As a wannabe (PPL/night 60hrs, 22 yrs old), i can sympathize with both sides of the story.
I had always fancied the idea of a pilot as much as i fancied the idea of being an astronaut, movie star, etc. But i focused on a more 'conventional' career path in engineering cos of my love for things technical. At the age of 15, i went on my first commercial flight since i was 3 on a B767-200. That was were the facination with aviation began and i have not lost my enthusiasm yet. There are a lot of wannabes who still have the childlike enthusiasm to fly commercially but havent woken up to the reality of the industry.
At the moment i do all kinds of jobs to finance my training and this has given me the opportunity to work in different industries and i can tell you that there aren't too many industries out there that are much better off than aviation.
wint3rmute
I'm glad you decided to post. your career is considered to be one of the more appealing at the moment. there are loads of people my age fighting for places in medical school who dont the reality of the job e.g GP's work 62hrs a week on average. So i its safe to say think naivete is widespread among youngsters in our society reagrdless of the industry they are aiming for. Don't be suprised by the harsh responses you have recieved. in aviation its hard to get a point across,no matter how valid, if you do not have "experience".
The next time you meet any 'city' professionals earning £150-200k ask to see their blood pressure monitors. these devices have become more and more common among today's professional because of the increasing pressure put on them in today's target-driven economy. I have a friend whose a millioniare property developer in the US and he wouldn't leave home without his BP monitor. I would like to have his money but i'll think twice about wanting his lifestyle. And when it comes to living on the road, let's just say that long haul begins to look pretty good. Jet lag? someof these guys have enough 'flying hours' that if they were pilots they'll be able to land a crippled 747 backwards in a 50kt crosswind
. I have an uncle who job has taken him to 170+ countries, try telling him about jet lag.
But i've got to say that airlines pilots long and short haul have a much better life than most people in todays society. The average brit earns £20-25k, works 40-50hrs (this figure is rising). The lifestyle of pilots has deteriorated over the past few years but pilots are still better off than the average worker. there are a lot of people who have gone into the aviation industry with the wrong expectations and they make up a large proportion of the "Whingers", but you have them in every industry.
My advice to fellow wannabes is that you get as much knowledge as you can before you dive headlong into this career or any career and you have a back up if things don't go according to plan. PPRUNE and it's founders/moderators/contributors has been an invaluable resource that a lot of us wannabes will forever be indebted to. But sometimes the genral opinion on pprune doesn't reflect reality, e.g. this thread has been mostly negative. Ask yourself how the public will feel if all pilots were to go on strike to protest deteriorating working conditions? Majority will feel little or no symathy.
I want to be a pilot because of my love for flying, travelling and sense of adventure and I'm aware of the downsides of the job.
Someone was suprised as to why most people don't go into business. the level of corporate bankrupcies have skyrocketed over the past few years and interest rates are rising. and if you want to know why some of us dont want to go into the city, well as i mentioned above there is more stress and longer working hours than in aviation and also the future isn't rosy when it comes to earning potential because of the fat-cat-pay revolt and a growing resentment of graduates (there is a feeling that a lot of graduates earn more than the really deserve or are doing jobs that aren't really necessary.
I personally think that the govt and industry in general will be forced to cut back on bureaucracy and waste in the future to reduce operating costs/tax and a lot of high earners will lose their jobs.
I am not putting my hopes on improving working conditions for pilots but i will do my best to make sure they do when i find myself in a position to do so, but it isn't about the money. There was a study recently that concluded that the happiest people earn £13000 (let's hope MOL doesnt read that
).
Capt. Manuvar