Heartstart,

I was your son, my Dad was you, 45 years ago. He had washed out of AAC pilot training in WW II and was encouraging of my interest in being a pilot. His trade was, you get a college degree (like most vets on the GI Bill, a degree was immensely valued) and I'll help you learn to fly. He financed my PPL in HS and I went thru college at a local state college for a B.S. in Business.

As luck would have it, I met a great mentor who assisted me into an ANG UPT slot. Great stuff--airlines was my future, guaranteed. Well, several fuel crisises and life got in the way. I was hired by Eastern 5 years before they folded up in 1989, I don't consider it alive after that date. While there, I was in a mid-air collision, survived via the ejection seat but suffered a back injury. Prior to the ADA, airline physicals disqualified me--when EA folded I heard not a word from airline that were hiring. I spent 18 years at a Reserve unit as a full-timer, eventually becoming a Colonel (OG/CC, to be exact) and retired. I am now the Chief Pilot at a pretty decent corporate dep't.

The point of all this is, neither you, nor your son can predict the future; being an airline, however good, can't be predicted. Give him the tools to be all he can be (sorry, Army), education, some flight time and some common sense and discipline--the future will work itself out. I didn't have the career I planned or wanted, but I'm proud of the one I had and enjoy everyday, in the office or in a jet watching the sunrise over the ocean. What more can you hope for?

GF