i dont want to be a pilot anymore
 

I am in the early stages of the career but know that the career is not right for me.

I am just having trouble changing my career because it is hard to tell everyone especially my parents who paid for my training/schooling.

Part of my issue is I know that switching over to sales/business isn't going to be smooth. I sort of have a plan, but the issue is i need to stay at my parents home because i want to move back to my hometown with no money.

even without these problems i am sure people will ask why i am making the change with something i appear to be passionate about. truth is am not anymore.

any tips or personal experiences would help me out

Most of us lose the passion for it after doing it for awhile. Don't focus too much on whether you still love it or not. Where else are you going to find a 6 figure job that pays you to stare out a window? You may find something you think you like better, but eventually everything becomes a job.

Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs gave a good speech about NOT following your passion. I believe this is the transcript of it, but you can also find the video if you search Mike Rowe Passion.

Mike Rowe's must-read response to an Alabamian who asked why he shouldn't follow his passion - Yellowhammer News

And regardless of the naysayers, who I will say have been beaten down by the industry for a long time and have the right to be negative, this is a good time to be getting into the industry especially if you're young. If you stick to it you will eventually get on with a Major and have a pretty good life. I personally wouldn't throw out all of the hard work and the investment already made at a time like this to go chase some other dream that will inevitably let you down as well.

Life isn't about work. It's about what you do outside of work.

Well said FLY6584. I've haven't had the best luck in this industry so far... I started flying 12 years ago, and am still at a regional with no end in sight. But I'm still making pretty good money (on track to clear six figures), I never pick up trips, and work just over half the month. That's pretty damn good, particularly since I NEVER bring work home with me.

I used to work an 8-5 job as an engineer. I made significantly less money, I worked Mon-Fri, and sometimes weekends (for free - yay salary!). I had every night at home. I got home around 6 pm if traffic wasn't bad, went to the gym, got home around 7:30, ate dinner, watched TV for an hour or so, then had to go to bed. Got up at 5:30 am, got ready, and then got to commute in with EVERYBODY else during rush hour. Yep, being home every night sure was great!

Today I worked - reserve at home. I slept in, ate a leisurely breakfast, watched some Netflix, took a shower, went mountain biking, and now I'm sitting around home reading APC and reddit. Not too bad!

Yes, my passion for aviation has really dwindled. I still like it somedays, but gone are the days of just driving out to the airport for fun. But now I have a (usually) fun job that gives me A LOT of time off to go do what I like.

Could not agree more. I have been away from full-time flying for 10 years, and having a regular job M-F from 9-5 (and sitting in rush hour) can't compare to flying airplanes everyday for a living. I think if you leave, you'll probably regret it later and want to come back. Heck, I have even been in aviation the past 10 years (defense contractor, UAVs) and I still wish I hadn't jumped ship...I'd probably be a captain at a major by now. But it's never too late to go back, and that's what I am doing. Good luck!

Passions change over time.

You say your parents paid for you training and such. Yep...this happens when parents pay for a liberal arts degree and the young adult ends up working at 'The Gap' too.
None of these issues are specifically aviation field related - - they are life related.

You had a Plan A, you gave it a shot, it didn't work out for you, come up with a hopefully better Plan B and press on and don't look back.

Btw - the skills are still there even when you change jobs.
You can always put those skills back to use in recreational flying so the investment in a skill wouldn't be a total waste! You could join CAPT or volunteer for some Angel Flight type of mission to give back to the community/society; then your parents could look on their investment as a charitable donation.

As someone who left pretty early in and currently working 8-5 in an office: If you feel you have to leave, do it, but leave the door open on your way out. In other words, don't burn any bridges and try to get a few hundred hours logged. That way, if you ever do decide to come back, you'll have a little bit of a leg to stand on and something to compare your non-flying job to.

Edit: Also, if you're still young, going into an office job for a few years isn't such a bad thing either. You'll either decide you prefer that or decide to go back into flying with a new perspective you can't get any other way. That could ultimately help your satisfaction to have a longer aviation career than if you just try to slog it out now. I think another career is good thing to have so you have enoough control over your life to say "no" when aviation employers treat you like crap or try to get you to do something unsafe/illegal.

I personally don't enjoy sharing the cockpit with pilots who don't have a.passion for their work. Why stày for the perceived benefits/money when you are young.enough to do something else? If you don't enjoy it now then you are going.to hate it in a few days years when it is to late. Do us all a favor and jump ship now.

I don't know what TYPE of flying you have been doing...

there are many, many different flying jobs. Many in the US fly at a regional, hoping for a major. BUT, you can fly on-demand charter pax, charter freight, scheduled night freight, fly in the AK bush or Africa, go overseas to some unusual place, fly medevac (FW or RW), fly tours, do fire fighting, fly for law enforcement or gov't service, including things like the US Forest Service...there are a LOT of different flying jobs...may you need to try a different TYPE of flying???

What ATPCliff said. Is it flying, flying for a job, or the segment of industry you are in? Once you figure that out, you can move forward.

There's also nothing wrong with taking a break from flying. You can always go back.


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