Interesting that you have a science degree. I did the same and did the science thing for 3 years. I live in the state with a very high concentration of pharmaceuticals, biotech, oil/chemical plants, and other science related industries. All I was able to find were mediocre "temp" jobs in the cosmetics/personal care industry. The most I ever made was $20/hr (zero benefits) and my average job lasted only 6 months. After my last one ended in late January I haven't found anything good. I'm becoming too experienced (read: too expensive) for temp jobs and permanent "mainline" jobs are difficult to come by. The good part is that these jobs allowed me to easily pay cash for my remaining training (commercial, CFI, multi). I've basically come crawling back to aviation trying to find something better but still looking at possibilities in science. I'm a CFI and skydive pilot now. It's ok; I work at a friendly local school and have a small cadre of really good students.

So you're basically caught between a rock and hard place, just like me. Caught between two dead-end careers. When you find the right answer let me know!

 

Well I can say this... Think long and hard before becoming a professional pilot. We are all caught up in the romanticism of flight when we are first starting out but the reality of paying bills and supporting a family makes it difficult. Do not expect to make much money for your first 5 to 10 years of being a pilot. I'm on year 3 of being a professional pilot and I made about 33K in 2013. Now that I'm looking at regionals as a next move, I will barely be scratching by on less than 30K for a couple years. If you have a wife/kids or plan on it in the next 10 years I'd say he77 no, don't do it. If your okay being broke, single, and on a ramen diet for a decade then go for it. Oh and did I mention the debt incurred throughout flight training? I'm debt free and it's tough. I've worked with some guys with over 100K in flight training loans and they were miserable beings. Avoid debt at all costs. There is a reason most financial advisors try and steer people away from being a pilot.

 

Compass or psa

 

Hey Mike, It is interesting you too have a degree from science. Although I'm not sure which degree you have, I haven't been caught up with temp jobs or offers in my case yet! Actually the contrary, I worked at Boeing in Seattle WA for three whole summers on internship and have a full time job offer in hand with 55K starting out. I didn't really wanna bring that into this forum, but in light of your response wanted to give you a heads up on actually how powerful a science degree can be... Anything Biology, Chem, and even Physics can get you in a lot of doors if you've done well in academics. Keep searching is all I'm saying! For me, I just want to fly and not waste time which is why I'm pressing on with jumping to ratings.. I have no debt and have good savings for flight school.

 

There is also a reason why loans are harder to come by as the banks know they are bad risk.

 

I did mention that I am going to ATP in two months time, I didn't say I was going to be only flying 40hrs a month.. I know that me saying I am going to be flying more than that is a shot in the dark to many of you reading this. However, I know the instructors from ATP I've talked to and some moved on said they got the time in just over a years time. In this secenario I will be looking at applying etc in a little less than two years.. If this makes the picture a little clearer to anyone, I am an aggressive person when it comes to my goals, my academics have always been that way, my sports, and in general I know pilots are go getters.... I'm trying to be where I need to be in this regional industry and if I don't start evaluating it now, I'll be behind the power curve on final.

 

Military.


If you can't, then engineering.


That said, whichever places are being recommended in this thread will probably not exist when you get to that point. Such is the nature of CPA flying.

 

Sounds like you've got it all figured out already! So what exactly is your question? The answers you were given by experienced regional pilots were very accurate! We can't predict what's going to happen in this industry the next few months let alone 2 years..... The favorite regional today will not be tomorrow...

 

Sounds like you are driven. Good luck and keep your eye on your goals during the hard work ahead.

 

Is this job something you would enjoy? Reason I ask is because there is nothing wrong with having a good paying career outside of aviation and flying for fun on the weekends. GA is way more fun than airline flying anyway!

I know a guy who was an engineer at Boeing making some decent coin. He quit and went to ATP, did the fast track, and was at Eagle (Envoy) within a year. Long story short he hated the job and resigned after a few months. Last I heard he was back at Boeing and instructing for fun on the weekends. Not a bad way to keep your hand in flying and still have fun, because this industry will own your soul if you are not careful.