I’d say more than likely your parents are more concerned about having to fund this expedition than they are actually worried about you succeeding in it. Getting all your ratings and hours is not cheap. But the cost is an investment that can definitely pay handsome dividends in the end.

Aaaaand.....at 17 you know what you want out of life.
With all due respect....you have no idea.
Your parents their rules.
Thats how it works.
Get a degree in something that actually interests you and that is useful in life.
Get your private pilots license with your own money and experience how long it takes to save $12k vs spending it.
Fly recreationally for the duration of your degree then go back to your parents and renegotiate after you’ve actually achieved something.
By the way introduction flights are meant to sell you a training course and not intended as an aptitude assessment.
I’ve done hundreds.

is a aviation degree useful? I will be getting that degree. I've thought about getting a degree in construction management but i enjoy aviation more.

1. Go to college
2. Get a private license
3. Join an Air Guard or USAF Reserve unit and get them to send you to UPT the day you graduate.

as soon as you are done with UPT get your ATC mins and go to work for a regional.

My brother from a different mother, help me straighten this one out.
SMH

how long will this take? I thought seniority mattered.

If you make it to a Major airline by 48 you’ll have 17 years seniority by the time you retire.

Well, a four year college degree usually takes around ... well, four years.

UPT used to take a full year, but they’ve shortened it now - so even with survival training it’s now just under a year.

You will probably have to fly at least 50 hours to get your PPL, pick up another 250 or so in UPT, then need to get another 450 flight hours to be R-ATP eligible as a military trained pilot (versus 1500 from a local civilian flight school) which you probably can get in a few deployments to the sandbox if we are still over there.

and yeah, seniority matters...it matters a lot. That’s WHY it takes time. How did you expect to get seniority over people who started this process years ago?


https://i.ibb.co/nnS3Cpx/8-CAA4-B16-...C2-B761-A2.jpg

OP -

I won’t say that you don’t know what you dont know at 17.
i knew much earlier that I wanted to TRY aviation. I had many hurdles thrown in my way and persevered through them all.’you can do it. But here is the difference I see in us at 17. I had a Plan B and C. You do not it seems and tgat could be a great failure for you and your path. You almost sound like a troll barking out every sound bite from reading Internet forums with lout so much as having sat in a cockpit.

Pursue the quest! I went against quite a few to include my mother when I told her I was joining the Marines.
But like I said - I had options. You should too.

With all due respect sir but it was childish of you to say that I sound like a troll. Anyway, i do have a plan B and I want advice from industry professionals. This summer I plan on taking a introductory flight, I'm excited and I'm 100 percent certain this is career I want to persue. Yes I will get a degree in aviation because that's the path I want to take. With the pilot shortage going on I think it's a good investment. Not to mention, I have a certificate in electrical trades, I plan on getting a dispatcher certificate as my plan C.