Hi, I'm new to the forums and I've just been browsing around. To introduce myself, I am a junior in college and attending UND. I got my PPL when I turned 17 as many of you probably have and it turned out to be a passion. I have tried engineering and I'm smart enough to do it, I just don't care for it that much. So I transferred to UND this fall to do the AT-CTI program and I thought it would be a good idea to add airport management as a second major as either a back up or to compliment one another. I think I could really enjoy either job, it's just that I'm beggining to realize I can do anything and this is the point to choose. That brought flying into question again. I don't feel right not going for it. Professors and advisors here say I have a good plan with the two majors and as I have read from several posts on here, I've also heard of false advice cause they want you to spend the money here for your training. At the same time the facultly here are extremely knowledgable and helpful which is nice. I've also noticed on the forums that a lot are against advising people to begin a career as a pilot cause of it's low level of pay and conditions for many years. On the other side there are stories of luck and I know people that have been lucky and gotten where they want to be in the industry quickly. At the same time I know pilots that warn against becoming a pilot. I've read through a lot of the different threads here already and they were helpful. So what I've been thinking is get a job with the other degrees I get and then maybe train and switch later on. I guess what I'm trying to ask is, with your expertise what would you do? How long is too late to enter the profession? Is it really that hard to get a job and get to where you can live somewhat comfortably in the industry in a decent amount of time? Are corporates better than airlines? Those are a lot of questions, but basically I'm just looking for opinions and mentoring I guess... I'm still a kid haha, 20 years old and just trying to figure things out and get some direction because I have hardly any knowledge of the industry. I appologize for the dramatic story here, that's not what I'm going for. Just need some help getting facts. Thanks!

 

Join the military.

 

There's a million "what if's" in this career. Fact is what works for somebody may or may not work for you. The grass is green on both sides of the fence- but depending on your perspective you might want to be on one or the other.

My recommendation (as somebody who didn't) is to at the very least double major in something other than professional flight if you can. It will broaden your options, but also round out your education.

UND is a good school and everybody's situation is different. I graduated in 2000 and consider myself very fortunate, despite losing my job in both 2005 and 2010. Even with those set backs, I'm now in a career position (I hope)!

Would I do it again? Definitely.

Might I change some things around? Dunno, maybe but also maybe not.

Is it tough to get a job and live comfortably? Depends- what type of work are you willing to do and for how much? What's your definition of comfortable? After college I flight instructed in the DC area. That paid enough money for me to rent a 1 bedroom apartment and pay some debt down.

After flight instructing I got on with a regional airline in DC. Moved to a 3 bedroom apartment with two other pilots. Lived comfortably, shared space, and had a blast as a bachelor.

Got married, got furloughed and found a job in a new city flying a Citation. Initially split a 3 bedroom house with another couple until we saved up enough to buy our own. Finally started making headway on debt and continued to live comfortably by our own standard.

Had a kid. Lost my job. Burned up some savings and part of my 401K while I was unemployed. Landed a great job. Moved cross country. Had another kid. Sold one house, bought another. Living even more comfortably, but also still working on debt. Are we rich? Hell no. But we're living the American dream and happy.

Is corporate better than airlines? BOTH have advantages and disadvantages. My corporate department with 10 pilots is like a family. We know each other and have a great time on the road. We're treated very well when traveling and stay at nice places. I get company holidays, Christmas-New Years, 4 personal days and unlimited sick time. I get paid a nice bonus when the company does well. Salary is good, retirement is great, but the schedule is sporadic and aside from vacation and weekends I don't know if I'll be home or not. It's tough to have the flexibility I'd like to plan evening events and see my kid's activities.

The airlines treated us worse from a company interaction standpoint, but also had benefits. Great people at my former company. Free travel. Opportunity to fly many different types of transport category aircraft. Union benefits and politics/downside. The list goes on.

 

15 years ago it would have been a no-brainer...airline compensation was better than most other career fields once you accounted for all the days off. That used to be enough to make up for the high cost of entry and the forced early retirement at 60.

But now the pay is down, as are the work-rules, so you work more and get paid less. Retirement is up to 65 which might be a good thing for some, but not so good for others.

One of the drawbacks to airline flying is that there is a certain degree of monotony...talented people might tend to feel under-utilized. That may not be an issue if you are getting paid more to work less than any professional job which would keep you fully engaged. But different story if your getting paid below your potential and bored to boot...

Tough call. I might suggest getting an engineering degree and then a job in that field after you graduate. Get your instructor ratings, teach on the side, and build flight time while you're doing that. After 2-3 years in your professional job you should have enough time to be within striking distance, and also a good feel for what engineering is really all about. Make a decision at that point. Hopefully you will have also made some connections in GA which lead to corporate opportunities.

 

You can read what everyone on these forums has to say, but ultimately it's a decision you have to make because the right answer is unique to the individual. It's all about what you want in life. We're pretty similiar, so I'll share with you how i've been going about things:

I got all my ratings through a community college (private/instrument/commericial) and transferred over to a university for business administration. The university accepted all my gen ed classes and accepted 4 aviation classes to transfer as "free electives" so I was able to transfer over as a junior (i'm about to start @ the university in 3 days). Now I'm starting to work on my CFI so I can hopefully instruct while I finish up my last couple years of college. I also recently contacted a recruiter to look into trying to enlist in the Air Force Reserves to be an Air Traffic Controller (i've always wanted to join the military, and I also don't feel like dumping even more of my own money into aviation training so i'd rather do this then an AT-CTI school)

ATC is a nice stable, well paying career that keeps you around airplanes. It also is a young person's career that allows you to retire at age 50. I would ideally like to work as a controller one day and continue to fly on the side. Maybe later on in life do it as a second career.