Is it worthwhile

[goose boy]

At present I am chasing my dream of eventually becoming a proffesional pilot.

I am currently working all the hours under the sun with two jobs( 60-70 Hour weeks) and have had to do some soul destructive job's, and i'm really just trying to get some feedback if it's going to be worthwhile or I chasing an horizon.

Also would be good to hear some storie's of how low some of you guy's have had to stoop and how eventually you got there.

Is the grass as green as it looks on the other side of the hill.

Cheers Goose Boy

[Gerhardt]

This will be fun to keep tabs on!

[thecontroller]

I started flying 3 years ago, I've spent over £30,000 [so far] and I've still not earned a penny from flying

What other career choice is as hard as this? Lawyers? Doctors? I think not.

It's a long road...

[rotorboy]

I think one of our esteemed members calls this pprune fishing....... I am not going to be the trout this time.

rb

[SASless]

Well now...depends upon which side of the hill you are looking from I reckon. Then as Bill Clinton would opine....depends upon what you mean by green, grass, and hill.

(Big fat ol' fish....circling about the bait....sniffing...eyeing....and swimming back to the lurking hole!):E

[Crashondeck]

I refused to stoop. It gives you back ache (but then again so does flying). Besides you can't earn enough stooping to pay for a career in aviation these days.

Is the grass greener? Life is what you make it. Some pilots love the grass on this side. Many can't stop moaning about how much they feel their grass has been s**t on.

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

Go for it ! Follow you heart and your dreams - these old grizzlys on here will try and install the realities in you with great vigour and pleasure ! Most of them didn't come up the civvy ladder anyway. It is tough and the road is seemingly never ending. Take a 3 to 5 year plan to be realistic if you're a working class minion, like myself. I never get bored in a heli, the noise, the vibration, the sheer danger and that thrilling little corner of my mind which is always ready for the donkey's demise ! Good luck !

[overpitched]

Everybody wonders the same thing I'm sure at some point in the struggle to get a license and get a start.
I spent 3 years working 2 & 3 jobs at a time to fund a commercial license. It took about a year of travelling the country and knocking on doors to get a break.
For me every day it was worth it. I don't feel like I've worked a day since I started in this industry. Would I do the same again ?? Most definately. I would just start earlier !!

[goaround7]

I got crapped on from a great height a while back by the 'old grizzlies' for replying to a question like this positively, especially for suggesting that most of us would still carry on flying even if we won the lottery.

I still stand by my assessment that these are guys who did not pay for their own licences, have never tried an alternative boring office job or worse and don't know how lucky they are.

Still, a good while and many hours on, after a series of twelve hour days in a single engine helicopter flying over water with a leaking ferry tank, stinking and puking from Jet A-1 fumes, and then getting stuck in a rancid, decaying part of Africa for five days waiting for a clearance, I will admit to getting a little p'd off now and then.

However, I still get up happily the next day to go do it all again. At least it's not boring. I can't imagine a bunch of McDonald's workers or chartered accountants swopping crazy stories until 3am on many occasions.

Just know that it's not likely to be worth it financially unless you make it to the top in an airline. It's a question of what's most important to you.

[Whirlygig]

chartered accountants swopping crazy stories until 3am
A-hem.... I welcome the opportunity for you to buy me enough beers to prove you wrong!

Although, it has to be said (and most of you on here will know) that I, too, am working towards a commercial licence. I have realisitc goals in that I expect to only work part time (guess what I'll be the rest of the time!!) and I don't expect to make a profit out of it.

But, as others have said, life's too short to have regrets and it's getting shorter each day!

All the best mate!

Cheers

Whirls

[R22DRIVER]

Being in the same position as you i know exactly what you are going through. Keep your focus, keep to your plan and most of all dont let anyone put you off following your dream!

If you want it bad enough you will reach that elusive first job one day.

Happy flying and keep going! It will be worth it one day!!!:ok:

R22

[Stringfellow Dork]

Is the grass greener?

Well, there is ONLY ONE WAY to find out - go there.

If it is or if it isn't ain't really the whole point I don't think. Having an answer (even if it's not the one you hoped for) is better than forever wondering what shade the grass might have been for you...

That's what I say until such point I feel any different. Which of course I may do in x years time. Who knows? Not me!

[R22DRIVER]

we never know unless we try!!

Let the miserable gits be miserable!!

[Sabre Zero 1]

An old pilot once said to me "if you want something bad enough, you'll get it, regardless of what your resources are". So far, I have proved him right! :ok:

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

found this old pic of all the ex-mil ppruners at a bash...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/theflyingsquirrel/8207285392.jpg

That's SASless with the ciggie !

[hihover]

If you feel that you have the drive (and the ability/finances) to get you where you want to go - go get it and good luck. There are many older guys out there who are mil/ex-mil/never mil, you would be foolish not to listen to their advice, you just don't have to take it all, take only what you feel applies to you.

Once you get your first job as a pilot, being paid for having so much excitement, you will realise that it was worth it.


Don’t be distracted by the ex-military crowd. Most have an environmentally induced attitudinal defect that prohibits enter into this end of the market.

I don't know which "end of the market" this dicksplash is referring to but for as long as military organisations train thousands of handpicked students each year, there will be a high percentage of ex-mil pilots around. That is the way it is.

[Droopystop]

The grass is greener for me, but there are many who started out at the same time as me who never got the chance to find out. All were are keen as me, all had the grit and determination to get there. But somehow very few of us made it.

Go for it, but don't get yourself into huge debt doing it - it can take a very long time to get a flying job that can support an x0,000 pound loan, and you'll be a very long time paying it off by stacking shelves.

[goose boy]

Do any of you guy's have some stories of what you remember as the worst day of your flying career or training

Come on it would be good for a laugh or two.

[Camp Freddie]

I recall one of my navex's with a landaway was from white waltham to old sarum and back

the flight had several features of note:-

1. I was basically lost from the moment I lifted both ways until I eventually arrived with considerable instructor help.

2. didnt understand a single word Boscombe down said to me, sounded like the ATC lady was in bed with a pillow over her face.

3.I flew like an arse, any old height, any old speed.

4. my instructor said on the outbound leg "do you know we are so far left of track I can actually see the sea"
(now the full gravity of this wont be apparent until you consult a chart !)

5. when we arrived my instructor said "that was interesting" (code for the worst navex he had ever seen)

As far as I could tell I had spent more than £400 and all I had to show for it was a massive reduction in confidence, serious doubt that this flying thing was going to work out, but I did acquire a very expensive Mars Bar at old sarum.

regards

CF

[vaqueroaero]

You should go for it, but be prepared for a very long hard road.
Also be prepared for the fact that whatever you have in your logbook will never be enough for what you want to do. Whether it be a lack of turbine time, mountain time, off airport landings etc, it's never enough.

I know of enough people (me included) that have worked hard and now do what they love to do. It just takes determination. Try not to put yourself in to financial hardship as was mentioned earlier. My old flight instructor took 8 years to gain his ratings as he flew once a month because he couldn't afford any more. He now flies 412's and 222's for an EMS company and is one of their instructor pilots.

As for stories which one? Probably my favourite from my training days was when I missed my intended airport by a mere 30 miles. My first solo cross country. Thank God for GPS now! I didn't realise that I was in the wrong place until I saw the airport name written on the hangar roof. That brought me down to earth a bit as I was sure that I was doing a great job.

[Thomas coupling]

I'm ex-mil with an attitude problem as Gymble states.

I've always thought paying a second mortgage to end up doing something that is your dream was a nonesense.

However, times have changed and £50,000+ (minimum for a CPL(H)/IR), really isn't that much anymore is it? What can you buy for this these days. A second hand BMW, a shed on the beach at brighton, 2 x heart bypasses?

If you have the tenacity / cash / time / support from your partner....do it...it's a blast up here!!!!:ok:

Make sure though, you don't end up working for a dickbreath like Gymble.:ugh:

[boomerangben]

The worst of my flying career was one of the lessons before I mastered the hover. I very nearly gave it all up before it began.

But once I got the hover sorted, the rest was easier. Especially the cross country: Blackpool to Liverpool. Take off. Turn left at beach. Straight across first estuary (whatever you do, don't land at Warton). Follow beach, land at next airport. On return, Take off. Turn right at beach, cross estuary. Turn right just before the big tower thing. Land. Mind you the landing at Liverpool in front of a couple of hundred holiday makers getting off their 757 was stressful - didn't apprciate an audience.

[CHOPPER74]

Just posting this to let you know there are still some good bosses and companies in this world. The company i work for paid for my commercial chopper licence, and private fixed wing. I do around 400 hours a year on a good wage which i am happy with. So not all companies are the big bad wolf out there, except some exceptions to the rule. Keep your chin up, there is always a oportunity if you are willing to look hard enough for it.

Good Luck

[wishtobflying]

Errr, company name please? Oh, sorry you meant Department of Defence! :ok:

[rotorrookie]

Go for it and don't look back, just do it. It's also likely that you will get hooked on this in your first flight lesson , at least I did and now some $80k poorer with licence in hand but no job in sight, I'm still happy with my decision to go for it.

Flying is just the best thing u can do with your pants on

and to TheFlyingSquirrel, I totally agree with you about these " old grizzlys who are always complaining and whineing about how bad their jobs are, the jobs we dream of.
great pic u found there:} I almost fell of my chair:ok: