Cost of tuition to have a career as a pilot question

[bernie19]

Thanks to everyone for all the great info. I really appreciate it. I know I want to fly but I'm not sure how a career flying will be. I'm 31 years old and just got married. I have the usual bills, home, car, credit cards, studen loans, but I have no kids. So I'm not sure after reading some of these posts if it's agood idea to pursue a career as a pilot. If I did follow that career path I'd wouldn't be in it for the money, I'd be in it because I want to fly. If the money comes gret but I don't want to be making $8.00 an hour in 5 years from now when I'm 36 years old. I'm also assuming it would be a big lifestyle change from the mon-fri 9-5 routine? Is it all long hours and on the holidays and weekends? I can handle that now but who knows when I'm 40, 45. Thanks again...

 

[philo beddoe]

You could be committing financial suicide if you already have a lot of bills.

Are you ready to make less than $30k per year, for possibly many years? And maybe less than $20k for a while?

Are you ready to weather an airline furlough or shutdown?

Are you ready to spend many holidays and weekends away from your family, then finally get some seniority and a better schedule, only to upgrade to captain and start all over again being gone for days on end.

You're new. You think flying will be thrilling forever. It won't be.

When I first got my driver's license, I looked for any reason to get to drive. You could wake me up at 4am to drive 90 miles for a can of cat food and I was thrilled.

That lasted for a few months. When was the last time driving to work thrilled you? That is what line flying is like.

I drove pizzas, I flew the line. After a long enough period of time, it is amazing that the thrill level was darn near the same.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy flying for a living. But it is not thrilling.

As far as prestige, forget it. Everyone's a pilot these days.