Originally Posted by
woptb
Yes it’s awful, but you ‘literally’ pay your money and take your choices, the value of your investments may go down,as well as up.
Harsh as it sounds this is the crux of the matter (IMHO) and what makes the pilot situation unique and so painful. In the cold light of day, becoming a pilot in this era is a gamble (or an investment if you prefer). You pay your £100k+, and you're essentially fast-tracked into a highly respectable career with good earning potential. Compare that to doctors, lawyers, architects etc; 5yrs+ (and debt) and you're still only on the bottom rung of the profession. The downside is that aviation is a volatile industry and vulnerable to shocks. I've lost count of the number of threads I've seen pilots telling potential trainees that is a very cyclic industry, and to have a plan B in place before you sign up. Sadly, that's probably easy to overlook with talk of pilot shortages and ATOs selling the dream.
You could write a dissertation for your ATPL degree on how we got to where we are, but it's no comfort to anyone currently staring down the barrel of a gun. I went to flight school in my thirties and I'm very lucky with my circumstances (for now), but my heart absolutely breaks for classmates and more recent graduates who are still in debt and don't know if there will be jobs for them on the other side.