Hello,

Quick question... Currently faced with the dilemma of whether or not to walk away from my non-flying contracting job to pursue my ULTIMATE passion of flying! I'm currently making 6-figures as an oversees contract, but this job/career is only for a temporary time period. In a picture perfect world I would like to have a large enough nest egg in-order to offset the mediocre pay at the regional level. But exactly how much would that be, I don't know.... Currently, I'am 31 and I have a B.S. degree from a reputable University along with my private pilot certificate. In this case what would you do??

A. Ride this contracting gig out until I have met ALL of my financial goals? "2-3 more years"

B. Leave contracting ASAP to pursue my passion of flying? "I'm not happy unless I'm flying"

c. Have at least 50-60k in savings before attending flight school to offset the pay for at least 4 years as an airline pilot? "Nest Egg"

 

Answer C or D.

 

Not enough info. Are you married/committed? Will she willingly follow you to poverty for a few years? Are you willing to teach flying for 3 years to build time, fly for a regional for 5 years, and then hope you land a good job?

If you can make serious money in another career you might be better served buying a plane and getting your flying kicks with disposable income.

Good luck!

 

A looks like the best option.

• When you are young (now) is the best time to start on your retirement because of the heavy accrued interest. It's huge.

• Save a lot of money while it is available. You are going to need it later when you are ready to get the flying career primed. Or if possible, start advanced flight training and get it all done while still making the big desk bucks. Talking a couple of years here.

• If possible, never quit the desk job until you have 1500 hours. This is a lot of hours for a hobby pilot starting from scratch to add up, and it may many years to gather if all you do is fly on your free time. In that case, you may decide (~3 years from now) hey, this is taking too long, I have all my certs but I am not building time fast enough. You will see a pattern after you get your CFI/CFII/MEI and be able to determine how fast hours are accruing doing only weeknights, Sundays and holiday flying. It will be on the order of 100-200 hours per year which is not enough. You may need to quit the desk job and do entry level commercial flying work for a couple of years at that time.

The last bullet is sort of where I am. I have been working desk jobs for the last 5 years and have built very light time. I have all my certs and all my finances in order, so I am thinking about diving into regional airlines and the attending low wages in order to get that turbine time I need. There is no way to break into turbines without either a very nice helping hand from someone, some company, or a trip to the airlines.

Good luck.

 

I would buy an airplane an enjoy flying where and when I want.

 

Once you get into aviation you will be locked onto the fixed career progression, so you will not have much opportunity to make "on demand" money...you will have to take whatever they offer a pilot at your station in life.

Make money while you can...you will have the rest of your working life to not make money in aviation.

How much do you need? Somewhat depends on lifestyle and family...

Call it $55K for flight training including instructor ratings, including buying 100+ hours of ME time in case you can't get a ME job.

For living expenses, for the first year figure essentially no income between training and getting established as a CFI. So whatever you need...$30K bachelor, $70K family.

For year 2-4, assume $20-40K income as a CFI, so whatever you need to make up the difference.

First year regional, $20K income.

Year 2-5 $30K - $40K income depending on airline and equipment.

 

One of my biggest regrets to date is not saving money while I was making plenty of it. I started a job making a grand a week when I was 18 and managed to blow every penny I made for a few years... then the economy tanked.

 

What were you doing for 4k a month? I may switch jobs?

 

Just amazed how much the industry has changed. Back in the 80's, you could instruct 100 hours per month. Not so any more.