TimeLordPilot

Hello everyone.

I’m new to this forum (literally just signed up) and I am a current aviation student looking for some brutally honest advise about if I should peruse the career.

I’ll try to keep this kind of brief, and will outline more details about it is people ask. Basically I am still very early on at a University flight school. Still working on my private pilot, and only have a few hours logged. Originally I had intended on going toward a career pilot, although I don’t know to what capacity. I currently work as a paramedic, and live along and support myself off of that income. (Student loans for flight school—although not very high as yet due to not so many hours logged.)

Yesterday in a flight operations class my professor was talking of the lifestyle and said “If you’re someone who is a family person and wants that lifestyle…well…you’re going to have to make some compromises.” I have been seeing a girl lately…still pretty early on, but, who knows? Maybe she’ll be the one. Even if not, I think I do want to have the kind of life style where at least, for the most part I’d be able to be home and around that family. (That’s not saying if I had to be away for a couple days I never could, but my professor spoke of her husband pilot being home no more than one week a month every month for the entire summer.) Moreover my girlfriend is in Med School—which is strenuous enough in and of itself—and aviation will just make a future with her harder.

I’m now beginning to reconsider if I should go this route. I did so some research prior to starting flight school and it looked like a really good career. I read a lot about the high upcoming demand for pilots soon. It took only a few minutes of browsing this forum to see that that does not seem to be the popular belief in the aviation field—and that the pay isn’t as good as most surveys I read seemed to make them out to be. I have considered other fields of aviation besides the airlines—possibly air ambulances, and other things, but it seems like the only way to make money is going for the big airlines and basically sacrificing a dream for a family.

So am what I am reading on this forum pretty much the product of jaded burned out pilots, or is it really that rough of a life that I potentially might only see m kids on weekends if that’s what my future holds. I know some people are laughing at me—cause most guys in their mid 20s aren’t worried about kids/wife/future at this age—but this are real concerns I am having. And it’s not as though I have no options in front of me if I choose to not be a pilot. I am registering to take a Critical Care paramedic course to further my paramedic certs. And pretty much the only classes I have left to take at my University are the aviation credits—all my gen-eds are done so a major change should not be so difficult and I, as of now, have limited aviation loans to pay off. I could switch to stay completely in the medical field and change to get my nursing degree, or aviation management or ATC. (My only thing is I have little to no interest in that…whereas flying is an absolute passion of mine…I love it to no end.) I’ve even just considered maybe getting my Private through a part 91 school and having it as a hobby (but unless I’m wrong…it’s a pretty damn expensive hobby…)

Anyway, I’m just curious to what people’s brutally honest opinions would be on this. I brought up some of these concerns to my CFI and he suggest “if you’re not going to do this, stop now before you put a boatload of thousands of dollars into this.” And I think I agree with that. So I’m curious to see what people who actively work in the field would recommend.

Thank you for anyone who took the time to read this Wall O’ Text and I appreciate any feedback. ^_^

USMCFLYR

Read the Truth About the Professional.
Here is a link to a thread with it in the first post.

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/ma...rofession.html


USMCFLYR

rickair7777

Should you continue? Tough question that only you can answer.

At your age I envisioned all sorts of military adventures for myself, with little regard for spouse/family. I lived that life, and my girlfriends wisely moved on until I got all of that out of my system.

The thing about aviation is that young folks often sign up for the adventure without fully realizing the long-term lifestyle and family ramifications. Count yourself fortunate that you're wise enough to consider that now. Your first chold will probably be a game-changer as far as your attitudes about being away from home.

But I wouldn't make major career decisions at your age for one girl unless you are certain the she is THE ONE. At this point do what you want to do, then find a partner who is compatible with that. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for heartache.

But if you think you want to be home most nights NOW, aviation (at least turbine-powered) is probably not best for you.

TimeLordPilot

Awesome. I will check that out in a little bit.

TimeLordPilot

Adventure is fun, and I do love to travel. I was one of those kids that anytime we went on a family trip—I wanted to window seat. Flying has always been my favorite way of traveling and when I was able to get money to actually do it, well, it was a dream come true.

Without boring everyone with details: I’ve grown up fast. (Mom died when I was 16, I was nearly paralyzed at 14, moved out on my own at 17…etc) so I’ve learned to kinda’ take big decisions like this into consideration. I realize my initial post made it seem like it was for one girl. Do I think she’s the one? Maybe. I hope. But that’s not my concern really. My concern is when I DO have a family/kids—it it with her, or Jane Smith I meet in five years—I want to be able to be there. (Which I think may come from a mother’s death so young and living on my own and spending all my holidays alone for the past decade…I’d love a family…but I digress.)

If I could get into a career where I could, for the most part (I wanna make sure that’s emphasizes—lol) fly locally, it’d be a dream come true. But it seems like aviation jobs that can have you gone only for two or three days aren’t very common. I mean, as a paramedic I work 24 hour shifts and stuff. So occasionally that’s fine. But as a medic I still get a decent amount of time to be home and, well, have a life. I fear aviation might completely take that away. Are there non-turbine based fields you could suggest I look into? I’ve already considered Air Ambulance pilot—but I need to learn more about that field. There’s also a CFI, of course, but I’ve been told that is not a place to go to make money. (Every CFI I’ve known has had to have tow jobs just to get by.) I, as of right now, live in the Midwest. (Metro-detroit area. Closer to Ann arbor) but I’m not sure if this is going to be my permanent place of residence. If there are any other aviation jobs you can suggest for me to read up more on, I would greatly appreciate it.

StartUp161WanaB

[QUOTE=TimeLordPilot;1257472]
There’s also a CFI, of course, but I’ve been told that is not a place to go to make money.


Not true. There are career CFI's out there that make a decent living with a comfortable QOL. You may have to move to California, Texas, Arizona, or Florida where weather allows you to fly all year long. Try looking into part 141 schools.

Rama

Air ambulance is tough and dangerous, but where I live they make a decent living. They are on call a lot so that is one thing to consider. Flying a jet is typically where the money is (besides the regionals) I am lucky enough to fly only day trips in a narrowbody so I sleep in my own bed every night. This is not typical of the airlines, but is possible. I also choose not to fly the widebodies so I can be at home, though I do sacrifice my pay. This is not unusual-quality of life versus quality of paycheck is the norm at most outfits and of course having seniority always helps.

Diver Driver

Since you have an EMS background, have you looked into flying life flight helicopters? There was just a job posting in my area for one and the salary range was $60-90/yr salary with excellent benefits. Those jobs are usually local in nature and you're home almost every night.

TimeLordPilot

That’s one of the reasons I’m considering the whole air ambulance things. I mean, I’d prefer fixed wings, but I would be willing to get a chopper rating for it, if the pay was good. I know you can’t really cross trained (you have to function either as the pilot or the medic…but I could do both for a company.) And being on call isn’t an issue. I had originally though that they would have similar hours…but it seems to be hard to figure out if that’s the case or not.

Whereabouts are you from that you saw that listing?

N9373M

We'll need a photo of the girlfriend to assist you further.........

Just like you, from what I've read on this forum, the road to the top of the pro pilot pyramid is difficult and long, and it may not be obtainable.

I have a non-aviation degree and have truly enjoyed just being a general aviation guy. FBO ppl and instrument on a pay as you go basis - no debt. I've done the flying club, ownership and renting thing.

Work is work, no matter what field - aviation is my escape. I enjoy introducing people to flight, flying the guys to Sawgrass for a weekend golf outing, maintaining instrument proficiency, witnessing sunsets/sunrises on my schedule. I'm also fortunate in that my work considers general aviation as a viable means of transportation - that means work subsidizes my flying within reasonable limits.

Personally, I'd rather ***** and moan about my job and escape with aviation rather than the other way around. YMMV

good luck!