Guys
Thanks for your great replies. Some real 'from the heart' stuff. For those of us who are seriously considering doing this, it's wonderfully helpful that there are people willing to be as honest as you all are.
I was never so naive as to think that, 10 years into flying, I'd have absolutely no moans. That's human nature. After a while, you compare yourself to people you perceive (and that 'perceive' bit is key) are having a better time than you. Now if it happens to be golf clubs you're comparing, then you can find out that the grass isn't actually any greener without too much lost. But if it's careers we're talking about, especially £50,000 to train/no guarantee of a job, then it's a lot more serious.
There's this conflict in me between my heart, which says 'go for it - you've always wanted to do this', and my head, which says 'think of what you're giving up.' Pro flyers I've spoken to fall into two camps - those that say 'draw up a list of pros and cons and see which is longer', and those that say 'go with your heart'.
The way I look at it, for the really big decisions in life, e.g. choosing a spouse,a home or whether to have kids, you tend to go with your heart. For everything else, you rationalise, i.e. lists of pros and cons. I certainly rationalised my career - I knew I could be my own boss, choose where I work, who I work with, it would be well paid etc. The only negative was that I never found the work interesting.
For me, flying is the polar opposite. I can't choose my hours, my boss, where I work, away from home a lot, pay is lower etc. The list of pros and cons does not favour flying.
Maximum, you're absolutely right. How can someone who isn't even PPL at the moment know what it's like to fly professionally? That's why your insights are so helpful. We can't find out without some serious changes, so it's essential we do the research. But ultimately, is the research going to change the heart?
Please, I agree that attitude is so important. There's a great book called 'Fish' about how even the most mundane of jobs can be made enjoyable if you choose to enjoy them. And my current job certainly isn't the most mundane. I guess it also works the other way - even the best job can become intolerable if you have the wrong attitude.
When we look at pay and conditions, the problem pilots face is basic economics - there is more supply than there is demand. That means the employer calls the shots. For as long as the job appears attractive from the outside, people like me, Kef and the rest will try to get in, even if it costs us a packet. So, you can choose your response to that, at least to a degree. Put another way, would it be better to have an awful job that nobody wanted to do, and as a consequence the pay and conditions were great?
Pay etc. is often described in economics as 'compensation' - and that's a good way of thinking about it. Are you rewarded for your skills and responsibility, or are you compensated for the risk, danger and antisocial hours? An economist would tell you that people will accept less compensation when they minimise the pain of giving up control of their time by doing something they enjoy.
I'd like to second Kef's point and ask Maximum, Scroggs etc. - what decision process did you follow when choosing to fly? And perhaps one other question - is it harder making a career change, at 30 something, with associated baggage, than going straight in at 20 something or younger? Or are we oldies perhaps more aware of how lucky we are if we do get a place, having had the chance of comparing flying to another career?