Help me, I'm thinking of quitting

[polaris746]

I'm a student pilot who has his checkride schedule for next week. Now I'm thinking of calling the whole thing off and quitting flying.

Until a few months ago, my dream was to become an airline pilot. However my parents were strongly against it. My dad's argument was that with the education I'm getting at a top-15 university I can do something a lot better with a more predictable lifestyle. He said that he will support anything I do, so if I choose to become an airline pilot he will support me, but I would have to transfer to an aviation college. Then I wasn't so sure.

My mom hates flying and the concept of my flying freaks her out. Ever since I could speak she has told me that I can be anything I want when I grow up as long as it wasn't a pilot. She just hates flying and, my being her only child, worries about me so much that she just can't stand it. She told me that if I were to fly for hire, she would have to distance herself from me because as things were now she'd be too worried. After thinking things over I've decided against airline flying and forced myself to consider it strictly as a hobby.

Now that I near the end of my training I've been asking my friends if they want to come along with me for a day trip to Nantucket or NYC or something so I can share the flying experience with them. They said they'd love to come but after hearing the pro-rata cost, they can't afford it. My rich friends don't trust small planes (can't blame them) and don't feel like paying to risk their lives so they refused, leaving me with no one to go flying with except by myself. I asked my parents, but they seemed reluctant to pay $500 to go sightseeing when they can very easily drive for $10. My dad is a consultant who travels to DC a lot and said that I can fly him there but GA can't land at DCA and without an IFR rating I can't risk delaying him due to weather.

So I'm stuck here wondering, even after I get my license (that's $1300 more - DE fee, plane rental, long solo XC, hood time), what the hell is the use for it? I can't share my experience with anyone I know and I can't be a commerical pilot so I'd pay for it all (and I mean ALL) my flight time to spend alone-time up in the sky. That's so freaking sad. I can be a safety pilot and bulid time, you say. I don't want to build time. I want to fly people I care about and let them experience being in the sky. But I can't.

Wouldn't it be better off saving the $1300 and just quit? I just don't see a use.

I wanted to get my instrument rating, but I don't have the money to get the 50 XC PIC time anyway, and no one wants to share that with me. I want to get my commercial certificate, but my mom cries every time I mention piloting for hire.

It feels like I've been pursing the love of my life for the past 7 months and realizing that she doesn't love me back. Except the dinner cost was $15,000.

 

[wmuflyguy]

You don't need to go to an aviation college to do your training. I would stay where your at and keep flying on the side if that is what you want to do.

You can find a place to train near where you go to college at. Look for a part 141 program, they don't require the 50 hours of XC.

Flying for hire is generally safer than flying for pleasure, do to the regulation that is involved. So i'm not sure where your mom is coming from. My mother doesn't like to fly, but that doesn't stop her from hopping on a CRJ, she just stays out of the small planes. Sounds like your mom is training to run your life and make a career decision for you.

Anyways, you have to do what makes you happy. I know she is your mother, but it is your life, and you have to live it the way you see fit.

 

[VW Pilot]

I second that...you won't fly cause no one else won't go with you or your mom disapproves?....What do you want to do? You can't let your friends and your mother make your life decisions...it is up to you. If you enjoy flying, then you'd do it even when no one is there with you. Yeah it is better and more enjoyable and safer but either way you'll gain experience and move on to the next step...I have one word of advice...If your goal is to be an Airline Pilot never give up..I'm due for my checkride next week..I have it so hard here in florida with cheap wages and labor..but that is my goal also..I'll never give up because I want it too bad. I cannot finance anything. I must work two jobs and pay as I go...but it is working and alot faster than I thought......If it is what you want to do, Then don't think....just do it...like the slogan for the pair of Nikes' you are probably wearing says....

 

[avbug]

First of all...what do YOU want to do. Not your parents, not your friends. You.

Is your desire to fly predicated on being seen by others flying...showing your friends what you can do? Is your flying satisfying enough that if another soul never sees you fly, you're still happy with it? Do you want to fly to fly, or do you want to fly to get paid or be seen or tell others you fly? What are your motivations?

If you want to fly, then forget what anyone else thinks. You're not the first to be in that position...nearly everybody reading this board has been in the same position.

You have thirteen hundred dollars to go, but how much have you already spent, and how much are you willing to throw away on an incomplete dream? Something motivated you to become a pilot. You're going to get to your goal, just within reach, then give up?

When John Wesley Powell explored the Grand Canyon for the first time, it was uncharted territory, and his team experienced nearly unimaginable hardships and challenges. At one point, three men, Captain Howell and the Dunn brothers, elected to leave his party, and attempt to climb out. They received a rifle, water, a pound of powder, and some minimal food that could be spared, and they parted ways. A day later Powell emerged from the canyon safe and sound, while the three who left his party were killed shortly thereafter by a band of Shivwits Indians. Think of them each time you want to give up...just as you approach the conclusion of your journey.

You don't need an aviation college. Nor an aviation degree, as it will have no benifit, nor help in your goal to become an airline pilot. You don't need a degree at all, though you should certainly pursue one if you can, as it will make you more competitive.

If you want to get flying professionally, quickly, you can fly rotorcraft now with a professional turbine job a year after you finish your ratings, and be making fifty grand. You'll take ten years to do that in fixed wing. And nobody in the rotor world cares about your degree.

There's a lot more to do in commercial aviation than flying for the airlines. Your choices are wide open. Don't limit yourself.

Don't count on your friends paying for your flying. You do have other avenues. Get involved with Civil Air Patrol. Find ways. Everybody has done it, finding ways to gain experience; you will too. Become a flight instructor, find ways to obtain students, and you'll be flying all the way through college while you instruct on the side. I wanted students so I towed an airplane through the longest parade in the country as a float, took an airplane apart and put it together again in a mall as part of a display, built up a banner towing business and towed banners for students, held ground schools, visited high schools and colleges and gave presentations on learning to fly...all sorts of things to bring in business. You can too.

Getting into aviation isn't easy. It's expensive, the wages are poor, and it takes a long time. You'll make it if you're dedicated, and you probably will give up if it's not really that important to you.

The question then, is how important is it to YOU?

 

[JediNein]

Folks didn't give a rat's posterior about when I soloed or got the first certificates. They wanted me to have a nice stable job instead. The fact is, the nice stable job doesn't exist anymore. You can no longer be a factory worker at the same plant for your entire life and retire with a pension, the factory will close, and if the company is still in business, the jobs are moved overseas. Every possible career out there is fraught with continual change. This ain't the 20s or the 50s.

The 'nice stable' job I took to pay for the flying habit was gone within two years after I started. The company moved overseas with under two weeks notice to their former employees.

You can not be responsible for the feelings of another person, nor their fears. Nor can you completely control the behavior of another person. What's going to happen with your Mom when you finally leave the household, if you will allow yourself to be freed from the household? Growing up is a two-way street, being set free while setting yourself free.

Learning to fly cut the apron strings (good riddance). My parents are great people and I love 'em dearly, but I don't want to live with them, nor re-conform to their lifestyles.

If you want to share your flying experience, find flying friends. You'll find many more at an aviation college or university versus some airport in the middle of nowhere, but you can also find them online: http://www.studentpilot.com.

Good luck!

 

[VW Pilot]

HA! Well no one gave a baboon's bright pink --- when I soloed!!! I was telling everyone I worked with, friends, they just gave me that stare and look...like uhh O..K...???? It just let me know there are alot of people out there that...well just don't give a .........input your own sarcastic words...but that didn't stop me....still goin!!!

 

[old*art]

You say you are in a top fifteen college. My "fast burner" pilot friends got out of aviation after the service because they did not want to be in an industry where they had to wait on someone to retire/die before they moved up. They all went on to have extremely successful carreers and could all buy airplanes now if they had the desire - which most don't. I loved flying and have stuck with it thru the years. However it is a mature industry now with easy entry and there will continuously be downward pressure on all costs including salaries. But decide for yourself and do not look back.

 

[340drvr]

Unless you just don't have the funds to finish at all, my advice: Finish the PPL, then make your decisions. It's infinitely easier to drop flying for a time, then re-start, with a private pilot certificate, than it would be to start up again without. (That advice holds for many endeavors, college degree, truck driving school, whatever.)
After finishing, if you decide not to fly anymore, then so be it, but I'd bet you'll always regret not completing the training, whether you fly or not.

 

[polaris746]

Guys, thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. I sat down and really thought it over along with your comments. I will finish my PPL, then go from there.

 

[Jungle_Jet]

First of all...what do YOU want to do. Not your parents, not your friends. You.

Is your desire to fly predicated on being seen by others flying...showing your friends what you can do? Is your flying satisfying enough that if another soul never sees you fly, you're still happy with it? Do you want to fly to fly, or do you want to fly to get paid or be seen or tell others you fly? What are your motivations?

If you want to fly, then forget what anyone else thinks. You're not the first to be in that position...nearly everybody reading this board has been in the same position.

You have thirteen hundred dollars to go, but how much have you already spent, and how much are you willing to throw away on an incomplete dream? Something motivated you to become a pilot. You're going to get to your goal, just within reach, then give up?

When John Wesley Powell explored the Grand Canyon for the first time, it was uncharted territory, and his team experienced nearly unimaginable hardships and challenges. At one point, three men, Captain Howell and the Dunn brothers, elected to leave his party, and attempt to climb out. They received a rifle, water, a pound of powder, and some minimal food that could be spared, and they parted ways. A day later Powell emerged from the canyon safe and sound, while the three who left his party were killed shortly thereafter by a band of Shivwits Indians. Think of them each time you want to give up...just as you approach the conclusion of your journey.

You don't need an aviation college. Nor an aviation degree, as it will have no benifit, nor help in your goal to become an airline pilot. You don't need a degree at all, though you should certainly pursue one if you can, as it will make you more competitive.

If you want to get flying professionally, quickly, you can fly rotorcraft now with a professional turbine job a year after you finish your ratings, and be making fifty grand. You'll take ten years to do that in fixed wing. And nobody in the rotor world cares about your degree.

There's a lot more to do in commercial aviation than flying for the airlines. Your choices are wide open. Don't limit yourself.

Don't count on your friends paying for your flying. You do have other avenues. Get involved with Civil Air Patrol. Find ways. Everybody has done it, finding ways to gain experience; you will too. Become a flight instructor, find ways to obtain students, and you'll be flying all the way through college while you instruct on the side. I wanted students so I towed an airplane through the longest parade in the country as a float, took an airplane apart and put it together again in a mall as part of a display, built up a banner towing business and towed banners for students, held ground schools, visited high schools and colleges and gave presentations on learning to fly...all sorts of things to bring in business. You can too.

Getting into aviation isn't easy. It's expensive, the wages are poor, and it takes a long time. You'll make it if you're dedicated, and you probably will give up if it's not really that important to you.

The question then, is how important is it to YOU?

This has to be one of the top-five best posts I've ever read here.