FAA/US New member, career change, Coast Flight
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Washington D.C.
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FAA/US New member, career change, Coast Flight
First off, I'm brand new here but have been a lurker for quite some time. It's nice to be "formally" a part of the community.
This might be sort of long so I apologize but trying to get the best advice possible and in order to do that I think I need to briefly describe my background.
I am a 32 year old single guy, no gf, no wife, no ex wife, no kids. I served in the Air Force for six years as a linguist, and have been a government contractor in DC for the last 4. I have my bachelors degree already (and more than one associates). At any rate, I have wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid. Before I joined the military I had planned on completing University of Cincinnati's flight program with Sportys, but the timing was just not very good. I graduated high school in 2002 and as we are all aware, 2002 was a bad time for the airline industry. I didn't qualify for the massive loan at the time and my parents didn't want to co-sign because of the state of the industry. I decided to join the military and planned on using my GI bill to help pay. Originally I had only planned on doing 4 years and was going to be an air traffic controller, but as fate would have it I scored well enough on a bunch of tests and decided to be a linguist instead.
I always carried the dream with me but it sort of went on the backburner, and the job opportunities available to me with the experience I had (combined with the very nice salary) kept me in this field for about 10 years now. I have recently hit a point though where this is no longer what I want to do. The salary is amazing, I'm very grateful to say I was able to hit 6 figures by the time I was 30, but the money just isn't making me happy anymore.
Recently, I've been flying a lot and it really rekindled the flame and desire to fly. After speaking with a few pilots and doing massive amounts of research, I have found that this dream seems to be possible given the current state of the industry. Originally I had planned on going with ATP, but after more and more research I came across Coast Flight Academy. I decided to fly out and check them out, take the test and interview, and was accepted into the program. For me it seems like a much better route to go because even though its longer than ATP, I have EXACTLY the amount of GI Bill months remaining to cover the ENTIRE cost of the program.
I guess what I'm asking is, am I crazy to be doing this? I'm about 6 months out from when I would start (August 2016) and I'm not going to lie I'm slightly terrified, and excited at the same time. I know that flying is a career that I will love (though I'm under no delusions that it's going to be an easy or always enjoyable road), and surprisingly everyone has been super supportive. I thought for sure friends and family would say I'm crazy to give up a career making the kind of money I'm making to be a pilot, but everyone seems to think I'm doing the right thing. I'm terrified about what kind of job I can do to support myself through school, San Diego certainly isn't cheap, but given that my program will be paid for do you all think that's the best route for me to go? Not having student loans will be HUGE when I'm making a measly 27k a year at a regional.
Sorry if this is long, I've been cooped up in the house for 3 days because of the recent winter storm and just felt the need to post on here to get some thoughts. I truly appreciate any advice/encouragement etc from you all.
Thanks for reading!
Ryan
This might be sort of long so I apologize but trying to get the best advice possible and in order to do that I think I need to briefly describe my background.
I am a 32 year old single guy, no gf, no wife, no ex wife, no kids. I served in the Air Force for six years as a linguist, and have been a government contractor in DC for the last 4. I have my bachelors degree already (and more than one associates). At any rate, I have wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid. Before I joined the military I had planned on completing University of Cincinnati's flight program with Sportys, but the timing was just not very good. I graduated high school in 2002 and as we are all aware, 2002 was a bad time for the airline industry. I didn't qualify for the massive loan at the time and my parents didn't want to co-sign because of the state of the industry. I decided to join the military and planned on using my GI bill to help pay. Originally I had only planned on doing 4 years and was going to be an air traffic controller, but as fate would have it I scored well enough on a bunch of tests and decided to be a linguist instead.
I always carried the dream with me but it sort of went on the backburner, and the job opportunities available to me with the experience I had (combined with the very nice salary) kept me in this field for about 10 years now. I have recently hit a point though where this is no longer what I want to do. The salary is amazing, I'm very grateful to say I was able to hit 6 figures by the time I was 30, but the money just isn't making me happy anymore.
Recently, I've been flying a lot and it really rekindled the flame and desire to fly. After speaking with a few pilots and doing massive amounts of research, I have found that this dream seems to be possible given the current state of the industry. Originally I had planned on going with ATP, but after more and more research I came across Coast Flight Academy. I decided to fly out and check them out, take the test and interview, and was accepted into the program. For me it seems like a much better route to go because even though its longer than ATP, I have EXACTLY the amount of GI Bill months remaining to cover the ENTIRE cost of the program.
I guess what I'm asking is, am I crazy to be doing this? I'm about 6 months out from when I would start (August 2016) and I'm not going to lie I'm slightly terrified, and excited at the same time. I know that flying is a career that I will love (though I'm under no delusions that it's going to be an easy or always enjoyable road), and surprisingly everyone has been super supportive. I thought for sure friends and family would say I'm crazy to give up a career making the kind of money I'm making to be a pilot, but everyone seems to think I'm doing the right thing. I'm terrified about what kind of job I can do to support myself through school, San Diego certainly isn't cheap, but given that my program will be paid for do you all think that's the best route for me to go? Not having student loans will be HUGE when I'm making a measly 27k a year at a regional.
Sorry if this is long, I've been cooped up in the house for 3 days because of the recent winter storm and just felt the need to post on here to get some thoughts. I truly appreciate any advice/encouragement etc from you all.
Thanks for reading!
Ryan
