Well, if you have the dream, that is alright. Go for it! Just know that it is not what you think it is and make sure you diversify yourself along the way.

I'm happier than a pig in **** that I at least tried. I got to fly a jet for 1000+ hours and certainly scratched the itch. Whether it is out of my system or not, I don't know yet (not sure it ever will be). But, I am excited about a life outside professional aviation and could have only really gotten here with the understanding of what it is like inside. I only flew for 2 years, but between commuting (jumpseating up front with SWA crews, AA crews, USAir crews), talking to captains in my airline, experiencing it for myself, etc, I feel I got a good representative sample of what its all about.

Its not all bad - much of it is pretty darn cool. But, just be smart about how you get there and keep the exit open just in case you decide you don't like it.

Aviation CAN be pursued in a private manner. You just need to get your CFI/II and find a career that pays well.

 

I just wish I would have told the Captain the same thing I yapped to my mom about during the flight. I don't know if he would have just passed it off and said "yeah go for it" or sat me down in the jumpseat and told me that's not quite how it works.

 

[Disclaimer: I'm not an airline pilot. Just a lowly grad student with 230 TT working on my commercial]

I don't think being an airline pilot would be that bad of a gig. It's not the best career in terms of how well it rewards vs. what you have to put in to get a job, but that shouldn't be a deal buster if it's all you really want to do in life. I wanted to be an airline pilot for a long time. But for one thing, now that I've got a few hundred hours, I'm realizing that flying the same flight profile on the same routes or similar routes, in the same airplane for the rest of my life wouldn't be that exciting. The reason flight training is so much fun is because you're always doing different things, always advancing to new airplanes, there's always a new procedure to learn or a new level of accuracy to shoot for. I don't really see those same traits in an airline pilot's lifestyle.

Personally, I'm a weekend pilot for now. If the military will have me, then I'll fly apaches for the army or f-16's for the ANG. If not, then I'll be a CFI on the weekends and an aerospace engineer during the week. I'm glad I didn't commit myself 100% to being an airline pilot.

I could still quit my job and go be an airline pilot within a few years if I decided I wanted to, but if I'd gone to ERAU, gotten a degree in aviation science, and was a furloughed RJ pilot, the reverse would not be true. YMMV.

 

Just remember if flying is your #1 right now, another career doesn't mean you need a degree, you can be just as or more profitable if you have any other ability, take classes, courses that would refine this ability, usually a degree wouldn't be that useful if you already have a job flying, you can become more useful in many other things even without getting a degree.

 

Speaking of monotony, have you ever sat in a cubicle? I've been in one for 5 years now and my life has gone from exciting to horrible. I'd much rather fly the PHL VCN8 every day than stare at the same computer screen with its decade old operating system dealing with ignorant entitlement minded people all day. My job has no real new 'levels of accuracy' to strive for either... No matter what I do, or how good I do it, it's never good enough for the corporate minded. Being a 'cost center' has been a bain on my existence. I don't know your situation nor am I trying to insult you in any way, but I'm just offering a viewpoint from a cubicle dweller... since most jobs that aren't burger flipping or changing oil involve sitting under fluorescent lights getting fatter and dealing with the poster children of nepotism. I'm just hoping things get better for all of us soon... And even though I have my issues with the airline industry and the idiot public (not the smart public) pleasing "security" measures imposed on us by our government, I still hope one day to be in the cockpit seeing the world.

 

The majority of airline pilots have had office jobs, either as civilians or in the military. What you are gripping about is often fact, but you have one great advantage...you can quit for a better opportunity and often get paid more to boot. That is almost never an option in airlines...you either take an untenable pay and QOL cut to start over as furlough-fodder at the bottom of someone else's list, or you are viewed with suspicion for wanting to make a lateral move.

The airlines used to be worth a significant amount of BS because the payoff was high if you made it in the end...but that is no longer the case for most airlines.

 

Dan, I believe much of your problems are in your head. You seem to view yourself as separate from the rest of the so called "lemmings" of the world and holding significant altitude above them. Do you think this viewpoint is really unique to you?

No matter what your job is, you've got to look at the world through your own life "filters" and my guess is you'll see a similar theme in the airline world to what you see in the IT world. Your viewpoint will follow you no matter where you go.