Hello all,

I'm posting here because I wanted to get some help weighing my options for a career. I am 24 years old with a non-aviation degree, just about to finish my private and have been headed towards the path of attending ATP's fastrack program, whereupon completion and after instructing to 600 hours or so, I have connections to get hired with a company in PA flying a Beechjet, and possibly a Citation later on. I KNOW that this could happen - I have 2 very close friends that have worked or are currently working for the same company. Also, my father flies for a major airline and will be retiring soon, but he has numerous connections in the airline industry as well. My end goal with aviation would be to work for a company like Netjets and live in Wilmington, NC. I know that I could certainly make a career out of flying, but I have a few concerns:

1 - I am engaged to be married to the love of my life in October of this year. I worry that being an airline pilot will not allow me enough time to be home with her or our future children.

2 - I am concerned that after diving in head first into aviation, I will not be able to end up back in Wilmington at some point, and may be forced to live somewhere that I don't want to.

3 - I currently coach for a local swimming team and have committed myself to them until the beginning of the summer. In order to co-sign for the loan, Pops won't allow me to finish my term with the team because he fears that ANY time not spent towards the aviation industry is seniority lost, and, ultimately, waiting another 4-5 months would make it not worth it. Is is true?

4 - I went to school thinking that I was going to be a teacher, and I have an opportunity as we'll to live almost immediately in Wilmington and begin teaching, but am having a hard time deciding between flying and these other issues.

Bottom line: I love flying. I could DEFINITELY see myself doing it as a career, but I am apprehensive about the future. I am SURE that I'm not the only one who has felt like this at some point. Could anyone offer up some advice from their personal experience or knowledge? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys.

 

I love flying, but I love my family more. After a while it's just a job, albeit a pretty good one most days, which is why you see so much negativity on the boards.

If you're already hesitant about time away I would suggest you very strongly consider the teaching gig and fly for fun on the side.

Seniority is everything though, and if you get started soon and stay in one company you can have a pretty good QOL in the airline biz, commute notwithstanding. Good luck.

 

Pops probably knows best on this one. A lot of people wish they had your problems...you have family connections, and your career timing should make you eligible for a major right about the time hiring really picks up in a few years. If you can get on before 30, you're probably set. Wilmington is reasonably close to the junior east coast bases of most majors.

You certainly need a spouse who is reasonably independent but the long term QOL and pay (you would upgrade at a major before 40) should be a net positive for the family in your case.

Any reasonably lucrative career is going to have a cost, usually in QOL. A high-paying corporate-america job will take it out of your hide every day until you retire.

It probably all comes down to the wife...is she willing to make the trade-off?

 

My opinion:
Good age to be looking at careers and excellent to have a degree outside of aviation (especially if it is a useful degree (not English Lit for instance )
Fastrack = usually bad. Expensive and where are you going fast now in the industry?
I don't know your situation other than what you have mentioned in your post and I can say with much confidence - - great plan. Are you prepared for failure of that plan? Not getting hired. Copany changes focus. No one leaves - no slot available. Economic downturn. Etc....
Helps - could help a lot - or not. Connections are funny things.
After those 500 furloughed pilots are back on property, and you get at a minimum 2,500 hrs, AND get the type of experience that Netjets would have found competitive in the past (who knows what lies ahead)
Limiting yourslef to a geographical area (especially around a particular town) can be a nail in the ciffin of an aviation career - especially if that location doesn't happen to be a hotbed of corporate aviation. Btw - I have no idea what the prosepcts around Wilmington would or could be in the future.

You are looking to enter an occupation that involves travel. Some more than others. The oft used phrase of 'the bigger the airplane, the bigger the suitcase' comes to mind. Have you (and the future wife) really thought of this. Peronally I can't understand the people who get into this job and then complain about the time spent away. I put it up there with the people who join the military and then complain about the deployments. What did you think you were going to do? In the ned - KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING YOURSELF INTO.
Location. location, location and the willingness to move for a job are keys to success and as mentioned earlier - you are GREATLY imiting your options if you are alrady tryin to work back to a particular area, to a particular city, to a particular, block, to a particular house
I think Pops is a little out of touch with the current timeline/opportunities of the current professional pilot path - but I'm sure others will have better opinions on this since this type of thinking is geared more toward AIRLINES and you expressed an interest in more of the corporate side of aviation where seniority is less important than networking.
If able - can you not scractch your flying itch with GA flying? Got SJS? Don't see the excitement of flying when you want, where you want, for as long as you want, in whatever type of weather you want for instance?

KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING YOURSELF INTO
And enjoy it in the end.

 

I work for an airline and really enjoy my job. That being said, reading your bio I do not think you would enjoy it. Most of the guys I know that really hate the airline life, commute and have families at home. New rest rules are pushing more and more regional pilot schedules to minimum days off (typically 11 or 12). You may have to end of using those days to commute to work which puts you at home less than 10 days a month.