Giving Up

[ATPLstylee]

That's it - i'm almost 33, with 250 hours, a PPL, half an IMC and a Night Rating.. oh fab!

So what do i do with this lot. After Mr Bin Laden did more to kill off my career than the CAA, what other choice do i have?

Anyone else in the same boat? Am i being silly or a realist?

Is it worth throwing more money at this flying.. I love flying to bits but at some stage the reality check must come.

Opinions sought.

Are you in the same boat?

Oh and by the way, a fab new year to all Ppruners!

[Pilot Pete]

Sir

Harsh the events of Sept 11th undoubtably are on all wannabes.

What choice do you have? Continue or stop, simple as that.

Anyone else in the same boat? You bet, lots are.

Silly or realist? Niether, just judging on what you have said. Take a longer look. The industry WILL recover. At the moment the airlines are all restructuring (using Sept 11th as the excuse). Lots of consolidation and 'cost cutting' is occuring, the major market in the UK that is suffering is the airlines with exposure to the Atlantic market. This market, again, WILL recover, but it may take a bit longer. Look at the positive side as well as the gloomy. Look at the low cost carriers who are booming, expanding their fleets and with it pilot numbers. Ok, there are plenty of out of work pilots at present with type ratings, but that is a temporary thing. Already the likes of Air2000 have re-employed some of those they hastily got rid of after Sept 11th.

When it comes down to your individual position, look at where you are and where you will be if you continue. I don't have a chrystal ball, but I guess you are at least 18 months away from a frozen ATPL. My guess is the whole market will have recovered from Sept 11th effects by then and the rest is 'as before', ie dependent on economic factors etc etc. So, by the time you finish I would say you will be in pretty much the same position as if Sept 11th hadn't occured; yes it will still be bloody hard to get a job, but the first one always has been and always will be.

So it's your decision to 'throw more money at it' or not. If we had all looked at it in the cold light of day when we were training unsponsored we could never really justify the outlay, there weren't, and still aren't any guarantees.

Hope this helps put your thoughts in context and helps you view things from a different angle which I understand must be very hard right now.

Good luck

PP

ps, not sure if you saw it at the time, but have a read of my story <a href="http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=010430" target="_blank">http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=010430</a> about the ups and downs of my training, some people found it a help to hear some 'good news' at the time. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[ 09 January 2002: Message edited by: Pilot Pete ]</p>

[clear prop!!!]

Well my friend, I’m a lot younger than you, but with your hours, I would stick at it in some shape or form.

I don’t know if you have built these hours for pleasure or with a vocational goal in mind, but you are well ahead of most of those still to complete or start their CPL.

If I were you I would take some time out and do your ATPL exams. By the time you get those out of the way, things have got to be getting better (fingers crossed and all that!!!).

Ditch the IMC for the moment; your CPL will give you all the additional experience to complete it if you are even partly into an IMC course. Just do the odd hour to keep current then go for it.

There is a load of doom and gloom here, but has the populous stopped flying?….NO!

It’s a bloody expensive road to follow, but you are a long way down it, what’s a few more grand to get you to CPL with maybe an FIR bolted on?

Your money,…your call.

Good luck

[Hoodwink]

Hello

Pound to a pinch of the brown stuff that if you do chuck it all in you will always , ALWAYS! regret it.

The soap box has been dismounted !

Hoodwink
<img src="wink.gif" border="0"> <img src="tongue.gif" border="0"> <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> :) <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[Rowley]

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/aircraft/FMSbeer.gif

[bow5]

I must admit, I wobbled a bit just before Christmas but I think I had a way too big a knee jerk reaction to Sept 11th. I'm now even more focussed than previously and just itching to get on. Much longer in an office staring at the grey sky wishing I was above it and i'll go nuts. <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0"> <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

[SuperTed]

ATPLstylee,

If it isn't hard its not worth doing. If someone offered you the RHS in a 767 tomorrow you would take it undoubtedly. Although in 20 years time when you are a grey haired Captain reminiscing you would not appreciate it to the same degree.
Things in life that are worthwhile are hard to achieve, or there would be little point in doing them!

Good luck,

ST

[Icarus Wings]

ATPLstylee,

judging from the last line of your post i think you already know the answer!

[bow5]

Exactly. Work hard and play hard or life is totally pointless. Instead of feeling unsure, channel everything into going forward. Re-double your efforts and go for it. We're all in the same boat, we're all a little unsure but what the heck...you only live once.

[Whirlybird]

If you're not sure what to do, toss a coin. You always know when it comes down wrong.

[reddemon]

Well said everyone.

Its good to feel positive vibes.

Who said WANNABES was a negative forum?

[feetnkneestogether]

...you'll wake up one morning only days before your 48th Birthday and wonder..........could I have made it ?
.....oh well better be off to that meeting with my manager at the insurance company...!!!

<img src="frown.gif" border="0">

[rjsl608]

Whirlybird. I could'nt have said it better!!

[Wireless]

I know my point doesn't stand for much as I haven't been through the system, but I am in exactly the same position as you.

I completed my PPL 5 years ago, spent every penny I had getting hours etc. I just tell myself that I have got so much to do (in the way of training etc) before I am am employable, that things would have improved by then ('opefully!)

Besides if everyone at our stage gave up, there would be hardly any Pilots after a few years. Someone has to get that job after all the experienced guys have been swallowed up! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[F3]

ATPL Stylee, you're a pilot so you can't give up.
Look upon your current situation as a Go Around, the same result but against an expanded time frame that you are happy with.
Good luck.

[Dan Winterland]

Also bear in mind that the last time recruitment stopped overnight (Gulf War), sponsored training also stopped. The net result, a pilot shortage two years later. The same will happen this time.

[mintfavour]

Trying to become a pilot with the best job in the world is a life long challange and reward.

The amount of people that have said to me, what excellent hobby/challenge/aim in life I have, and how much they wished to have a hobby/challange in their life.

I cant imagine how dull my life would feel without this challange that I have chosen. This makes me relise how important it is to have a challange in life.

Even if I dont make the final grade of sitting in the front of a jet, When die I will feel better knowing that I tried my best, than I would wandering "what if"... if I had gave up.

Good luck

mint

[bow5]

Maybe this sums it up best, I think it's was Sean Conery in that film about Alcatraz:


'Losers try their best. Winners go home and screw the prom queen' :)

[CW]

Be a marathoner and not a sprinter. You can't win if you don't stay in the race.

[spitfire747]

GO FOR IT

As already stated - there will soon be a pilot shortage in the next few years - WHAT BETTER time to take advantage, you know you have the skill to do it so just do it

Do you really want to sit there when youre 80 with the grandchildren on the knee and say "I WISH I HAD JUST DONE THAT"

[aztruck]

I didnt start flying until I was 34, and got my first Airline job at 43. Fly with your heart and save your head for the exams. I've never regretted it, and would change nothing even if I had'nt got a job at the end of it.Apart from the usual advice everyone gets, mine would be- fly twins, NOW, and get every night flying hour in a twin, and if its IMC as well then so much the better.

[bow5]

Spot on. I'm 22 so the age thing for me is not a problem but the funding side of it is. I've toyed with the idea of getting a dull listless office job and flying for a hobby but it's just not the same. I was going to join the RAF in a ground branch but figured I just won't be able to take dealing daily with people doing the job that i've wanted to do evere since I can remember. For me, there is nothing else I want to do. It's that simple, and as such I have to make every sacrifice I can to do it.

Don't give it up because as many have said, you will regret it for ever.

See you on the flightdeck.

Best of luck.

[GJB]

I can't make the decision for you, but as ha sbeen previously said, the industry has perhaps over-reacted to the events of Sep 11.

I have heard many 'insiders' telling of the crew shortages their respective companies will face unless they act now.

If it is the money / commitment question that i shanging over your head, then why not sit it out for another 6 months and make a decision then as to proceed or postpone.

Meanwhile, you DO have a PPL - happy flying!

[QNH1013]

Just hang in there, the industry will pick up and people will always need to travel. That will never change. This bad period will pass. I can imagine the frustration but nothing is ever worth giving up your dream for.