Originally Posted by rickair7777

The good news, such as it is...

Since a pre-PPL student pilot is generally at the mercy of his school, CFI, DPE, etc nobody in aviation will take take that as an absolute indictment of you as a pilot.

The bad news... any airline (or high-end corporate employer) will be concerned with how this will look in the media and court-room if you're ever involved in an accident. So public perception counts at least as much as the reality.

You can still work in 91/135, but great jobs are rare and competitive.

You can probably get a regional job eventually. I'm going to say no way for the top-tier majors, too much baggage. You might be able to get a ULCC job eventually if the pilot shortage picks up again after covid. But it's likely to take you longer and you'll frankly need a PERFECT training record at a regional.

Another concern... if this happened when you were an 18 y/o freshman it would be more understandable. But an engineer and former mil officer should be savvy enough to not get jerked around that badly by the system. Interviewers will be wondering what the hell you were thinking. Better have an answer for that question.

Just my gut feel, don't plan your life on that.

That's all assuming that your aviation aptitude is good, you got chewed up by the system as a student pilot, and were one of many who busted the CFI. But you also really need to do a self-evaluation of your aptitude, maybe even talk to past instructors and ask what they think. No point beating your head on the wall if it's just not clicking for you.