PedroS

I'm hoping some of you mentors and established pilots can help with this question. I have 11 years seniority at my airline as a flight attendant. We all know that seniority is everything! My average schedule is 10 to 12 days a month at 95 credit hours, working only day turns. I commute, so that works nicely for me as I usually only work 2-3 days a week, or I can stack my days and have large chunks of time off. I can also easily work my company maximum of 150 by working 16 to 19 days.

At my average 95 hours, I earn about 65k+ a year. At 150 hours I'm at 105k+.
While the I understand the allure of being a pilot, and the respect for the position ( both earned and myth!) I'm just not sure that it makes a lot of sense for me to make the switch. I still have 2 years left before I max out on our payscale, then it moves to a bonus structure.

Also, I am 44 years old so I would have about 18 years left of earning potential as a Pilot if I started training now.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Excargodog

Get a PPL in your spare time and see how it goes. You may love it. You may not. Not a HUGE investment of time or money. In 21 years you are going to be 65 no matter what choices you make. Economically you may not be any better off - especially if you end up at a regional - but life should be enjoyed.

TiredSoul

I would add get your instrument rating also. If you stay active recreationally it will make you a better and safer pilot.
The better your schedule becomes the more time you can dedicate to it.
Get you Commercial and your CFI, instruct part time.
You pretty much need 500+ hrs to do anything else.
If you average 300hrs/year it will take you 5 years to get to 1500hrs.
And all of it will have been debt free.
You’ll have 5 years to think long and hard if you want to make the jump.
Airlines will give you another 15 years, 10-12 of those as Captain.
Corporate (135) will give you even more as they’re not limited to 65.
By all means go for it but keep your job as long as you can and try to do this debt free.
Don’t reduce your contributions to 401k and such.
Pick up overtime any day you’re not flight training.
I’d like to have you as a student lol.

viper548

From a financial standpoint you'll make a lot more as a pilot. You may not have the quality of life, or types of trips you're used to for quite a while. As mentioned, start working on your private pilot and see if you like it. Most flight schools offer an introductory flight in the $150 range.

TiredSoul

And I used to do tons of those.
Introduction flight are there to get you to sign up not to gauge your aptitude.
They’re useless from that perspective as they’re really a glorified sight seeing flight.
Here’s my recommendation:
Make an appointment with the Chief Flight instructor to make sure they’re available when you show up.
Tell them you’re interested in 0-CFI and you would like to talk about it.
Lay down your plan and ask if they can work with you.
You NEED an instructor available on your days off, not a maybe.
Ask to see their aircraft.
Again an introduction flight is like a test drive at the car dealership, it’s fun but it’s not going to tell you anything.
Are all aircraft similarly equipped?
If not switching from one to another is a pain in the beginning.
You can find Designated examiners online. You’re a grown man, call them and invite them to lunch.
For $40 invested they’ll tell you all about which school is the better choice in your area.

PedroS

Thanks all for your suggestions and advice. I had posted the exact same question (copy and paste) and got quiet a different response. Thanks for the encouragement.

DontLookDown

A discovery flight does show aptitude to a certain extent. If someone is calm, relaxed and perceptive on a discovery flight I know they will be a good student. If someone is very tense and nervous about being in the air i have already identified a big hurdle to get past. Someone who is a professional flight attendant likely wouldn’t need to evaluate their ability to stay relaxed in an airplane though

TiredSoul

What if their first flight ever?
What if it’s their first flight in a small airplane?
They’re going to be highly excited, nervous, giggly with the attention span of....well...a goldfish.
You can’t blame them for that and you can’t judge them on that.

christyrose

Im in a similar situation. I'm topped out pay at my airline with 12 years seniority at 33 years old. I made a spreadsheet and did the math on salary comparison. In one column I put what the next 32 years(retirement age for me) look like as a flight attendant, and in the other as a pilot. After the cost of training and loss of pay, I'm going to lose about 270k over the next 5 years. I'll break even in about 10 years.

My math was based on 1 year flight training costing 100k, working 30 hours a month as FA. 2 years as CFI at $25/hr 40 hours a month and working 30 hours a month as FA. Working at Skywest as FO for 2 years, Captain 1 year. United FO years 6-10.

Over the course of 32 years.. I'd make approximately 2.7 million dollars as a flight attendant. As a pilot I could make 6 million. My math was actually pretty conservative regarding wages at United, with 10-20k increases each year, with only 1 year topped out as a 787 captain.

Over the next 21 years.. which is what you're looking at, under my pay calculations for me personally.. it would be 1.6 million vs 3 million.

So it really depends on how much you work, where you get hired etc.. but try making a spreadsheet! obviously in the long run youre going to make more as a pilot.

TiredSoul

Don’t just do it for the money.
Don’t assume you’ll make it to the Majors either.
Not in your financial planning anyway.
Many pilots do not.