Hey Simon,
good post, in my experience most wannabes (including me back in 1997 also) do some sort of evaluation of the costs involved to become a professional pilot and the likely return, the risk of failure etc.
nobody can really justify it to themselves let alone an accountant, as it simply makes no financial sense, I reckon I spent about £40,000 between 1997-2000, these days the same qualification i.e. PPL, CPL, FI(R) would cost about £60,000
however knowing the figures dont work, me and many others chose to continue anyway, I was going through a less happy time in my life then and although I also had family responsibilties, I didnt care about the risks, it was a lifestyle choice and I was going through a selfish phase in those days.
Luckily it all worked out and now the north sea salary really makes it worth it and flying the S76 is one of my original aspirations which I still enjoy it is a real pilots a/c, but the chances of it not working out are really high, you can easily end up messing around with robinsons for the rest of your life unless you make really big sacrifices.
In fact I think the chances of it not working out now are higher than they were in 1997, there are just so few jobs around now that actually pay a salary that justify the risk.
so as far as simon is concerned my heart tells me to go for it anyway, my head knows he is absolutely dead right !
regards
CF