Carreer switch - advice

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05-18-2019, 06:31 AM

Highflyer2019

New Hire

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Joined APC: May 2019

Posts: 1

Carreer switch - advice

Hello everyone,

I know there are a lot of similar threads like these, but some advice would be very much appreciated.

So here's my situation:

Currently 24 years old
Just before I finished high school (i.e. age of 18 in Europe) I applied for a flight academy and passed all the selection tests. I could have started, but I did not. Why? They told me that during that time the industry was having a hard time and I would probably had to fly in Asia (Western countries were saturated with pilots). Furthermore I met a girl during my last year in high school and was afraid this would put a lot of pressure on our relationship. We're currently still together and got a very stable relationship.
Started a 5-year engineering study after high school and graduated a year ago.
I have been working in an engineering company for around a little less than a year. I'm making good money, but I feel this kind of job is not my passion and not something I want to do for the rest of my life. (I already felt that way during my studies to be honest, but continued because I did not know what to study else).
Therefore I'm considering again to go to a flight school in order to become a pilot in a 2-year track.

Could you guys please advise me on the next questions?

Family life is important to me and my girlfriend made it clear that she does not want to move with me to another country assuming I would be an airline pilot, which I totally respect. I live in The Netherlands. Is it possible that you fly for let's say Lufthansa, you are based in Frankfurt, but live in Amsterdam and you would commute between these two cities? Is this something that occures frequently in Europe?
Is there at this time a good chance I can start flying in a country in Europe (and commute between the Netherlands & this specific country)?
Flying rosters like 5 days flying & 3 days off is fine. Are there also rosters (at e.g. low fair airliners) in which you depart and come back home at the same day?
Would my engineering degree (civil, not in aerospace) help getting hired at an airline? Or do airliners only care about the amount of hours you have flown?

Being an airline pilot is still my dream job and during my studies & current career I felt I should be flying and persue my passion. Yet as you have probably mentioned my family has priority and I don't think I would be able to move to another country which is 10.000km away, leave everyone behind and see them like once every 3 months. So you can be very honest to me: is becoming an airline pilot something realistic considering I would be able to commute, yet not move to another country?

I have been breaking my head around this for quite a while and some advice of people in the aviation industry would helpful

Cheers

05-18-2019, 04:41 PM

sourdough44

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Joined APC: Sep 2013

Position: Left

Posts: 636

With your age & background, piloting for a living certainly seems doable. There are no guarantees starting out, $$$ will be required too. Individual initiative factors in heavily, not everyone is equal with motivation levels.

I had a 2.5 year girlfriend back in the day. She gave me an ultimatum about my moving to start piloting. I had forces pulling at me where not doing it wasn’t a consideration. She’s in between marriages at the moment, just isn’t the same though.

Don’t know how one starts in Europe, plenty of flight schools in the USA to check out.

05-18-2019, 04:59 PM

rickair7777

Prime Minister/Moderator

Joined APC: Jan 2006

Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim

Posts: 39,293

If you're interested in flying in the US, there's plenty of info here.

If you're interested in Europe, things are quite different there, as far as how you enter the profession and progress your career. Might want to check out pprune.org