This is absolutely correct. Everyone has their own situation and their own tolerances for what they can handle. I left a pretty stable 6 figure career to chase a long time dream of being an airline pilot at 35 years old. Now, two years later at 37 I have almost 1700 hours, 1000 of which is turbine, was a CFI/CFII, FO and Captain at a 135 carrier till they cut the pay so much it became unsustainable. Now I’m delivering packages for FedEx making more than I made as a Captain and desperately trying to get back to my old career field (something made more complicated by a now inactive security clearance).

For me, I knew the first year and a half to two years were going to be rough, and I planned for it. I did not however expect it to go beyond two years with no light at the end of the tunnel. I of course knew there would be downturns, but figured I’d at least be a couple years into a regional before one hit. I’m single without any kids and I suppose I could keep toughing it out and living in the red dipping into an ever dwindling savings each month but I kind of hit the wall where I said enough is enough. I loved aviation just as much as the next guy, I lived and breathed it, hell I still do but for me personally anyways, it’s just not worth it anymore. If i was 22, or hell even 27 I might be more willing to try and power through it, but now I’m inching up to 40 and it appears that I’ll be stuck making sub 50k a year pay for quite a while, after essentially living in poverty the last two - not sustainable, but I certainly admire those who tough it out. I’ll never stop flying but I do believe I’m probably done flying for a living.