SteveCostello

Many moons ago, I attended ERAU with the intention of becoming a professional pilot for a major. One financial catastrophe and seeing the writing on the wall for the majors later, I dropped out in my 2nd semester as a sophomore. I was an FAA checkride away from getting my PPL at 45 hours. I. Loved. Flying. To this day, it is the one thing I can look back at and say, "Now THAT is something I am REALLY good at."

Fast forward almost 20 years. I'm now 40 and employed as a corporate web site developer/designer. It's a fair enough living (~$70K), but I'm at a juncture now. I'm anything but passionate about this job (especially at this particular company...). For my 40th birthday, my incredible wife hooked us up with 2 hours in a 172. The instructor has become a terrific friend of ours (retired USAF, etc.). It was like riding a bicycle, and rekindled my passion for flying, coincidentally at the same time I realized how much I'm completely unfulfilled in my career at this point. I really want to fly, and I want to do it daily-ish. At ~$70K, I can't afford to do it on my own, so I may as well try to get paid for it, and fly some pretty cool stuff, to boot.

I know I'm far too old to even think about flying for the majors, or even a regional. I'd be completely happy flying King Airs for small company, charter or wealthy family. I'd be tickled pink to fly for NetJets or something along those lines.

Knowing the above, is it remotely possible for me to make a career change? I know it would probably take quite some time to get close to what I am taking home now, but I am willing to sacrifice that for a fulfilling career doing something I truly love. But if the chances of that happening are close to nil, then I'd like to know that before I make serious moves toward making my dream a reality.

fallujahff

Stay at your job. Finish your PPL. Get your IFR, commercial, instructor and revisit this question when you are done.

I would think, for you-buy a plane-take that wonderful wife flying on the weekend someplace nice and continue to love flying. You could instruct on the side.

rickair7777

You could actually make it to a regional in time to upgrade and still have maybe 15 years as a CA (assuming the current regional business model survives intact, which is unlikely). You could probably also get hired at a major in time to be an FO for ten years or so.

But the real question is do you want to make the financial and lifestyle sacrifices? You will never be able to to recoup your losses, since only widebody captains have lucrative income at most passenger airlines and you won't have time to get there.

Can you can maintain a decent income by consulting/freelance in your current field?

I would not consider it at all unless you have your retirement FULLY funded, house paid off, kid's college funded, and enough cash to supplement your lifestyle during the entry-level CFI and regional years...your wife will not think it's cool to live in a van down by the river (or the flight school parking lot).

There are trade-off's between 121, 135, and 91 employment...none is really much better than the other on average.

LeftWing

1st, NetJets has furloughs that could easily last into double digit years. Even if they didn't have furloughed pilots and they were hiring, their minimums are much higher than regional airlines. You could easily make it to the regionals. Not to demean or insult regional lifers, but think of the first few years at a regional as a low rung on the ladder. Seriously, some have bridge programs that hire worthless flight school grads into the right seat.

Diver Driver

THIS! Absolutely stay at your current job and get your ratings on the side. If you decide it's for you after getting your CFI, teach on the weekends or something and after enough time or networking, you might be able to get a nice corporate gig.

If you want to have a crack at the airlines, make sure your family is prepared to have you gone about 80% of the month (if you commute to base on reserve) and you'll need to be prepared to make $20,000/yr or less your first year with only a small raise yearly after that until you upgrade to captain.

Cruz5350

I'm in a similar boat as of last week I made $66k so this first yr had I stayed I'd be at $70K. I was not very happy in my work and didn't find it rewarding besides the money. Now I had all my ratings when I started minues the CFI; I bought a plane and enjoyed taking trips with it in addition to using it for instrument currency. The ride has been fun and now I head off to school in less than a week for a small regional. One big negative though is the pay cut; talking $50k gone a year with really no idea when I'll see a $70k salary again. 10 years if I'm lucky? I love to fly; so I'm just going to get this bug out of my system while I can and if need be bail out and get a more stable job.

SteveCostello

I have no aspirations to work for a major. I'd never get into the left seat, if I could even get hired in the first place... I can't imagine a major investing someone who, by the time I had enough hours to get there, would only have around 10 years of employment left. Of course... the way things are these days, some pilots are luck to work 10 years at a major...

The regionals seem like they might be okay, but I see enough horror stories on here to really dissuade me from that track. I understand the irregular schedule and more of the 'hands-on' work that charter and biz flying involves, and that doesn't bother me too much. Also, while a lot of folks focus on cracking six figures, I realize at this point I'd just like to get back to my current income level as quickly as possible. That's one reason I pointed out the King Air, as it seems that most of those pilots are pulling down about what I am making now.

(Fear not... definitely not a sandbagger... I do want to make as much as possible, would love to break six figures, and know that pilots earn every penny of that, especially when all the Oh SH!T lights start flashing.)

I just don't want to be staring at the same damn four walls for the next 20 years or so. And I want those next 20+ years to be full of doing something I'm passionate about. I've seen some advice that says to just stick it out, and buy a plane to enjoy on the weekends. That's fine, but that basically limits me to something no more complicated than a late 70's C-182, because I sure as hell can't afford much more than that, and I'd like to fly some more complex, bigger equipment. Which is why the corporate/charter gig appeals to me.

I'm actually starting the process of career counseling right now to see what other alternatives there are. At the same time, I'm trying to figure out how to finance getting everything through MEII. That's going to be crazy expensive...

HotMamaPilot

The fact that you now feel such passion is reason enough to NOT make a career out of aviation. Do it for recreation only. Any flying career, esp. in which you must rely on it as a survival means, will suck the "passion" right out of you. You will soon hate it.

SteveCostello

Ah... one thing I forgot to mention. I suppose that in the midst of all of this, I am going to have to get a piece of paper to hang on my wall, too, right?

SteveCostello

Really? Do you hate your job? Do all of you on here with professional flying careers hate your job? If so... why keep doing it?