Hey all! I'm 7 hours in to my private pilot training and was just wondering if there are any pilots lurking around? Any and all advice welcome, and I'm toying with the idea of going further with it to make it into a career but not quite sure yet.

Yep. It needs to be a calling, or don't bother. you can never quit learning,practice, practice practice, always practicing, lots of arm chair flying as well is very productive.
Good luck with your decision.

I've been wanting to be an airline pilot since I was 6 years old. I still have plastic model aircrafts (some are collector items now). Part of airliners.net forum (can't believe I signed up almost 20 years ago). Anyway, this never happened to me and am middle aged now (way too late for me to even entertain the possibility of becoming a commercial pilot now). Do I regret it? Not really. Stuff happens for a reason I say. As you now, hiring is cyclical and you do get paid garbage when you "start out" at the regional level. It's stupid, but it is what it is. "Paying your dues" seems to be the norm, but as long as you love what you are doing........... My goal was to be an international captain with wide bodies (back when flying a 737 over the pond was unheard of). Anyway, just be aware of what is to come. If you LOVE and LIVE for flying, do it, go for it!

I can't remember the member's namen(4th gen section), but I remember a couple of members being pilots.

good luck!

I recently took a discovery flight and took my FAA medical but failed due to medications. Working with them and my doc now to get it straightened out.
Hopefully I'll be able to get up there soon!

Here is a little advice. Never let anyone talk you out of what you want to do. If you are going to fly for a living you are probably going to need to learn to fly Technically Advanced Aircraft. Get yourself some real Simulator Software for the type of airframe you will do your instrument rating check ride in. Learn those avionics backwards and forwards. And study for the knowledge test NOW. Get it behind you and then get ready for your check rides. Always fly safely. Flying safely is a skill set that your passengers will always thank you for having. And you will will live to be an old pilot too. And if any instructor makes you question his safety ethics fire them immediately. Let us know if you are going for it.

Great input all! I didn't have subscriptions set up for this thread so I missed all of this.

Anyway, I'm about 30 hours in now, and getting ready for my first solo on Sunday! Pre-solo checkride is Thursday though, and I'm a bit nervous.

I think I'm going to keep it in the hobby category for now, but I'll keep pursuing at least instrument rating after this and see where it takes me. Now if I could only figure out a way to get my 4Runner in the plane so I have something to drive to camping when I land!

Cheers!

i flew in the cock pit of a private plane for the first time in my life as a 'co-pilot'. putting up quotes as i am not trying to get my license, nor did i actually ever have control of the plane or tell it what to do.

that being said it was an absolute blast and id love to do it again. the air traffic radio was a little overwhelming at first, but once you get used to the auctioneer style talking its not that bad. i still couldnt catch everything they were saying. the pilot did a great job of explaining everything to me (most of which i have likely already forgotten). the plane had some really nice garmin units, which made controlling it a breeze.

congrats on your first upcoming solo flight!

Have fun and soak it up. Like someone else said, if you enjoy it and want to do it, dive into it.

The *regional life sucks, but if you have few restrictions, or a flexible, supportive, and enduring family, you can make it work until a better job floats around.

The only advice I have off the top of my head is look into universities that have flying programs--student loans suck, but they're far better than private loans--and you may need some $$ to finish your training.

I did college and got a degree and a decent job, but it wasn't for me so I went back to school to do the flying thing in my mid-twenties. Reached 1000 hours as a CP-ASEL-AMEL-IA and CFI-ASEL-IA but then had our first child and so I traded it in to "fly a desk."

I miss flying, but I'm happy with what I've got now, and don't regret at all doing what I did even if I ditched it for some stability.

*My very first student (when I was a CFI) got a job flying around the Gulf States Toyota people in some very sexy Gulfstreams, then got a mainline job (has family working for that carrier), so not all the pathways are slogs, but he maybe had better connections than I have

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, I'm 35, and I still have very significant student loan debt from grad school, so taking more on isn't feasible at this point. If I could do it all over again though...

What kind of graduate study did you do?

International Relations/Politics. I was hired at my IT job specifically because of that experience, so I guess I'm using it in an indirect way. And said IT job is what's enabling me to afford flight school, so I guess it was worth it?

You sound like the sort of person who works with managers, users, and IT specialists. Godspeed.

*Also, if you do ever get the itch, there are non-traditional pathways to good jobs, and having graduate study/other field experience that shows something other than hours in a logbook is a tangible leg up on the average applicant for certain "good" jobs like FedEx and Southwest. Of course, they still want to see hours and such, but anything that differentiates you always helps in the interview and job seeking process.

What do you guys think of this article? WARNING ..... plenty of words.

IEEE | How the Boeing 737 Max Disaster Looks to a Software Developer
spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-the-boeing-737-max-disaster-looks-to-a-software-developer

I thought it was one of the best articles I've seen on the 737 clusterf#ck.

I just had lunch with my wife and her friend. The friend's husband (also a buddy of mine) is a new pilot in the Air National Guard. He is active duty for training (prior Navy like me) and just got his wings in May of this year.

Anyways long story short quite a few of the commercial airline pilots he knows (fellow Sr. reservists) make $250 - $300K living in places like Ohio.

Sooooo if you can get into it, get hired, work for several years to get the hours to no longer be a low paid regional pilot THEN eventually there is a huge payout (like be a millionaire) in it for you. They are also expecting a major shortage in the next 5 years.

BTW, I work in IT and I have no idea why someone would be hired for their political history skills lol. That is a weird comment by OP.

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you missed the other half where he mentions 'int'l relations'. im assuming that is mostly what he is referring to.