Fine and Good
 

I like this post of yours and agree with everything in it, However I would like to add a few things.

I am sure that you see lots of happy pilots because you work for one of the last great places. I have seen the other side of aviation and to me it is the more common experience. In a few months the industry could be a real blood bath. My position is that the good times in aviation are over. Luck and effort will not overcome the changes the industry is continuing to go through.

An investment in aviation is becoming difficult to justify the price it takes to get there.

I do not feel very good about a profession that rests so much on luck to get the brass ring.

SkyHigh

Sir Sky: Much of life depends on luck, who you know, and being in the right place at the right time....sometimes life just doesnt work out the way we would like.

Being great or even just good at something wont get you far in many things these days.....

yes yes yes, there are exceptions.... but many of the really GOOD jobs in most professions are "inside" jobs...ie...who you know. Hell even in this business there are companies that wont look at you unless you have internal rec letters.....

Yes, it goes on in other professions, but at least there are vast opportunities unlike this one. What I mean is there are only a few fracs, only a few legacies, and only a few (and dwindling) lcc's. My wife is an
Attorney, and even in this economy she is still getting calls and emails from recruiters for employment.

Want to be an airline pilot? Here's a little 'summation' of an airline pilots life:

Think 'bout it:

Drill instructor = management
Private Pyle = airline pilot
Obstacle = successful career

Take endless abuse, only to finally start to get up and ahead, only to fall down (furlough, or even moving on to 'bigger and better', but still at the bottom) and have to start over at the bottom in the trenches again, all the while still taking abuse! Harsh language in this, but damn it's funny!

"If God wanted you up there, he would have miracled your ass up there by now, wouldn't he?!"

Hilarious. But sad because it's so true.

For the virgin ears out there, language warning:

http://ilovemarinecorp.ytmnd.com/

I don't think the good times are over. But I tend to be an optimist. I really believe that all this current hoopla is just like a neurotic finally confronting his demons. You gotta go through some hell before it gets good again. It won't be the same. And after it gets good for a while, it'll go to crap again, and back again.

But maybe I am just an optimist.

In reality, they don't need you and you don't need them. It's to easy to become a pilot these days. With schools spitting them out on their 6 month assembly lines there will likely never be a shortage of pilots in the states. Abroad however, the story may be different since there is still an academic element to the Pilot-education.

Luck
 

Luck is a factor in everything however this profession needs too much luck.

SkyHigh

Which airline do you work for? It might be the same on that I am thinking of applying for after my Army retirement and flight training.

I have researched government/homeland security job in Aviation. There a several out there that START at $60,000/yr. I would like to fly regionals someday but the government aiation jobs look way more promising. I don't know whey so many pilots stay with Regionals if there are all these high-paying gov't aviation jobs.???
Were all you Regional Pilots aware of these Gov't pilot jobs and the money they make?....and benefits??

What govt jobs are referring to? List them for me here or pm me.

As to your dream of becoming a professional pilot, I say go for it. I fly for a living and I like it a lot more than when I had a corner office with much higher pay but longer hours.