28 years old career change question
 

Flying was my dream when I was younger. In mid-late 2000's when I graduated HS and was researching the career the consensus was to get a B.S degree out of the way so you have something to fall back on in case the flying career doesn't work out. I got my degree in a nursing related field and I am now employed full time in healthcare and make a pretty good wage plus full benefits.

I got my PPL last summer (2015) and have about 100 hours so far. I tried to star the IR but have been busy and couldn't do it. I am getting really excited reading all this stuff about the pilot shortage (as far as the regionals are concerned) and how now is the time to enter the field. I have some money saved up and am thinking of enrolling in ATP to do their accelerated course to put me on the fast track to getting all my hours and ratings. Alternatively, I could wait it out a little longer and perhaps the regionals will get desperate enough to provide some sort of paid training for applicants or at least a sweet ab-initio program.

My only hang up is that my PPL training was fun in the beginning, but then got boring. Although I still look forward to flying, I usually find myself sitting in the cockpit and at some point I get pretty bored...ie staring out the window and I kind of want to get out of the cockpit and do something else but I'm "trapped" inside because I'm up in the air. Furthermore, when I started studying for the IR knowledge test I found it hard to stay awake (I know the IR is the most boring of all the ratings or so i've been told). On the other hand I think about some of the cool sights I've seen and the cool experiences I've had flying so far and there isn't much I'd trade them for. And like I said, I do look very much forward to the next flights I have despite getting bored at times.

I'm also at a point where I can't stand my healthcare job anymore. I work with the same people every single day in the same small confined environment, deal with arrogant doctors (which is very discouraging), and am treated like i'm expendable by the administration. I am getting frustrated with this every day because I know i'm not the kind of person cut out for this type of job lifestyle and I think about how great it would be to be in the cockpit with another professional where we are equals and for the most part are away from the BS. The thought of that is really really appealing right about now.

Another option I have been considering is to take the money I have saved up and shoot for a small-business venture of some sort. I am pretty handy with tools and have construction experience and was thinking of trying real-estate flipping. Being self-employed and flying for fun on the side sounds almost as appealing as being a full-time professional pilot except for all the headaches and stresses that come with being self-employed. Ultimately if I could choose I would rather be employed by the majors making $200k+/year and have a set schedule...can't beat it.

I know there is no easy answer here but if you guys were me would you pull the trigger and make the career change? I am in a position where I have enough saved up and could get all my ratings up to CFI and be debt-free.

Change doctors to captains and that's a pretty good description of flying with the added thrill of being killed.

Like going to heaven, everybody wants to, but not everybody wants to do what it takes to get there.

GF

The added thrill of being killed? What an ass. And the vast majority of Captains, or any pilot I've flown with, have been great to work/fly with. You are in the wrong career

99.9% of every pilot I worked with over a forty-year career have been great, most I'm still in touch with over all those years. I've also gone to 11 funerals of friends who came to grief in planes. And I managed to escape a midair that killed the other pilot. How many doc's or medical people get killed in hospital? So there's that.

I'm pretty sure the ratio of personable doctors to arrogant ones is pretty similar throughout every career and life. As Raylen Givens said, "you meet an a'hole in the morning, you met an a'hole; if you are meeting a'holes a all day, you're the a'hole."

GF

Apologies, I should have said "the possibility....." Most of my flying friends have similar history. YMMV.

GF

The grass ain't any greener....

Personally, I think you'll hate this career. All we do is stare out the window 85% of the time (or read USA Today, hard-hitting journalism). You think pilots aren't arrogant? How does working beside a captain 10 years younger than you sound?? Captains and first officers are not equals, regardless of what anyone says. Yeah, we like to pretend we're close... but ultimately, they're not. The 40% difference in pay should make that clear. There are plenty of much more capable first officers than their captains, but I digress... You'll find some captains who make this very clear to you.

And you'll never be away from the BS. Ever.

Are you allowed to read while flying? What do most pilots do while flying?

*I'm not the original poster. Just another person considering a career change.

Technically, usually not. Technically.

Sometimes the Captain must declare a boredom emergency and authorize reading (in the interest of safety, you understand). ;)

Do a 12-hour night leg across Siberia sometime and see boredom.

GF