Originally Posted by clanger32
This thread seems to have become about finding the biggest, deepest most painful cut you can find on any given wannabe and applying an industrial sized handful of salt to it, rubbing it in with some undiluted surgical spirit for good measure.
On the contrary, you aren't the only person on the planet here, there are many others for whom it isn't too late to back out, you'll probably find that most if not everyone posting about the dire situation
everyone is facing is to try and impress on people who are considering starting a course that now has to be the worst time in aviation history. Especially as there are still some offering the 'it will be alright by the time you're finished' away with the fairies advice.
Believe it or not there are some people here who don't want to see anymore people blowing their money or getting into massive debt.
What we wannabes who are too advanced to back out now really need, from those with experience, is advice as to how best to stay current, where we might hope to find jobs, how to make the contacts which might best serve us when/if an upturn starts. Yet, what you're giving us is a self congratulatory lecture on how stupid we all were to start [in the best period of employment for years].
If it really is too late to back out or postpone, staying current isn't difficult if you have the money, you just need to renew your IR every 5 years (iirc) which will probably require a few hours in the sim to get up to speed and a brush up in the aircraft.
As for the suggestion of 'making yourself different', you'll need to find a company that is recruiting first which is going to be as rare as a rocking horse turd for the next few years at least. Not all 'tricks and stunts' work, the advice of making yourself different is as old as the hills, I suggest more fail than sucseed so think carefully about what you are doing.
In my opinion your best bet now is to risk another few grand and get an instructors rating to keep your hand in, it's probably the cheapest way you'll find to stay airbourne. Before you do that though, ask around your local flying club(s) whether they are in need of instructors and how many hours you are likely to get if you become one bearing in mind if there are lots of instructors looking for positions you may only get offered an hour or so a week, if that, which may not even cover your petrol money.
IMO, right now the only real ray of light will start in the financial sector and from what i'm reading that hasn't even hit rock bottom yet. Once/if that bouces back then everything else will follow although I have no idea at what sort of pace that will be at, after all these are unprecedented times.