I suspect you have a federal retirement in your hip pocket? Takes a lot of the anxiety out of a career which offers no pension plan.

That is completely WRONG and ridiculous. I've only been flying professionally for a few years, but have been fortunate enough to experience flight instructing, charter, corporate, and a regional airline. I'm a career changer (former engineer) and am still having a blast! I don't regret my decision to leave the engineering life for this lifestyle one bit.

I will say though, the most bitter pilots I've ever met (and flown with) have had little professional working experience outside of aviation.

No federal retirement. I got in when it was FERS. Like 401k. Nope. I'm saving for retirement thru IRA's just like many others.

Gsoflyer

Yes, but you do get a basic annuity. 1% per year of FERS-covered employment times the years of service, collectible at age 62 without reduction of 3% per year under 62. So that is a pension plan.

Gf

Hey Steve..I was in a similar situation to you. At 38 I enrolled in a flight school which guaranteed an interview with a Regional Airline. The cost of the program, including my housing and stuff, was around 60k. I had 23 hours when I started. I, as you, had a dream that I needed to pursue. Fortunately, I was financially able to do it. I was hired at age 40.
I just thought I'd share some of my thoughts with you...from a Regional Airline side...
Yes...it is a rough lifestyle...and will be challenging at first. You will be scattered all over the country and really never feel like you have a home. You will be eating crappy airport food and somedays you will barely have time to eat at all. You will be working long hours...not necessarily flying, but on duty for long hours. Sometimes you will be extremely busy and other times you will be sitting in the corner of the airport listning to your ipod bored to death. You will think the company is abusing you, and they probably are! You will be living out of a suitcase for the majority of the week in hotels...sometimes I felt like I was in prison because I had no car and there was absolutely nothing to do anywhere around the hotel. You will sometimes be eating hotdogs from the gas station across the street because you got to the hotel so late that nothing else was open...Sometimes you may be able to convince the girl at MacD's to let you "walk" through the drive-thru. You will be getting to the hotel late and leaving early, sometimes with 5-6 hours of sleep (The FAA rest regulations stink). You will miss alot of events and functions with your family and friends. You will be made to work on your days off (Junior Assigned). If you don't live in your home base, you will have the stress of commuting.
Now...with that being said...You will also get to see many things that most people will never experience...A meteor shower at 41,000 feet...Hurricane Katrina over New Orleans...Incredible lightning shows from above a thunderstorm. You will also get to do many things that very few do...Land a Jet/TP in minimal visibility...On your long overnights, go to cities and towns that you would never get to experience.
Fact is, as with any job, there is good and bad. The grass always looks greener and 'sometimes' it is. This is true for those looking for a career change "TO" or "FROM" the industry.
Another big consideration is your family life. I have a very supportive wife with no children. If I had children, I honestly don't think I could have done this career.
You are doing the right thing by asking people on this board for there thoughts. I know alot of them are negative...but the fact is, there is a good bit of negative to the job. But, there is good too...probably one of the biggest is the fact that you can say to yourself, "I did it!"
Unfortunately, I think this is one of those decisions that you have to look very deep within yourself and tell yourself Yes or No. "Not" making a decision is what will eat you alive!
Best of luck to you, and if I can be of any more help, please let me know!

Tripper
 

Nicely written Tripper.

Skyhigh

Well done. Thank almost all of you, actually, for some well-written thoughts, both on the positive and... not necessarily negative, but "things to ponder" side. These are all good things to think about and hash over with my wife. We don't have kids, but the possibility for some later down the line is still there. Neither one of us want them any time soon, however.

I have a lot to pack into a small amount of time, especially if I am mostly interested in corporate work. A degree, appropriate ratings, and hours. Saint Louis University here in town has a professional aviation program that comes with a degree, but it's pretty expensive. I kinda doubt my ERAU classes from 1995-99 are any good any more.

Excellent thread! I am 33, have recently earned a multi-Engine commercial/inst. certificate. Up until about a year ago I had never really entertained the thought of an airline career. Sure, I've always had respect for pilots when I traveled and momentarily thought about how cool it would be to work in the cockpit. The smells of Airplanes and Jet exhaust sparked my imagination of a challenging and rewarding work envirionment. After earning an instrument certificate two years ago I began to think about how much I would like to learn to be a professional and work in the NAS everyday. I've been plugging away at it ever since. I know that it will be a challenging journey with no guarantees, but I'm old enough to know that there are NO guarantees in this life. Right now I have a decent job, and many of the folks in this forum would recommend staying where you have security. The truth is I am no less vulnerable than the guys hired at American Eagle last month. My plan is to learn as much as I can about this profession and give it everything I've got.

I literally just got done talking to a police officer from po dunk USA (not far from where I grew up) who will beat my SECOND year pay in his FIRST year by at least 14,000. He laughed when I told him my pay. This job is just that, a job. Not a career. Why is anyone clamoring this? I am at a run of the mill regional. Not Great Lakes, not Gulfstream, and things are this sad. I can't imagine what some of my Eagle friends think right now after yeras of 'paying dues' to maybe getting furloughed?

You seem like a happy chap. I'll be blunt, if you wanna stay happy, keep looking to the sky, and keep doing JUST THAT: LOOKING.
From a young idealists standpoint, aviation is great. Get to fly to cool places, hang out with the crew, fly awesome equipment yada yada yada. The fact is that things are not always as they seem. You will be a miserable regional first officer in five years, if you're lucky(after two years or so of starving as a flight instructor). By then, you will be pushing forty still waiting for a rj captain slot. Is that what you want: to be a forty year old regional fo? And as far as the "pilot shortage", you can forget about it; it is and always has been a myth.
If you REALLY love your wife and want to have a family with her, then set aside your giddy, childish dreams and be a responsible man. Stick with your current career.