PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Reality check - from someone not in the know
Old 2nd Nov 2017, 06:18
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RomeoTango89
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
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Tagzy,

Reading your post this morning over my coffee depressed me. Whilst I agree with 90% of what your saying, the overall tone of your message was a fairly bleak one.

You are not alone in harboring a dream of a career in aviation. Ever since I can remember, I have been obsessed with planes and aviation. I have told anyone and everyone since the age of 5 that "I want to be a pilot". I convinced myself in my teenage years that the likelihood of achieving this was minimal, and then watched with frustration and dismay as the barrier to entry to my dream profession became gradually more unattainable as the airlines did away with cadet schemes etc, then berated myself for not joining the RAF/Air Corp! Coming from a single parent family, I then became increasingly more bitter as I watched people my age being able to afford the 120k in order to go fly at an integrated school.

For family reasons, I had to drop out of uni after my second year, however this put me on to a career path which I am still doing today. In early 2016, and in my mid twenties I decided enough was enough. You live once and I knew I would never forgive myself if I didnt pursue my dream of flying. I started my PPL and after my first few hours in the sky knew "this is what I need to be doing". Like you however, I knew I realistically couldnt afford it at the time. I couldnt get a loan and had minimal savings. I took the decision to move abroad then with the sole intention of saving enough to finish a modular ATPL. I work in professional consultancy, and I'm extremely fortunate to earn a very good salary which has allowed me to save. Early next year, I intend to return to the UK to do my modular ATPL full time and intensively.

I appreciate that our personal circumstances are wildly varying. I am single, no dependents. However my point is thus; Don't pursue a career in aviation based on a perceived ROI. Do it because you are passionate about something you love.

I am well aware that it is a huge outlay initially for minimal initial return. If I am lucky enough to even get an FI job after training, I will be taking more than a third of a pay cut to what I currently earn. I dont care though. I'm doing it cause I know its what must be done. I would never forgive myself if I didnt.

I sincerely hope you make it work my friend. Its an incredibly tough industry to crack and blatantly obvious from scouring these forums regularly that there is a lot of negativity and confusion about trying to 'crack the nut'. Lets keep the chins high and support each other as we all try to make it doing something we love.

Cheesy I'm aware, but I'll leave you with a quote from Steve Jobs. I feel its pertinent;

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
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