Fatcat

Thank you sir!!

NatGeo

Don't get emotional about your decision making. What you want to look at is ROI or return on investment.

The odds are not in your favor that you will make it through the airline training. The odds are that you will make way more money as a construction manager than you would as an airline pilot. There are too many barriers to entry to become an airline pilot.

With the construction management there would be more stress in some ways, but there are also a lot of positives. It is a 8-5 job where you are home every night and therefore have a way greater chance of not getting divorced. A construction management job will also let you express your creativity in some ways. Airline flying is very routine.

Bahamasflyer

Airline washout rates are usually well under 10%. The odds are good he would make it through as long as he has the drive to study.

Or were you trying to say that sometime between student pilot and ATP, that he is likely to throw in the towel due to money, frustration, etc?

As an aside, I really think being "home every night" is highly overrated. Sure, most white collar jobs have you physically at home sleeping in your bed each evening, but in spirit, I certainly would NOT be home each night in most jobs when the time from when I pull into my driveway, until I am asleep is just 4 hrs in most cases. My mind has not checked out from work in those instances.

121 guys who live in base are home A LOT more than most white collar guys overall even though they are gone longer.

rickair7777

A little emotion is fine, but yes ROI is important... in the context of things like lifestyle preferences. If you hate 9-5 office work, or hate being away from home that would skew the equation one way or the other.

That's not true if you're a mature college grad with some work ethic and maybe some athletic inclination (that last is not required by any means but is a positive predictor IMO).

I'd say completion of GA training is about 90% for someone from the right background who's MOTIVATED. The fallouts would be folks who just don't have aptitude, multi-tasking, or things like bad motion sickness.

From there probably 90-95% complete initial regional airline training today. Some of those will have training issues or might have to try more than one regional, so their opportunity to progress to a major will be impaired.

From zero to regional FO, I'd say about 80% success rate right now IF you're motivated. Your odds of getting beyond the regionals depend on how you did in aviation up to that point, whole person factors, and growth/retirements. Retirements are in your favor right now.

For my career-oriented peers from GA days, success rate from PPL to majors was about 30%, with many deliberate dropouts for economic reasons during the slow years. I would suspect that for those starting today the number would be more like 70%.

CM is most definitely not going to 8-5 M-F. Some weeks yes, but it's a dynamic, high-pressure business with a lot of money at stake. If you want to go far and fast, it's going to take a lot of work, and very possibly a lot of travel too. If your employer gets a big contract in Cozumel or Zambia, you might be gone for months (vice days with airlines).

Douglas89

I am currently a construction manager (owners rep). I find construction actually very interesting. I love cranes, heavy equipment, understanding how things are built, etc. Though I have seen some bad things too. People seriously injured or in one case a guy who fell off a ladder and died. Construction is dangerous. Not very dangerous for a CM though. I have a pretty good work life balance and pay. However, I can not imagine doing this for the rest of my life. At the end of the day, if a project is not finished in time our firm would get fired.

There is an immense amount of pressure to finish on time and under budget. Two things that you don’t exactly have lots of control over. I also deal with some very difficult people. Old, salty guys who are very hard to be around and are very disrespectful.

A career in CM can open doors for things like becoming a developer in the future (those guys make serious money).


I am doing a career change to flying. I am 31 currently and am working on my instrument rating. Learning to fly has actually been really difficult. PPL was not too hard but instrument has been kicking my butt.

I begin to wonder, do I even have the ability to become a pilot?


I think it is a difficult question to ask people what career you should chose. Everyone is different. We all have different personalities, desires, needs, wants, etc. I think you need to write a list of the things you want out of a career. Don’t lie to yourself and be completely honest about what you want out a career. Write a pros and cons list for CM and Pilot.

Good luck!

Fatcat

Thank you sir, I'll definitely look into the pros and cons of each career