Since this is Airline Pilot Central, I used a typical airline career progression. There are many paths in aviation but they are not all readily available to all comers. Military for example eliminates the financial dues paying, but is not an option for many people.


As I said up front I specifically excluded "higher-end" professions because they are typically front-loaded with school and internships, but then get into bigger money later in life. Airlines used to work the same way, but the problem now is that the big payoff down the road is mostly gone but they've kept all the entry-level dues paying.

What I'm trying to point out is that the dues-paying is a hardship which for most folks will never be repaid (in financial terms). It's something to consider when doing the math about the cost of becoming a pilot.

People tend to assume that pilots get paid at least a living white-collar wage, but it's not true.

 

c'monnnnnnnnnnn it aint that bad, I get a minimum of 4 days off between pairings (supposed to be 5), what kind of office job doessssssssssssssss that

 

My 4yr degree from a big state school + my flight training thru multi commercial will total about $50k. (I'm working on my commercial now).

I didn't even have to try that hard to find ways to keep my costs there. Anyone who tells you that it *WILL* cost you $80k+ is either a liar or they got duped into spending that much and want to bring you down with them.

 

Pilot, Lawyer, Doctor or any other chance for success presents no easy path.
They all have their trials and dues paying, most people never get there because they never really want it enough. Fortune favors the prepared and sometimes it throws a monkey wrench into the works.

If you find an easy way please share it with us. I have a lot of friends working 60-80 hours a week, I am almost(almost) ashamed to tell them how little I actually work.

 

I love the idea of ending up like Jungle, what a career that guy has. The reason I fly for a living is, that flying selects me. I cannot stand desk jobs despite having quite a few notable ones. I end up leaving every time for low quality flying jobs where glamor and cash are in very short supply and hardship is very long. But I am happy with what I chose with death as an advisor.

 

What would we all choose if death was our advisor? If you knew it was close what would you want to do? What would make you happy for a little while?
We are all just here for a little while. Minutes may seem an eternity or fifty years may pass in a flash.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj8N8Nvv6ys

 

Ahh, but that's a pyramid scheme and it fails every once and a while, as all pyramid schemes do.

 

Maybe because it's late, but I don't follow?

 

If you CFI in your junior or senior year, and have say, 5 students, those 5 students can't CFI in their junior or senior and have 5 students, because the class size would have be 5 times what it was when you did it. The class size would have to exponentially increase with each "generation" of flight instructors. I've seen this model be attempted, work for a short period, and then fail. A few get "lucky", but it's not sustainable. Yes, you might be able to found some people outside of your area to flight instruct, but I don't think there'll ever be enough to really affect that situation. That goes back into a "in the right place at the right time". Not everyone can CFI and build hours that way, not because they aren't good teachers or because they don't want to do it, but because numbers-wise it can never work.

 

I see what you are saying, but from my experience not everyone who started out in flight school finished. There were three types of students, the ones who were really driven and wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible, the ones who did the minimums and finished "on time", and the ones who took lessons but didn't take it seriously and were only there to waste time and money. Even within these three groups not everyone finished and became instructors, therefore "equalizing" the pyramid.