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Originally Posted by Flying Ninja  First of all, welcome to JC! I think it's great that you are soliciting information from the JC community. This is a most excellent first step in your pursuit of your career change. I'm glad that you have a finance background. I don't think I'll be the first one to tell you that getting into this industry with debt is not exactly a happy place to be. I quoted a part of your post because it is my opinion that while your ideaology is correct, the reality of the situation is quite a different story.
Like you, I decided that flying the desk was about as exciting as well, I'll dispense with the colorful metaphors. So at the age of 33 I decided to take the plunge. Like you, I felt like money should not be a consideration and that with the initial low pay, hard work, and passion for flying, it's more than enough to see me through. Well, the reality of the situation is, I have so much debt now that I can't get myself into a regional airline job. I threw everything and the kitchen sink to this career change and with the help (and I say this in jest) of CAPT (crap flight training program with dishonorable people at the helm) I am now poor, unable to get into the industry, and have no flight instructor certifications to build time.
I know that you can appreciate this when I tell you that with my monthly debt + expenses, I will be operating in the red every month for at least two to three years (depending on the regional airline). This isn't some paper number. This is real money I will need to have in my bank account to pay out every month! To make a long story short, my efforts and attempts to do this "career change" ended me back to the industry I left for aviation at a lower pay, enough debt to keep me out of the aviation industry, no money to live my life (living with the parents making money to pay off debt), and an overall miserable existence. So, while you're right about investing $50-60k for 30 years of happiness, you may want to consider what happens if you spent $50-60k and never get there.
While I don't think you will end up like me, I do think you need to consider doing a LOT more research about the career you're embarking and all the details and nuiances that are between point A and point B, and keep your ideaology to a minimum. Aviation is a rather unforgiving pursuit and if you're not careful, you can end up just like me. Ask questions. Lots and lots and lots of questions. You don't want to make mistakes along the way and end up like me.
Do your due dilligence, and then do it again. And then do it again. You don't want to jump into this career change without doing your due dilligence. Oh, did I mention you should do your due dilligence? Best of luck to you sir! |
Flying Ninja.....Thanks for your response! I looked back on a few of your old posts and it seems like you got the shaft pretty badly by the CAPT program? I honestly had not even heard of that program until your post. Also, it seems like that program was quite costly! $100Kish??!?! That is highway robbery. I have been looking into programs such as ATP and Ari Ben.
Yeah, I have thought about "what if it doesn't work out, etc?" However, I try to keep those thoughts to a minimum because I don't want to have those thoughts being dominant in my mind if I am going to try and succeed. I do agree that it is very smart to look at all possible outcomes and to have a backup plan. For me, my backup plan would be just to fall back on my corporate experience.
As far as financing, I have about $45K saved up, but I don't want to blow through all of my cash. I am looking at potential ways to finance everything right now, and if I can save my cash for living expenses, etc, then I will.
Sorry to hear about how it worked out for you, but did you at least get SOME ratings out of your training? Could you somehow go to an FBO and finish things up? I have thought about just staying at a local FBO in Denver and doing all the ratings, but then I would be missing the multi-engine time that is a necessity. Any thoughts on that?
Again, thanks for your feedback and sharing your experiences!