Hey folks.
Humble student here, and a brand new member as well. I was browsing through this forum for a majority of the day today, and figured I might sound my own concerns as a student in aviation to see what the community's thoughts are.
I graduated in 2015 with a B.M. in Sacred Music and organ, and went on for a M.M. in the same subject field at IU. I have one more year of the three year master's degree left to go, and I'm about $20k in debt to my undergrad. Parents have helped with the degree but I'm left to my own devices for flying.
Flying has always been on the back of my stovetop throughout my college ed, until a year ago when a fellow pilot friend of mine told me that I won't have much chance to advance in aviation if I keep it as a "fallback career". Do note, I was 24 at the time. Now I'm 25. It indeed has been a lifelong passion of mine, but during HS, I felt called to music, at least until I hit my MM at one of the most prestigious music schools in the country. I quickly felt my passion for music dying away... that is, I feel like I am putting my all in and feeling like I can't get anything out of it. Plus, the pay is pretty dim... $30k annually as a church musician just doesn't seem to be enough for someone planning to marry and have kids.
Last September, I had fair bit of cash saved up to jump into my private, but nowhere near enough to complete it. I took several lessons my first month, I think about 2/wk, but then had to space it out over 2/mo and as of late, I've been struggling with other expenses and have logged somewhere around two or three hours of dual since may... I understand the memory retention connection to lesson frequency... for some reason it hasn't seemed to really affect me.
I am hoping that my PPL will be completed within the next calendar year, about the same time I complete my MM. Whether that will happen or not, I don't know (it certainly won't happen at this rate). I would like to jump on with ATP flight school when I get my PPL, and stick with them until I get the CFI job with them, and then one of their carrier programs that they so often tout about.
I'm curious about several things here: 1) do I have time, as a 25 y/o with no experience, to do "pay as I go" training right now, with the current hiring gap? Would it be worth it to get hired some 5-10 years from now? Most I've talked to tell me to get into a job ASAP, which entails signing my life away to the bank to pull out a ginormous loan for ATP, so I can get in and get hired, so to speak. Of course, the RJ recruitment folks I've talked to have no problem telling me this is a possible option.
If I did invest in a giant loan for ATP, which is my current, yet very, very frightening plan
, what are the possibilities that I could easily pay it back, given I was hired for Part 121/135 ops? The folks I've considered most for my first carrier job are Envoy, Ameriflight, PSA, Republic, Skywest, and Endeavor. Planning to live in the Midwest so not willing to commute too far, but then again, who is
I checked the base pay without the shiny bonuses and such for EDV on Glassdoor, and after seeing that, i reconsidered staying in church music... it actually could come close to paying more. Something like $27k... are low wages for beginning FOs still the norm as they were a decade ago?
Anyone who might be able to throw some info at me, please do. I would be very grateful to hear what everyone has to say. Thank you!