Hello all, I am a 4th year college student and I am 21 years of age. I have always wanted to be a pilot since I was young. I started flight training in the year of 2021, and it didn't go as planned. There have been so many obstacles and it really has been difficult. I barely flew ( 2 times that year) due to lack of plane availability and weather. Then I transferred to a different school in Florida and I was facing some issues done there financially. Not looking foward to graduation , I imagined myself to be holding my cfi license at graduation but the reality is that I wouldn't even be holding my private license but despite all of that my passion hasn't disappeared, I still plan on working a couple jobs and do flight training on the side for 2 years. With the hiring right now I have missed the wave but who cares , as long as I am getting to persue what I want to do that's all what matters to me. My parents are telling me to not limit myself by chasing the goal of being a pilot but look into other stuff, and they tell me how being a pilot is a crappy career option. It's discouraging. But all in all , I'm still young and if it's going to take me 10 years to be an airline pilot I will still do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

You're young and unencumbered ... if you can get the money, you can get your licenses.

There are some people that have gotten very, very lucky the last 24 months. You aren't going to get that lucky ... even if you had 500 TPIC now, none of the majors will hire you til you turn 23. And you being 21 isn't anyone's fault, not even the romans.

So whether you get to a major in 2025 or 2035 ... you got a lot of years ahead of you and the industry as a whole is going to take a LONG time to recover from this hiring binge that is strip-mining every corner of the industry. And guess what ... all the guys who are too old to bother moving now are going to be retiring in 3-5 years. There will keep on being good jobs for a long time.

Are you gonna get hired at United at 23 and be a widebody captain at 43 ... no. But I don't see any indication that jobs are going away until they figure out a reduced crew airliner

 

Your parents aren’t wrong. Get the best possible job right out of college. A better job will provide more money and more free time to pursue your hobby (flying). The more time and money you can throw at that hobby, the sooner you will knock out your ratings and have the option of pursuing a career as a professional pilot.

 

Finish college and get a job in aviation to stay close and to stay motivated. Nothing like seeing airplanes every day and wanting to fly them.
Full time or part time if it pays enough and let’s you fly more.
Slowly chip away at all your certificates and ratings then start part time instructing.
One of the best instructors I’ve had taught 7am-1pm then worked the ramp 2-10pm.
Every single day.

 

Aviation is all about overcoming obstacles. Keep scrapping. You’ll get there if you persist.

 

Yes.

Yes you should.

You've already made the decision.

Now you merely need to understand it.

The matrix has you.

 

What JB is trying to tell you here is that what you described is not even scratching the surface of the trouble and hardships many of us have gone through in order to get to where we are.
So….buckle up buttercup you’ve got a ways to go.

 

Read my mind. 21? Really?

This industry is a close second to surviving in the music business. If you're already questioning this industry, save yourself the anguish. Read above, Learn coding. Much more stable..

 

Remember, flying an airplane is a lot like riding a bicycle. It's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.

 

And I quit coding to come back to flying. Some joy is worth the pain.