You know, its really only a decision that you can make yourself, and it will probably be a hard call!

There are definite pros and cons to both sides.

Lets deal with the airlines first: I don't know how many hours you have, but you're going to have to build a lot of time to land an airline job. The days of getting in with 300 hours are probably over for quite a long time! There is going to be a huge supply of qualified high time pilot out there looking for work in the next few years and that is going to make it ultra-competitive for available jobs. Not to mention the cost of flying to build your hours is going to go up with every increase in gas.

While flying is a great life for those who love it - it also has its downsides. Low pay, long hours, little opportunity for living your life - at least during the first few years. Those things tend to improve with time. Its not as glamorous as it once was. Keep in mind that a lot of us live in hotel rooms in Podunk, USA on most of our trips -- nothing like a South Bend, Indiana overnight on Christmas Eve!

ATC: The pay is definitely good, the job (currently) is much more secure and the outlook is pretty good. You will have a good schedule and good benefits. The work is hard and stressful though...you may not enjoy sitting in front of a computer screen yelling at pilots for 8 hours a day. You may end up a controller in Podunk, USA.

A good friend of mine was a controller in the Air Force. He's now an FO at American Eagle. He had the opportunity to take an ATC job with a ridiculously much higher pay scale than what he's making now...but he wanted to fly. No word yet if he regrets that decision or not at this time. However, I think if he faced the conditions we are looking at now in hiring, he might have taken that job. And he always has that to fall back on. But he loves flying more than anything else...and I think he would do ATC and fly in his spare time.

So you have to weigh the pros and cons of both career paths. I can tell you that getting into a flying job at this time and in the near future is going to be hard to nearly impossible until all the furloughed pilots have found a new job. That could take a year or more depending on what happens with the airline industry. Nobody has a crystal ball to see that though...

In the end you need to follow your gut instinct. Consider both careers carefully. Maybe see if you can get a tour of an ATC facility and talk with the people that work there, see how they like it, see what they think about it. Evaluate if you could stand doing that type of work -- since you already know you love flying!!

Good luck to you in either path you choose!