The industry
I left a £45000 a year job in IT last year aged 34 to train as a commercial pilot. It's all I ever wanted to do, my Father was BEA/BA Cabin Crew, my Mother worked for BOAC and both my wife and I worked for BA. I had a good career and I had some enjoyable times working but I was increasingly aware that I wasn't following my passion in life. I've spent 30 years looking up at aircraft wishing I was flying them and getting goose bumps from the threshold of 27L in my lunch hour as they roared over my head. I'm now 2/3 of the way through my ATPL course and am thoroughly enjoying my flying (and am fed up with groundschool!)
The decline in pilot lifestyles is unfortunately echoed across most other professions as other posters have pointed out and is a worrying trend. I barely know anyone who enjoys work anymore, most friends and colleagues hate it - and most of them are educated professionals. I'm grateful to the airline pilots who have posted their fascinating insights here and can only hope I am one of those who always loves flying.
For anyone contemplating following this path I can confirm that making the break from a secure 9-6 style existence has been hard. Coming home after 6 hrs in the classroom and having to study for another couple of hours is a chore and lets face it JAR manuals aren't interesting even if you love aeroplanes! The exams were difficult due to the volume of material and you really have to work to get good grades - it's certainly harder than my Degree (Business Studies). You can forget social life for a year! Financially I reckon I am down in excess of £100 000 in terms of course fees and lost earnings and there is a lot of stress associated with not earning any money and getting a job. In short this isn't something to be undertaken lightly. On the other hand I have loved all the flying and have had some amazing experiences up there already. I'm proud to have got this far thanks in no small measure to the support of my wife.
I would definately do it again. It's wonderful never to have to wonder 'what if?' There's so much more to life than money that those City types will never know because they'll still be in the office. With luck I will spend the next 20 years flying airliners, taking people where they want to go, meeting some great people downroute, seeing the world and flying heavy metal with the best office view in the world. Someday, perhaps twenty years from now I hope I will occasionally watch a beautiful sunrise from 40 000 feet and still think how lucky I am.
Maybe having done other things beforehand will help me to appreciate being a pilot more than if I'd gone straight into it. I guess if you've never done anything else it would be hard to understand how miserable the corporate grind can be.
My Father did about twenty different jobs in his life, but the only one he was ever able to stick for longer than about 2 years was airline crew (23 years!) He retired in 1987 and he still misses it. Perhaps that says it all really.
Clear Skies to all,
Desk-Pilot