Originally Posted by JohnBurke

You talk as though I'm speaking to the wrong crowd, and that's not the case. I'm talking about flight instructing. Others have elected to diverge on tangents about the career and decry aviation as a whole, but the fact is when one undertakes flight training there are NO guarantees. One is expected to make one's way.

Those who feel entitled to a career path should join the military where it's given them, paid courtesy of someone else, and a ladder is provided for the career. No such fantasy exists in the civil world, where one is ABSOLUTELY expected to pull one's self up by one's own bootstraps.

I made my way the same as everyone else. The current crop of instructors or instructor-wannabe's always seems to think that they're special. They've got it hard. Nobody has seen it this tough. It's not like in your day, they say, when you had it easy. Today it's expensive. Today there are no students. Today this, today that, bull****.

It's aviation. There's no pipeline. There's no entitlement. Everyone who enters had better be prepared to work out their own path, and that includes very much at the entry level. Want someone to provide you with students? That's a sense of entitlement. Go get them. Bring them in. Make your own "luck."

There is no scheme. There is no pyramid scheme. There is no ponzi scheme. The statistics tossed around were false, imagined numbers, and they were wrong. If you happen to be training at a place where the competition is fierce and you don't feel there are enough students or enough work, then go somewhere else. Move. Find work elsewhere. Do something other than instruct, but make your way and don't whine about how entitled you think you are to a path and a career courtesy of someone else. The airlines don't owe you. The students don't owe you. The schools don't owe you. The taxpayer doesn't owe you. The FAA doesn't owe you.

Your career, your problem. No scheme. The schools provide the instructors and the airplanes or helicopters. You provide the cash. What do you get for your money? If you study and do your part, you get certification. After that, it's up to you. That's not a scheme. It's a school providing a service. If the school hires you, then great, you're someone they consider worth their money and time. If you get some students that walk in the door, great. If not, then it's up to you.

One can sit around and whine about fairness all day. Fairness is a myth. Life isn't fair. There's no such thing as "luck." When someone says "I wish," what they're really saying is "I'm too lazy to make it happen." Everything else is smoke and mirrors, usually inside one's own eyes; the mists of perception. For those who feel entitled, WAKE UP! This is aviation. The world isn't coming to you. Students aren't coming to you. Employers aren't coming to you.

You go to them. Make our way. If you want a conspiracy, if you want a scheme, that's it. That's the dirty secret, the meaning of life. If you want it done, right or wrong, do it yourself. When you undertake flight instructing or receiving instruction, that's what you can expect. If you're able to handle that, you'll do well. If you can't handle that, then the business may not be for you.

The industry has a way of weeding out those who aren't able to make it on their own. It's not about paying dues. It's about recognizing that one is responsible for one's own welfare, for making one's way and about not sitting back and waiting for someone else to do it all for you.

Nobody is "suckered" into this world of aviation. Even skyhigh with his tales of woe and misdirection wasn't mislead. He willingly walked into a career he knew nothing about, blind as a bat.

If I'm going to invest a few thousand in a car, I'll do a lot of research. If I'm going to invest in a tool, I don't buy the first one I see. I know what I'm buying. Same for a firearm, a vacation get away, or a coat. If I'm going to find a wife, I'm going to work very hard to get to know her, know what I'm getting into, and if I'm interested in a church, I'm going to check it out. Why in the hell would I consider a career without fully investigating it, prior to spending a dime? Suckered? No; those who claim such are simply lazy, and deserve no compassion.

Before one jumps off the high dive, check first to see if there's any water below.

It's only common sense.