and fly a rather splendiferous high-performance turbocharged piston aircraft. Financially, it's been a great decision.
But...I've also spent the past 18 years looking up at every single airliner that passes overhead, thinking "Damn, I should be up there in the pointy end of that thing." That feeling has never ever gone away. In fact, it's only gotten stronger. So this year, I finally decided that was enough was enough, and now I've got a regional FO job offer in hand. Fortunately I've got a bunch of cash saved to tide my family over the years it will require for me to get back to a reasonable income level in aviation. I just wish I'd done this a LONG TIME AGO. Had I done this at age 25, or even age 30, it'd have been easier. You, however, have the advantage of youth. Don't let anyone talk you into throwing that away.
Because the longer you wait, the tougher it becomes to abandon a well-paying job and start out in commercial aviation. You get used to a certain standard of living. You acquire things, like houses and cars and a once-a-year tropical vacation habit. You realize that your desire for those nice things is preventing you from doing what your heart knows you should be doing.
So honestly, dude, go chase your dream. If it works out for you, awesome. If you get a few years into it and decide it's not for you, then as long as you have a college degree in something other than aviation, you can switch to another career. You're young. You have all the time in the world. Use it to explore what's really right for you. Don't wind up being the bitter 55-year old who's spent 33 years hating his life in some miserable cube, looking up everytime you see an airliner and thinking, "If only."