How was it for you?

[PGA07]

This is for all mid-life career changers out there. For those of you who could no longer take it in the "real" world and went to the aviation field I ask the following:

1) Leaving a decent income behind (which I classify as 50K to 60K), how did you adjust your life style to cope with the instructor pay?

2) For those in a serious relationship, how was the significant other with the move (and the temporary monetary loss)?

3) From what we are seeing, the aviation community is on an upswing, has this helped not only your confidence, but has it also sped up your process of obtaining that job (once mins. are met are you finding that you are reaching your goals sooner because of increased hiring)?

I thank you in advance for all of you feed back, and if I don't post at another point today, everyone and their families............................

I wish you the very best this holiday season and Merry Christmas!

[dc3flyer]

Originally Posted by PGA07

1) Leaving a decent income behind (which I classify as 50K to 60K), how did you adjust your life style to cope with the instructor pay?

By the time you get to the point in your career that you are ready to instruct, you will be used to living on less than instructor pay!!!! No, seriously, it is hard. You have to forget about the steak dinners and worry more about where the cheapest peanut butter and bread is. In the end it is worth it because you love what you do.

Try to find a place to instruct where you will be working your tail off and that (obviously) makes the money better and the length of instructor pay days shorter.

2) For those in a serious relationship, how was the significant other with the move (and the temporary monetary loss)?

My wife was extremely supportive through the whole thing. She is beginning to wonder now though where the lies of "Pilots make good money" came from!!!!!

3) From what we are seeing, the aviation community is on an upswing, has this helped not only your confidence, but has it also sped up your process of obtaining that job (once mins. are met are you finding that you are reaching your goals sooner because of increased hiring)?

There are a ton of jobs out there. My dream was to fly and not have to pay for it. That can happen quick, instructing fulfills that goal! I think you have to take it in steps... What do I want to do next, not forever.

[PGA07]

I appreciate the insight dc3, well put. On a side note, do you fly or have you flown the 3. My father flew 3's and connie's back in the day for North Central. Don't see to many around any more!

Again, thanks for the insight!

[dc3flyer]

I have a few hundred hours in a 3. It is a great bird (if you don't mind loosing an engine on any given day and getting dirty just looking at it). I am sure they operators today don't keep them up like they used to, when they were the elite.

[eastbayk]

I'm a SO, but we are going through this right now. If you want, PM and I'll send you a link to my blog about what it's like. I talk about some of these same issues.

To answer your questions though:
1. SO left a job paying $60K+ and I left a job paying around $35K (it was a non-profit) to move cross country for him to go to flight school. I picked up a similar job at about $10K less, but the cost of living is cheaper. He contributed to the financial bounty by cashing in his retirement. He also sold off his motorcycle and newer car (look at them in terms of how many flight hours the $ buys you to make yourself feel better about selling stuff)
Right now we are living on my salary and his $1k a month (plus another $200-$600 in bonuses/month). We also have a child to support. We drive crappy cars and live in an apt instead of a house, but we get by and haven't run up too much credit debt (less than $2k in the course of the year). We eat out occasionally and go out occasionally. Yeah, we can't do a lot of what we used to, but we get by OK and remind ourselves that it isn't going to be this way forever. We used a home equity line of credit to pay for school, so we've been making loan payments all along and won't go into shock when he gets a job.
I think it's easier to do this with a SO because they help contribute $ to keep you afloat. Not everyone sees it that way though. I can't complain about what the regionals pay b/c it will nearly double our current income. By the time he's on his second year, he'll be outearning me and I'll get to quit working for a while.

2. I was fine with the move. I encouraged him to do it and he would never have done it unless I had pushed him to. Too many people get stuck in jobs they hate. We moved from CA to FL for this. I was sad to leave my job and established life, but at the same time, was greatful for the break away and chance to start anew. Some people leave the spouse behind and are away for the duration of traing/instructing and it works, but I wanted to stay with him.
He had a hard time giving up being the provider, but he knows it is only for a short time. I'm more of a feminist and don't give a crap who makes more as long as we are both happy with the situation. I think that there are women out there who do resent making the career change; there would be with any career change. But if you are both committed to making it work, it's easier to make the sacrifices. I can't imagine that it would work if you had a spouse who wouldn't make an effort and resented having to cut costs.

3.We are just getting to where he can apply for the regionals, the golden 500hrs mark, so this is a little harder to answer. But obviously with the airlines having reduced their minimums and the forecasted retirement, meeting personal goals is easier. Can't say if it will always be that way though.

Good luck in your decision making!

k

[juskl]

I left work making about 75 K and full benefits, but needed a change.

Currently going through a divorce (unfortunately), but it was due to many other reasons and actually occurred about 4 months before I made the decision to leave my career in August.

I am living off of my retirement. Paid off numerous things and am virtually debt free. Living expenses are there as usual, but I am fortunate to not be in a broke situation for quite some time. I live much more conservatively than I did, but as it is just me now, things are alot cheaper and I don't go out that much.

Taking my CFI checkride on Tues and Wednesday (split into a two day test now) and will hopefully start working soon after.

[wanabe]

I am struggling with this right now. I have wanted to leave my job to fly for a while now. I work for a Telecommunications company that is currently going through the 3rd merger/acquisition in the past 5 years. Sounds stupid but I am hoping like nothing else that I get let go. The "trial by fire" motivation as well as the severance check may be what I need to finally pull the trigger.

I have the utmost admiration for anyone who has taken the plunge.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by wanabe

Sounds stupid but I am hoping like nothing else that I get let go.

Just do it. You'll feel a whole bunch better about yourself if YOU make the decision, and not have the decision made for you. The latter is easier, but the former is far more enriching.

[wanabe]

Originally Posted by ChinookDriver

Just do it. You'll feel a whole bunch better about yourself if YOU make the decision, and not have the decision made for you. The latter is easier, but the former is far more enriching.

Thanks for the encouragement, I totally agree with you. At this point I am still holding onto the hope of leaving with a severance of 65% of my yearly salary. Ironically, I feel just like I did when I decided to leave the Military 12 years ago.

My plan is to finish the CFI/II/MEI before the summer and then re-evaluate.

[Beechlover]

I made the move to florida in september. I'm sure my wife and eastbayk would have alot to talk about because they have lot in common. I've been blessed with a VERY supportive and encouraging wife. I would have NEVER done this without her. We both gave up a combined income of 90k+ and a beautiful home who's equity is being used to finance most of my training. She is a nurse and is the bread winner, I contribute by providing my military retirement and medical insurance. So it works out. Christmas was our tightest ever.., but we really want for nothing and we live frugally. No big deal we have all the modern conveniences and even a few (paid for) niceties. So it really isn't that bad. I just completed my instrument check ride before christmas and have made deposit number two of three to refill my flying account so I can start flying for my commercial ticket. So far so good.., Still waiting on my VA educational benifits to kick in but I've been told "the check's in the mail" litterally LOL. We'll see. So far.., we're not crazy about the area we live but we know it's not forever. I wouldn't change a thing, I haven't studied this hard in years but I am having the time of my life! I haven't got much spare time that is why I don't post often so I thought this was an opportunity to give a quick update. I hope to be employed by June/July as a CFI at the school I'm at and we'll go from there. Best of luck to all of us who are taking the leap!

Rudy

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by wanabe

Thanks for the encouragement, I totally agree with you. At this point I am still holding onto the hope of leaving with a severance of 65% of my yearly salary. Ironically, I feel just like I did when I decided to leave the Military 12 years ago.

My plan is to finish the CFI/II/MEI before the summer and then re-evaluate.

Ahh... well a severance is a different story indeed... in that case it might be worth the wait, as long as the wait isn't too long.

And I'm in the situation you were 12 years ago... leaving the Army this summer.