Training with a 9-5...
 

Well, with an opportunity to go commute to the local college and use their flight school looking less and less likely ($50k for all of flight school is too much for the parents), I'm looking instead to going to college for something else. My other love is computers, so I'm thinking of going into IT.

Yeah, IT wouldn't be bad at all and I'd enjoy the heck out of it, but it ain't flying. So what I was thinking is that I could get my flight training done on my own on my free nights and weekends throughout the year. Then, somewhere down the line, I could move less into IT and more into aviation. I was thinking that when I got my CFI/CFII/MEI, I could move into CFIing full time and working in freelance IT/web design to help pay the bills and build time. If I never got latched on with a regional, I could just go back to IT and fly on my free time.

Anyone ever go down a similar path, where they worked and trained on the side and have their story to tell? Am I just dreaming right now? And if I were to go down this hypothetical route, how long would it take to get all of my ratings?

Sounds like a good plan. I did something along those lines, in that some of my training was done while I had a regular job and life.

Should not be too hard, there is no minimum requirement for daytime flying, so you could do the majority of your training at night if it came down to it.

I was not career oriented at the time so I didn't fly with any particular consistency but if you dedicated yourself I'm sure you could fly 2-3 times during the week and 1-2 times on the weekend...maybe more if you cleared your weekend schedule.

What's the story with the FAA Bill. Did they increase the minimum requirement to be a FO at a 121 airline? I haven't heard anything for a while and reading the news is to confusing. I can't figure out if its done or still being worked on.

I know a guy who works IT and is doing flight training in his spare time. There are actually alot of people at my school who work 40 hours plus and still make it out 3 times a week to train. It seems to be working out well for them. The only downside is it seems to take them a little longer to progress because flying is second to their job. On the other hand, they stress out over flying alot less than most because its better than being at work! :D

Flight training takes much longer and is therefore much more expensive if you are in a "pay as you go" situation, and there is always something else to spend the money on. even flying once a week means half of each lesson is spent reminding you of what you learned last week, so figure 60+ hours to get a private.

My suggestion would be to save the pennies for a year while reading message boards and pilot magazines. When you have enough to pay for 45 hours, drop it all at once, and fly 3-4 times a week until it's done. That's the cheapest and fastest way in the long run.

Just because you spread your training out over a longer period doesn't have to mean your license time is higher. I spent over 2 years on my private and took the ride at 40.5 hours. You can review the previous lessons before the next lesson by reading and practicing on your home simulator.