Originally Posted by
GSP848
I'm a private pilot, almost done with Instrument. I'm 27, married, one little one and want some more. I am currently a police officer and make about 70k. Although I want a good return on my investment getting into this career, my plan with my wife has always been to prioritize family and QOL over crazy money, potential upgrades, etc. until all our kids would be older and I am more than okay with that.
I've done all my training through mom and pop shops while keeping my full time job for the money and benefits. Full time work and part time flying is working alright for training but I don't believe its a viable option for getting to 1500. A flight before work every day will take 3-4 years to get to 1500 hrs.....I want to instruct full time when I'm able to but obviously with a family, I can't really take the "hope nothing happens" strategy for health insurance and my wife is concerned about the pay cut I will take.
She has it in her head that I should just instruct part time and keep my job like I have been doing, but like I said.....that's one student before work every day with no days off for 3-4 years.......She doesn't seem to understand. Are there some instructor jobs out there with some kind of benefits or are they all 1099 type employment? As long as I have basic benefits for the family covered, we can find a way to make the pay cut work for the year or two that it takes. Any thoughts on that and advice on how to help her understand that 4 years to 1500 isn't a real option?
If you want to prioritize QOL and spending time with your family while your kids are growing up, becoming a junior airline pilot isn't the way to do it. I know everyone gets shiny jet syndrome, but once you've gotten to fly one a few times, it becomes routine. If you want to build a lot of hours fast you're gonna have to instruct full time and quit your job as an officer. Once you go to a regional, your schedules are going to be complete garbage because they are all shrinking and will be operated understaffed for the next few years until they have to be shut down. The writing is already on the wall, every month regional seniority lists shrink. Barring anything like WWIII, which would probably lead to everyone getting furloughed anyway, this trend will continue. You'll for sure be spending most weekends and holidays at the hotel bar.
If you enjoy flying, keep instructing part time, and maybe make the career switch when your kids are more grown up and you are ok with spending more time away from home. As with anything, it's all tradeoffs. You can have the flying career or you can have the QOL at home, but you can't really have both until you get some seniority at whatever you want your permanent job to be, and no matter what you do, that will still take years, even if everything goes perfectly and no external events out of your control take place.