Don't borrow any money for any flight training! Pay as you go. Work your butt off so that you can save the money to do it with cash! You will be exponentially happier when all is said and done than you would have been had you borrowed money. It can be done, and should be done this way. Why would anybody borrow money for a 25,000 per year job? Makes no sense.

Of course, being a pilot is sometimes referred to as a sickness, and I have it, so I understand. For me, it took 8 1/2 years to go from intro flight to right seat in a CRJ, but it is a second career for me, and I started flying for fun, not to become an airline pilot. You can do it faster, but only do it with cash!

Good luck! There is really only one thing better than flying! If you can't, for the life of you, think of what that one thing might be, then you are DEFINATELY a pilot!!

 

Skyboy....I would highly recommend not becoming a pilot. I know of many people as well as many friends who have got out of flying and also many more who are in the process or seriously thinking about getting into other careers. Everything SkyHigh and everyone else on here has said about the lifestyle is true.....its absolutely terrible.....you're probably young and haven't thought about it much but someday you'll want to have a wife and kids and settle down....this will be very difficult to handle while working in this industry. The ability to travel and see different places might sound appealing, but honestly, when I come home from a trip the last thing I want to do is go back to the airport and go somewhere....even if I did have enough money in the bank to be able to travel and have fun. also get used to not having weekends and holidays off to spend with family and friends. ever worked a double shift?.....try doing it almost every day flying for an airline. I also have a marketing degree and I often think about how much nicer my life would be and how much more money I would make if I pursued a job in that field instead of doing this. I would urge you to keep working on that degree and I'm sure you will find a stable and fulfilling job in that field.

 

I'd say be careful making blanket statements like "Don't become a pilot." You have a marketing degree? I am sure you can just as easily find a message board of disgruntled marketing consultants (cause that's all you do with a marketing degree, right?) just as bad as here, saying how worthless their degrees are. Just because you had bad luck with this industry, doesn't mean everyone else will.
For every person who has a doom and gloom story, I would bet the small sum of money they call my salary that you could find someone who loves this job for every person who calls this job a disease. The problem is (OP this is for you) is that the determination of dream job and crappy job is almost entirely arbitrary. It's all about timing. At one given time, the arbitrary number may be 5000 hours to get in on the game, always sit reserve when you make it, and be furloughed after a year. Yet at another time, 500 may be the hour to get in, hold a line right after IOE, and upgrade to captain after 3 years.
If you really want to be a pilot and you will not be happy unless you are flying airplanes, go for it. That's the mentality you need to survive people like this and the (unfortunately)often truthful situation he described. My advice is this and if I could go back in time and tell myself this 4 years ago (and I know I wouldn't listen to myself) I would: Flying is incredible. It is everything you thought it would be and then some. However, do not make it your career. Fly recreationally, do something else you love but has been quality of life, and fly on your own schedule for yourself.

 

I never made a "blanket statement." I said that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND not becoming a pilot, and by that I meant a career as an airline pilot. I never said I had bad luck in this industry either. Have you actually ever been a pilot in the airlines? You need to carefully reread a post before throwing garbage around.

 

I think that's the part he had a problem with. You said you recommend not being a pilot (which is the blanket statement because you, as you just mentioned, meant don't be an airline pilot)

Let's not fight about such small things!!

 

Well, in fairness, the website is "Airline Pilot Central," and the forum is "Career Builder." I know at least that I tend to assume (perhaps incorrectly) that anyone who posts here is at least considering flying professionally (as is the case with the OP).

If it were posted on AOPA's website - different case, but I think it's legitimate to presume that people here are considering flying as a career, so quit whining when people try and point out the downsides to it. People don't need to have the upsides explained (everyone sees those), but many gloss over the negatives when they are starting out.

 

I think the problem wasn't that. It was a miscommunication. Just because this is the career builder subforum doesn't mean that anyone who posts here has the final goal of 121.

That's what snippercr meant when he said don't make a blanket statement.

boeingt7 recommended the OP to not become a pilot because of his personal experiences and whatnot which is completely ok and fair. But that is only if the OPs intent was to fly 121 or whatever it is boeingt7 flies.

There's more to aviation than just Airlines, or just Cargo, or just charter, and so on. That's what I think snippercr was trying to get at

 

APC has grown leaps and bounds above what it was when it first started obviously.
APC incorporates and seeks to involve all aspects of aviation.
It might have been a fair assumption at one time, but I think it is fair to think that many members of the forum now have a wide variety of expectations within the guise of "professional aviation"

Simple semantics I think in the end.

USMCFLYR

 

If I may throw a few thoughts in of my own..

I'm a Private Pilot with 115 hours and I've been debating on whether or not to jump into the jungle of the professional aviation world. I've been researching different schools to get a picture of what it would be like. I've also talked to a few friends who are now pilots for airlines. When I tell them I'm thinking about pursuing a career all they can say is, "Why? you have it good. I was sitting in a hotel on Thanksgiving."

I think that you have to love the lifestyle that this profession gives you and be fully aware of both sides of the business. You need a supportive wife//husband who is willing to sacrifice for you or just live the single pilot life. Otherwise, it could eat you alive. If you merely love to fly airplanes then get your degree, Private/Instrument Rating and fly to dinner when possible.

From all my research I have come to the conclusion that this is a very unpredictable and cyclical business. If you really want this and have accepted everything about the airlines, you will most likely get a job someday for a Regional. But at what cost? They are going to be hiring a lot over the next decade, but if you aren't near the top of that class, will you ever get a Major Captain position?

I'm still on the fence about it myself. I flew commercial the other day and thanked the Captain for a good flight and a "go around" that spooked everyone but myself. All that did was make me think of how cool it would be to be in his shoes.

Make an informed decision. Get your degree! Flight train along the way and get your PPL/IFR. You need those anyways to be a competent GA pilot.


Good luck.