Originally Posted by
flash52208
unfortunately yes I am married with one little boy (best thing that ever happened). Right now I am in the US Army serving as a ch-47 mechanic/ crew member and I have about 2 years left in the service. I do not have any logged flight hours. I would have to start from scratch and work my way to the top. I am only 23 and I have always loved to fly so I joined the military and when aviation but not to fly. I just what to crew and see how everything is. Now I am about to get out of the military and go to school where I will start working on all my ratings and certificates that I will need. (Yea I know I will not be able to get all of them). The 9/11 bill will be cover most if not the entire thing. I'm trying to look around see what would be the smartest route to go with. I would like to fly for a major airline but however I am still doing the research. (not easy doing it while you are deployed)
Well you are doing the right thing by doing your research and asking all the right questions. You should have all or most of the info you need to make a decision when you ets in 2 years. The good thing about that is you'll still be young.....only 25. But you do have a wife and kid. Just know that if you do decide to embark on a career of a professional pilot, be prepared to be poor for a long time......and yet no guarantees of having a stable, decent paying flying job EVER! That's the sad reality of it with no sugar-coat. You'll have a lot of disappointments and let-downs.....mostly in the form of a bad economy/recession, but also could be due to bad managment and overall general bad luck! But you'll have to find the inner strength and determination to never give up no matter what if you want to "make it" in this career.
If you are gung-ho and do your training full time, you can go from 0 hours to having a commercial pilot certificate in a year or less (not including the flight instructor certs). That'll run you anywhere from 35-45k.....give or take 10k. So use the heck out of your post 9/11 GI bill. The more it pays towards your training, the less debt you'll have and want to have when you get all your ratings and licenses.
And at some point later in your life, if and when you do make it to a successful airline or company that you can retire from, your pay will be great, retirement should be great, life will be great and finally the career you embarked on would be truly rewarding! Atleast that's the picture that most of us have in our heads and are truly hoping for! Only time will tell!
I wish you nothing but the best!