Is this the right track?

[Duksrule]

OK I think that I have decided which way to go. Does this sound like a sane plan or should I do something different?

At first I thought I'd retire from the Navy in the summer and pay someplace like ATP to fast track to the right seat somewhere. But I think my new plan is to stay another year in the Navy. I make excellent (0-4 maintenance officer) money and can work on my ratings and build time over that year. I figure by this summer I can have my MEL and INST ratings. Then can continue to build time and even multi time on occasion to get my COMM. This way I have a paycheck coming in while I'm building time. Then hopefully I can retire the summer of 09 and get at one of the regional's. Will the hiring boom still be in full swing or do you all think I will be to late? Or should I just jump ship and pay the $50K to go to one of the pilot factories so I could possibly get in somewhere by the end of the year?

Thanks for the help

[imasaluki]

Originally Posted by Duksrule

OK I think that I have decided which way to go. Does this sound like a sane plan or should I do something different?

At first I thought I'd retire from the Navy in the summer and pay someplace like ATP to fast track to the right seat somewhere. But I think my new plan is to stay another year in the Navy. I make excellent (0-4 maintenance officer) money and can work on my ratings and build time over that year. I figure by this summer I can have my MEL and INST ratings. Then can continue to build time and even multi time on occasion to get my COMM. This way I have a paycheck coming in while I'm building time. Then hopefully I can retire the summer of 09 and get at one of the regional's. Will the hiring boom still be in full swing or do you all think I will be to late? Or should I just jump ship and pay the $50K to go to one of the pilot factories so I could possibly get in somewhere by the end of the year?

Thanks for the help

If you "miss the hiring boom", don't fret... there will be another one. If I were you, I'd take the slower and steadier route, but I'm a fairly conservative person.

[Cptnchia]

Originally Posted by imasaluki

If you "miss the hiring boom", don't fret... there will be another one. If I were you, I'd take the slower and steadier route, but I'm a fairly conservative person.

True, plus if there is an industry down turn, you risk being furloughed. Better to save the 50K, and build time while still getting paid. Unless you're 55 years or older. Then you may want to think about doing something else.

[Naluryder]

If I were in your shoes I would stay another year in the Navy and continue flt. training on your own. If deployments will not hinder..but that is something we military folks don't know? O4 pay is way better than my enlisted pay. I'm sure we still have time..maybe another four years of upward hiring trends.

[PatrickCPS]

I would absolutely take the longer, but steadier path. Do not give up what you currently have, especially if you are that close to being "out."

[Nihon_Ni]

Stay in the Nav for one more year. During that year you should put yourself on a 1st year FO + O-4 retirement budget and fly with the surplus. That way, at the end of the year you'll have all your flight training paid in cash, you'll know what sacrafices you'll have to make in a second career, and you'll find that out while you have a safety net of your regular pay & allowances.

You may decide the QOL on that budget is not an acceptable entry fee to pay for this line of work. I have had friends retire from Uncle Sam only to start work in commercial aviation and realize that after 20 yrs of pumping overseas on a regular basis that they weren't being paid enough to be gone X number of nights per week/month/yr. Some have ended up taking other, better paying jobs that allows them to afford a plane of their own.

Being a commercial aviator isn't about flying to live, it's about living to fly.