What should I do?
 

Here's my situation. I am 17 and a senior in Highschool, I have taken a few flying lessons and really enjoyed them so far. However, I am having doubts as to whether or not to become a professional pilot. I really want to be a pilot I just feel like I'm going to regret choosing this path. I really enjoy everything about aviation, I just don't know if I will enjoy it as a career. Any advice is appreciated.

If you have reservations now then explore the reasons why. Start off with getting a PPL and go from there.

What is it about professional piloting that makes you believe you will regret it?

You don't have to be an airline pilot to be a pilot. You don't even need to be an airline pilot to be commercial pilot and make a good living. Airlines and flight schools will be screaming at you soon trying to convince you that you have to get into the airlines "as soon as possible"....

Can we get a mod to move this thread? There's also another thread by Stets656 titled "Air sickness" in the regional category. Thanks

The good news is that right now you can be a pretty poor pilot and crappy student with a horrific background and still get a job at a regional.

GO FOR IT! Think about the Instagram likes bro. Seriously.

It's nothing about the career itself. I'm just feeling like it may not be the career for me.

If it has to do with your concerns about air sickness, then read the article I linked to in the other thread. If you have the means and desire to do so, finish up your Private Pilot Certificate and see how you feel then. That way you will have given yourself a chance one way or the other.

I would never put all my eggs into the aviation career basket. Even if it was 100% your passion. Get a degree in something useful or sought after (engineering, finance, etc). If you fly in the military, flight trianing is cheap. When you get out you will know if you want to do the airlines or go get a real job. People I fly with who have done nothing but the embry riddle or wherever (insert aviation degree college here) and professional flying usually have a lot of debt and have nothing to fall back on when they lose their medical, realize this job isn't what they dreamed it would be, 9/11, etc. etc. Always leave yourself multiple options if you all of a sudden have to leave the profession.

Finishing your Private like others have suggested would be a good way to gauge if you think you'd be into it long term.

But I'll say this. I was a starry eyed high school kid who wanted to fly 747's and be like DiCaprio in Catch Me if You Can. I lived and breathed aviation. Any article or publication or book I could get my hands on about it I read. Fast forward almost a decade... I'm in the regionals like so many others here and just grinding along on first year pay. I'd read a lot of stories so it was expected, but the regionals are far from glamorous. And now I've met a nice girl and want to settle down, and suddenly a stable desk job where I could be home every night seems a little more attractive. And with this career, you can expect to move around at least a few times unless you want to endure the hell that is commuting. So then you worry about your significant other finding their dream job in whatever city you're in when suddenly your airline notifies you they're closing that base and now you have to fly several states away. So do you commute or ask your S.O. to leave their dream job?

These are some concerns I've had with the job so far, but I'm very fortunate compared to many regional pilots because I live in base and was able to do my flight training very cheaply (little debt). So imagine the anxieties of worse off pilots. I've met guys on reserve for years (you sit around til another pilot calls in sick and cover for him) in bases across the country from where they lived, only seeing their girlfriend one day a month and hardly even getting home. Serious burnout. I have respect for their perseverance but don't envy them at all.

So proceed with caution. This industry is volatile, job security seems like nil sometimes (9/11, bankruptcies, furloughs, the possibility of single pilot cockpits in a decade or two), you might lose your medical, and management is always in contention with you.

There are upsides to the job, but it's important to hear the bad things before committing to it in a big way.