Well Tom,
The good thing is that you are thinking about things, do you have a plan B/C? What if you cant get a job as an instructor? At the moment I believe that there are lots of instructors out there (too many by all accounts), so do you have a trade/skill that you can fall back onto?
Being an instructor is a great way of building hours, but ask your self this question "AS a customer would I be happy to get into the cockpit with a young lad?". Before people flame me for being ageist I'm trying to point out what people ACTUALLY think!
I suspect that you will have to do a CPL/Instructors then when approaching 21 "upgrade" to the ATPL.
These are just my thoughts, and I'm playing Devils Advocate (about the best thing I inheritted from the Old Man), make sure that you have a fall back position if everything goes FUBAR.
Please feel free to ask anything Tom, it wasnt too long ago that I was in your position, but I had a career that I can go back to and a house I could sell to finance this dream, but I can still remember what its like having to make decisions.
Good luck
TBL
