Day you took the leap.

[WannaBeBiggles]

Hello everyone

I as many others on here have dreamt of being a pilot all my life and I have just come to what I would call my cross roads.

[START LIFE STORY]

As a bit of background,

I am 25 and have been working in the IT industry for 8 years and started my PPL training many years ago, in view of becoming a pilot, but this was cut short by buying a house, getting married etc.

Now I have been working for a large multi national Aerospace company for a while now and have been doing the "long distance thing" with the wife while shes been finishing off her contract with her firm.

Working in a capital city I earn quite good money, but of course the living expenses are quite a bit higher too.

[END LIFE STORY]

Now to the crux of the story (where I am right now) is I have been offer a position close to my wife, and our house (no more mortage and rent!), plus it's only an hour away from my flying school of choice.

As this offer is in a regional town, the money is less than the bigger cities and the career path is limited, if not non existent.

However, I feel that time is getting away from me and my dream and am seriously considering the new job, just so I can take up my flying career again.

The decision is pretty much made, and I am not asking for anyones opinion on what I should do, however I would LOVE to hear from people that have been (or are) in the same boat as me and hear their story... just as a bit of encouragement.

Now I do not have any delusions what so ever, I know the road ahead is going to be tough and am not kidding myself about being an airline pilot by the time I'm 26 (or 30 for that matter!), I just really want to hear from people that have gone through this and hear their experiences, good or bad.

Thanks :)

[DeltaSix]

WBB,

Lived in Sydney with a wife and a mortgage ( I see you live in NSW ).
Was comfortable in a non-aviation job when I got my CPL/ME/IR. Then the aviation bug soon took a real hard bite at me and decided to go to Asia to fly light twins. My wife was good enough to support me during this time of almost non-existent income. So, I was lucky enough to clock up nearly 800 hours of twin when I decide to go back to Sydney. My frustration was I couldn't get myself to leave my wife and house anymore so got stuck into instructing in a city - believe me, it sux. From flying twins to a C-152 it was a bit depressing for the meantime. By this time I was already 35. I was feeling so depressed thinking that I haven't finished my ATPL with no prospect of an airline job with even not a sniff of a turbo prop job. So, I took the final step and said this is it.... do it or quit....so, I got a connection inside an asian airline, slowly completed my ATPL, got a TR and the rest is history ( of course there's more to it but that's another story ).

So, I now live in Asia with my wife and my office is the RHS of a 734.
Look forward to coming back if Jetstar or Virgin has any vacancy but I'm happy here for the moment. I still get to come to Sydney when I want to.
So, there you go...... it was a hard slog, believe me.

Cheers mate,

D6