Francie
I don't think there are many pilots who haven't been through some sort of sacrifice or hardship on the way to their first job. Driving to the airport each day is still a dream come true for me, but it took an awful lot of time, money and determination to get to this stage. I didn't quite live in a shoebox int' middle of road, but during my training I went through unemployment and a divorce, and stacked shelves in Sainsburys when that's what it took. I know people who have had it much tougher than me and have sold houses, moved half way across the world etc to follow their dream. For what it's worth, this thread is my story:
http://www.pprune.org/interviews-job...-my-story.html
You'll find there's no such thing as a typical pilot. Looking around my crewroom, about the only thing we all have in common is a love of flying. An addiction even - we all need that fix of taking off and getting above the clouds - and if we're away from it for more than a few days, we start to get withdrawal symptoms. We have several ex-military guys, a couple of former policemen, one guy who used to be a teacher - I did 15 years in shipping before I managed to escape. As you can imagine, many different backgrounds and personalities, but we all share that love of flying. That's why we do the job.
You'll get lots of advice on here along the lines of 'follow your heart', 'chase your dream', 'tis better to try and fail than not to try at all', and that's great, but as someone who has recently been through it all, I would sound a note of caution. However you end up getting the licences, it's
extremely expensive. Poor decisions or timing, or even just bad luck, can cost you thousands. No-one wants to admit it, but with the best will in the world there are some people who simply do not have the aptitude to be a commercial pilot. They struggle through commercial training, committed too deeply to back out, and even if they eventually manage to get through the CPL and IR, they get found out at airline selection. To be frank, they should never have got involved in the first place.
My advice then, is to do lots of research and have a well thought out plan (based on worst case scenarios) before you commit serious money to this game. I can imagine the armfuls of glossy brochures you will have picked up at the Flyer exhibition - I'm guessing there were lots of schools telling you there will be a pilot shortage in the future, and there has never been a better time to train as a pilot? I very much doubt there were any airlines recruiting though . . . Be sceptical. FTOs are not interested in your career prospects, they exist to make a profit, and they want your money - lots of it. Never forget that.
Forget the marketing spiel and warm words, I'd advise three things before you do anything else:
(1) If you haven't already done so, pop down to your nearest airfield and take a trial lesson. You'll know within 5 minutes whether or not this is for you. Out of earshot of the clubhouse, have a quiet chat with the instructor about how he got that commercial licence - most guys will give it to you straight, and it's often quite sobering.
(2) Get a class 1 medical. You don't actually need one for private flying, and it's amazing how far some people get into commercial training before they get round to this. If you can't pass a class 1, you can't fly commercially. End of.
(3) Get some independent aptitude testing (not from a flying school - they are hardly unbiased). I would strongly recommend the GAPAN aptitude tests, as they will give you a strong indication of your suitability to pass commercial training and airline selection.
Remember that the dream is well worth chasing, but always keep your feet on the ground and don't underestimate the hardships and challenges involved - there are many.
Best of luck whatever you do.