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Old 01-03-2017, 11:08 AM
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iraqvet2009
New Hire
 
Joined APC: Dec 2016
Posts: 4
Default Looking for real-world insight

Hello everyone! This is my first post on the forums, and I assume it's going to be a doozy even before I begin to type. First and foremost, aviation has been a personal passion of mine for many years, and seeing family and friends rise through the ratings to achieve their dreams has been great, but also sad, because I want to share in that. Ultimately, my goal is fly commercially. I don't really care in what capacity, although I would say my preference is corporate, followed by airline.

Little bit about me, I'm a 34-year old man living in NC. I'm married with three children. I'm currently a full-time military recruiter, but I will soon be coming off that trail and returning to a civilian career in sales management. I earn about $70,000/year as a recruiter, and will be dropping down to about $45,000-$50,000 with my civilian job while my wife also has to work full-time as well. She's a nurse and earns about $60,000/year working three twelve-hour days per week. There's an FBO about 10 minutes from where I work.

Back in 2011, I utilized my Army tuition assistance to receive about $13,000 in funds to help earn my pilot's license. Working full-time while juggling family life meant I could only take flying lessons about once every week or every two weeks. Ultimately, I had to take a hiatus from flying in early 2013 when my third child was born. By then I had achieved about 40 hours of instruction, about 4-6 of those hours solo. I'm hoping to break that hiatus.

Make a long story short, I had a "come to Jesus moment" recently and realized that I'm not getting any younger, and it's kind of now or never. I'm looking for insight or suggestions on the best way to get my ratings in my current situation. I'm trying not to put undue strain on my family's finances; not trying to brag or sound entitled, but my wife and children enjoy a comfortable standard of living, but at the same time, I'm tired of slogging through my day knowing what line of work I should be doing.

Should I drop everything, take out a massive loan (since my Army benefits only cover a few thousand dollars a year), and fly four to five times a week?

I'm already thinking that could end disastrously, so realistically, how long do you think it would take to get a commercial multi-rating while only take one or two lessons a week?

Have any of you career pilots worked toward your ratings while juggling a career and family?

Any tips for success are appreciated!
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