"...It has had its ups and downs - so to speak.....
My son at age 17 said he would like to follow me into aviation (as I had followed my father, uncle, brother and brother-in-law) but I told him to get a real job.
Luckily he listened and is now wildly successful ...."
Bingo! Life is all about choices, and every choice involves tradeoffs. With each choice, you get some things and give up other things. Its important to have as full an understanding of the tradeoffs involved with this kind of choice as possible. Its also important for the individual making this choice to know himself/herself well and know how such a choice fits with their values, personality, lifestyle, goals, etc. There is much more to such a choice than doing something that seems "cool." For many, if not most, at age 18 or so, cool trumps everything else. As we grow older and wiser, our notion of what is "cool" expands greatly. At age 18, flying a Sikorsky S-76 seems way cool; by age 35, cool also includes becoming CEO of Sikorsky.
All of this to say that choosing a career is a lot like choosing a wife. There are many possible choices and one needs to choose carefully and thoughtfully. (It is almost certainly easier to change wives than to change careers!) For starters, read the pilot salary surveys in Pro Pilot magazine. Pretty sobering, IMHO. This is an intensely personal decision with possibly life long consequences. Choose carefully.
