I am presently considering pursuing a career as a pilot. I am a 30-year-old married schoolteacher in Texas with a mortgage and child on the way. Is it possible with these responsibilities to do this? After looking at the costs of flight schools it seems almost impossible. Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!

You are plenty young enough, but assuming you are not a pilot already, there are a LOT of things you will need to learn about and consider before you make that decision. Read some of the recent threads on this forum to get a idea of where to start. Many of the big-time "glossy-brochure" flight schools charge 2-3 times what you really need to pay to get your training.

Also, my first suggestion would be get a private pilot's license on the side while you keep your real job. Find out if you really enjoy flying...if you don't like it in a C-172, you probably won't like it in an airliner either.

Thank you for the advice. I start my private pilot's licnse this week.

Awsome! Good luck in your training.

My biggestadvice would be to study. You'll feel like you're feeding from a fire hose for the first couple lessons. You may not understand what you're reading about but when your instructor starts applying it in the aircraft it will make sense.

Hey, You are 30 and have a new family this isn't what you want to do right now. Life is about choices and you have made yours now you need to live up to them. Aviation is a punishingly difficult road with huge financial pitfalls and sacrifices. In your situation it is too huge a task to drag a family through. Suck it up and push it out of your mind. If you love your family you will do what is right for them. Aviation will plunge you into debt and force your family to move about the country chasing an empty dream. Do more research outside of the flight school. Statistically one in ten pilots hopefuls ever land a survivable job. You will be 40 before you even get back to teacher salary. Slow down and think a little. These enthusiastic young kids will lead you astray. They havent felt the pain yet.

SKyHigh

In reference to SKyHigh, you gotta love the guy.. He shoots straight from the hip. Paul76086, I recommend as rickair7777 suggested. Do the research and talk it over with your wife. She must be in on the process. Best wishes and remember...V1, rotate, gear up...blue skies.

You only live life once. You can either live life in fear or go for your dreams. Thanks for the advice guys!

You only live once but there is a price for every decision that we make. No one can expect to go through the years and expect to satisfy every desire. Life is about choices and for every choice there is an opportunity cost. I would say that at 30 with a wife and new family that the opportunity cost of an aviation career at this point would be punishingly high. Do your research. If you decide to continue you had better brace yourself for some huge losses. We can do anything that we want in life but not everything. The price that you pay might be much higher than you ever thought. Perhaps you could become a CFI and instruct in the summers? Even that would be very expensive.

Perhaps you are beginning to feel the weight of the responsibility of fatherhood? Your life will change and you don't have the freedom that you use to anymore. Once the baby comes your anxiety will pass and you will be happy again. You should stop this before you scare the heck out of your pregnant wife, they are really sensitive about security when they are with child.

SkyHigh

Not to change to the subject, however, your words of wisdom seem to coincide with Scripture. In my humble opinion, that's a good thing.

Marcus

Have you guys known anyone that has been able to make this sort of career change with similar responsibilities as myself?