Definitely agree with you Genghis.
Eighteen months ago I was more than ready to have my parents re-mortgage to allow me to get into a big integrated school and aim for the shiny jet job. Now, having earned and spent thousands on my PPL, I've learnt a lot about my motivation for flying, and the revelations have been surprising:
First revelation: Jets don't interest me.
Visiting the open days and reading the brochures of the 'big three' FTOs had me convinced that there was nothing better than an airline job. I was more than willing to start gambling on this career and trying to get a job in n Airbus cockpit. Now, having flown and experienced glass cockpits and GPS in GA aircraft, I suspect now that I personally much prefer whizz wheels and clockwork gauges. And actually getting to fly the aircraft.
Second revelation: I'm not as committed as I thought
I love the flying and I find the planning and studying for the PPL fascinating, but I'm seriously beginning to struggle to justify the monetary side of the commitment. Your results may vary of course, but for a wannabe in my can-just-about-afford-this situation, I'd advise serious thought about learning to fly. If you've got the money sitting in your account, go for it but if not, the astonishing cost of flight training can be difficult to stomach. Have another hobby. Two hours per month (weather permitting) is not an awful lot to spend all your disposable income on. That's 0.3% of the month, remember.
I started my training fanatically committed to flying and more than happy to work an eight hour shift for twenty minutes in the cockpit. Frankly, I started my PPL for fun and to show my 'commitment to flying' to the big integrated schools and airlines.
Now I've got a fair amount of savings that I planned to use to finish my PPL intensively with this week, and much to the stunned silence of my family and friends, I've spent this morning clearing a space in the garage to accommodate a classic car restoration project. Dad's got the tools and expertise and I've got the willingness to learn and commit myself to something I've been daydreaming about for years alongside flying. It's a hobby I'll be able to share with friends and others, a hobby that isn't weather dependant and, although it won't be cheap, it certainly won't cost £170 per hour. It'll push my PPL test back a few months, but at the moment I'm not too fussed.
Perhaps I qualify for the dreaded 'not motivated enough' label, and perhaps I deserve it. Better to find that out now rather than halfway through some integrated course. I love flying, but staying motivated enough to see even a basic PPL through requires one to put up with constant silly costs (£34 for a kneeboard anyone?), constantly fickle weather and plenty of 0.1-hours-more-than-expected moments. It wore me down and made me wanting to find a more sensible hobby.
Third Revelation: Wannabes, heed my warning. The whole 'pilot ego' thing gets old fast.
Sounds like a trivial point, but just don't go for the lanyards and epaulettes look. Don't put 'pilot' in your facebook bio unless you actually have a pilot's licence. I and probably most seventeen year old male student pilots have gone through this initial phase, and I cringe when I think about how I used to swagger around after my first few lessons making it known to everyone within earshot that I flew a plane at the weekend. Cool I was not.
Fouth Revelation (thanks to PPRuNe): I'm not very concise with forum posts.
Sorry! But I felt compelled to reply to this thread, to warn wannabes that actually, as committed as you may feel staring out, you really can't make the judgement on whether flying's for you until you've tried it properly. A Trial Lesson is helpful, but there's no substitute for a full course of flying training, and it's best to go for the £7k one rather than the £80k one.
To stick at a PPL, you'll need a lot of commitment to learning and studying, but I'd argue that these days in the UK you also need a hell of a lot more commitment to paying incredible prices for simple things like protractors and chart pens. Not to mention being in the 21st century and still trawling through TAFs and NOTAMs that look like they've arrived fresh from an Enigma machine before boarding a tired old Cessna and setting forth in a blaze of ravaged bank balances and highly leaded fuel.