[Flying Ninja]

Welcome to the message board IFLY. I agree with what Swen stated for the most part. I understand that you have done some reading around the Internet regarding a shift in career from IT to Aviation. To give you a sense of perspective of where I am coming from, I worked in the IT industry before I got into the flying gig. I’m single and today I’m 34. I made the decision to cross the line at the age of 32 after obtaining my PVT certification and 170TT later. In a nutshell, I’m going to advise you against pursuing aviation as a career with what you have in your life. I know where you’re coming from with your comments about the desk job and we’ll come back to this. To address what JEP was saying to you about QOL, I’m going to give you some real life examples to help you put things into perspective.

QOL...it all depends on what you enjoy today and what you are willing to give up and/or change in your current lifestyle (and how willing your wife is willing to change with you). Before I got into aviation, this was a concern of mine. I belonged to a flying club and was introduced to a pilot who used to be in the flying club. I took him out to dinner with the hopes of getting his take on the aviation career. This is what I walked away with. Dan (not his real name) was a TWA pilot with over 12,000 hours making over six figures. He’s married and has a house and a couple of nice cars and enjoys the money flowing in. Dan was about to upgrade to Captain in a 757 after serving as FO for so long. Then American bought TWA. And after the dust settled, the TWA seniority list merged at the bottom of the American list. And then the furlough announcement came. Guess who got furloughed along with every TWA pilot on that list? I’ll advise you to do further research into what it means to be furloughed and what the day-to-day life of a furloughed pilot is all about.

Not being able to find another pilot job, Dan decided after sitting furlough for 3 years and the money was running out, that he needed to get a job soon. So he decided that he enjoyed his lifestyle and the house, cars, toys to warrant a career in selling mortgages. I asked him why not just find another flying job. At the time, he was only able to get a job flying with the regional airlines. Not only was the pay terribly low that it wouldn’t support the house and the lifestyle, he would have to be placed at the bottom of another seniority list, and give up his seniority number with American. He still loves flying and dreams of going back to flying but the truth is, he hasn’t gone back, and he’s not going to. He definitely has passion about flying. He told me that the schedule sucks and you’re away from home and family at 3-4 days at a time but when you wake up groggy and feel those engines generating over 25,000 pounds of thrust each, it puts a big smile on your face. I asked him about the relationship aspect of the career and he simply said to me that it would be best if I find a woman who is completely independent and is not going to care that you’re gone all the time. Hrm...okay. So that was that with Dan’s life with aviation.

Another pilot whom I met through a friend used to work for ACA. When Independence Air came to being, he hopped over to Indy. I asked him about his career experience and he simply said that he’s poor all the time and that he’s been paying his dues with the regional airlines for over 9 years and is just beginning to see progress financially. Now that Indy is over and out, guess where this guy is? He’s looking for another regional job so that he can get on the bottom of that pay scale and seniority list in hopes that the next regional airline doesn’t go belly up on him again. If you’re doing research, you can see that places like ASA, Pinnacle, Mesaba, and ExpressJet may not be the hottest company to work with. At the very least, you need to go in with them knowing that you’re taking yet another risk. So enough about QOL. I hope this gives you enough to think about and perhaps encourage you to talk to some real world pilots in person and not just people on message boards only. Let’s move on to the next thing: training.

For starters, I’m going to advise against going to any fast track programs that will guarantee you a job or certificates in a short amount of time. They don’t always work. I suggest that you continue your training while keeping your IT job. Between the IT job and your constant pursuit of the books and flying, you’ll get a pretty good indication of how your wife is going to react to you when she doesn’t get to spend any time with you anymore because you’re working hard and diligent in getting your certificates in the minimum amount of time. By now, I’m assuming you have your PVT at 150TT and not some forever student pilot who can’t find a DE. Work on your INST and then move on to your multi-engine training. Then go for your COMM certification and the CFI. You’re going to find out that there’s a decent size canyon you’re going to need to get over before you got what you need to fly for a regional airline or a corporate outfit. But it’s going to take time. With the job, it may take you up to a year or more just to get your certificates by flying on the weekends and studying during the week. Once you get your certificates, your next task is time building. You realistically need to get past the 1000TT and 100ME in order to be considered on a good day with a regional. The past few months have been good days for people with low time. But this industry changes fast and 1000/100 by the time you get it may not be enough. So you’re looking at building that amount of time and if you’re not going to be a CFI full time making around $30K a year on a good year, it’s going to take you a long time to get there. You’re already 34 so after your training and time building, you may be 36 or 37 (I’m guessing here for the sake of argument).

There is a mandatory retirement age of 60 for Part 121 pilots. But this isn’t true if you go corporate under Part 135. So time isn’t necessarily against you as far as making money goes. But only you can figure out your financial situation. And this is one area that I HIGHLY advise that you look into and consider very carefully. I’m going to suggest that you pay your flight training with cash and not take a loan for it. Since you make good bank, I don’t think this will be an issue. So finally, we come to the “What If” side of things. What if I didn’t take a chance and I let this pass me by and 20 years from now, I’m going to fall into this “coulda-shoulda-woulda” discussion with my friends and family. You’re 100% right to think that. What you need to consider is, what if I lose the house because I can’t make the mortgage payments, car payments, cost of living expenses, insurance, college fund for kids, the 5+ acres of land, etc. because I wanted to avoid the feeling later in life that “I could have been a pilot” if I took a chance?

I gave up a great paying job in IT, dropped everything in my life because I wanted to fly for a career. I realized that there’s a chance that I may not make it but I was willing to sacrifice everything to chase the dream. I attended ERAU’s CAPT program and figured it’s an Embry-Riddle program so they MUST know what they’re doing by promising me that I will go from 0 time to the right seat of a regional jet in 10-12 months of elite and intense training. After graduating summa cum laude, have more hours than most other cadets who graduated, today, I’m 100K in debt, have just about run out of money in my bank accounts, living back home with the parents, have not received a single interview with any regional airline that I applied to, and very close to declaring bankruptcy. It's been almost 3 months since I've touched an airplane. I drove to a nearby airport last weekend just to remember what the lingering smell of AvGas smells like; from the side of the fence where you can read the "Restricted Area" signs posted everywhere. I've graduated for over 5 months now and have not received a call. The crazy thing is, I'm so poor right now that I can't afford to pay rent for a crash pad in a new city where my domicile will be even if I got hired! All this to answer my “what if” a couple of years ago. My question to you is, are you willing to chance that? I’m not saying this will happen to you. It’s simply a reality that chasing this dream could possibly result since I’m living proof.

Is the office job that bad that making over six figures and the comfort of the home, cars, land is just not enough? If you got all that money and you’re itching to spend it, then go buy a plane like the Cirrus or Diamond Twin-Star and have FUN flying on YOUR TERMS! That kind of flying is not only enjoyable but I’m sure the Mrs. won’t mind exploring new places every weekend. Just the two of you with the freedom of your airplane! A cadet that went to Pinnacle who was passionate about flying recently posted that the passion has been sucked dry and it’s now just another job. A little over 6 months flying for Pinnacle and the passion is gone. I’ve heard this sentiment from *many* pilots so I have to say this isn’t some random change of heart. Passion? Well...it’s not the only thing you need...you need passion, motivation, dedication, understanding (from the wife/family), and a lot of luck and great timing for you to make it. This industry is changing...don’t let some 55 year old Captain tell you it’s the best job in the world. He’s not flying a regional RJ making $20 an hour waiting for the bat phone to ring so that he can report at a moment’s notice. And the pay is definitely not what it used to be back in the heydays of aviation.

If you’re paying attention still, there’s the opportunity of flying the VLJs that are making its presence known this year. This could potentially open you to turbine flying that has QOL attached to it. The pay may not be there, but you’ll be flying a jet. Who knows what details are involved, but it certainly has possibilities.

Today, I'm looking for a job back in the IT industry so that I can make my monthly loan payments for the next 15 years and still living with the parents. I think I’ve said enough to give you more to think about. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. People on this message board are great. But talk to real world pilots. It’s a lot harder to glamorize the job when face to face. Best luck to you.