Bear with me on this one folks but having spoken at length to friends and family I would much appreciate advice/info/opinions from those who've been there and are going through it right now
Basically I'm now 27 having spent the last 7 years or so (with a bit of time out) working in the Airline industry from check-in, boarding to reservations. Took a shot at the cadetships in my early twenties but while I always got by the aptitude stuff I never managed to convince the final interviewers
Other life stuff took over so while still keenly interested in becoming a pilot I put it on the back burner for a time while buying a house and setting up a biz (got screwed with the biz but that's a whole other story). So am now back in the industry I love but not in the seat I truly desire.
Obviously things aren't rosy for job prospects at the moment but having been lurking here for years I am convinced that the market will pick up significantly in 18-24 months.. why? a combination of seeing similar cycles before and opinion from others in the business.
Hence I find myself with a decision to make... If I throw myself into it I could be coming out with my fATPL in about a year and a half to hopefully much better prospects..
However... (heres the crunch.
)
I'm in kinda a unique situation which has major implications on the funding of all this. An opportunity has arisen where I could sell my current home (City centre, refurbished Victorian, 5 mins *walk* from work), pay off the *entire* mortgage, buy a smaller house about 45mins train from work BUT still have around 80,000 Euros in the bank after all is done.
If I did this I could still have a roof over my head and sufficient funds to pay for an integrated course.
OR (and the option I'm leaning towards.. maybe I'm getting conservative in my old age) I could do the above, go part-time in my job and aim for fATPL in about 2-2.5yrs through distance learning and modular training.
I know to some it's an enviable choice but there's a couple of catches. Firstly unless this works out(ie I get a job with a view to that jet command on the horizon) there's little likelihood of my ever affording the kind of house I currently own again (I picked it up for a song badly run down and have completely refurbished it over the years). It's been something of another dream to own this kind of property so it'll mean sacrificing one dream for another. My current employment whilst in the industry is absolutely dire pay so no chance of keeping the house and trying to stretch out modular training over a longer period.
In my favour though I don't think I'm over the hill just yet at 27 and though I do have a long-term girlfriend (who is quite supportive of the idea btw) I don't have kids or other such commitments.
Anyway sorry to go into this at such length and thanks for reading this far. There is a vast resource of experience out there so I'd be a fool not to try to tap into it. ANY opinions/info/advice/tips/stories etc. etc are appreciated and will make a difference!
Cheers...