Private flying question

[flyboy08]

Hi guys,

I've always wanted to become a commercial pilot but due to some problems won't look like I will be going down that path. I am planning to go for my PPL as soon as possible and have a few questions which have I have been thinking about. I would like to know for those who do private flying and commercial flying or even just private flying how the two compare in terms of satisfying your flying, is private flying enough to fulfill your flying needs or is there something missing? I do not want to give up my hobby as a whole but I also don't want to crave for flying commercially for the rest of my life everytime i hop onto a light aircraft when flying privately. Sorry if this is not the typical post you see around, would be appreciated if someone could share their opinions.

Cheers

[flightlevel1985]

I would imagine that if you love flying, then any licence that allows you to fly would satisfy your needs. The only thing I think of when I am sat in the left hand seat is crap, I wish someone else was paying for me to have all this fun !!!

[Pitts2112]

Flyboy08,
That's really a question only you can answer. Only you know what it is about commercial flying that appeals and how much it means to you. And any decision you make is not irreversible forever.

But, for example, I have a mate who got his PPL in his 30s, then decided he really wanted to fly commercially and got his CPL near or at 40. He's been happy as a clam flying for commuter airlines in the UK ever since.

Me, on the other hand, I have no desire to fly commercially. The only place there's really much money to be made is longhaul with major airlines, which doesn't appeal to me at all in either the flying or the lifestyle. Any of the interesting flying doesn't really pay that well, generally speaking. There are a few gigs in corporate flying but not really that many, which might be a nice compromise.

Best advice is to not believe anything you read in the press about what it's like to be a commercial pilot and find some you can talk to about the flying and the lifestyle that goes along with it. What seems very glamorous here on Pprune when you aren't doing it, can be a bit less so at 0400 in the rain preflighting for an early departure. But, as with everything, it is a job that will be what you make of it.

I know that probably doesn't help, but it's a long answer to say only you really know the answer.

[tigerbatics]

Flyboy08, I think you may have this the wrong way round. Most of the commercial pilots I know, who may well enjoy their job, get satisfaction in 'real' flying from the PPL style flying which they pay for.

True, most fly proper aeroplanes with conventional gear and aerobatic capabilities but they are no better at it than a private pilot doing the same thing because flying a 777 is no more related to flying a Pitts round an aerobatic sequence than time spent behind a desk in the local estate agents.

Flying for a living may be an agreeable way to earn a salary but it has almost nothing to do with pure flying. Unless you lust after gold bars and long hours of in flight boredom you will find a PPL quite fine. You will have no need to feel inferior to any commercial pilot either if you apply yourself to getting and improving proper stick and rudder flying skills.

[skydriller]

Before the 9/11 "security" befell the airline industry I used to regularly ask to visit flight decks on my various travels with work and enjoyed talking to the crews (Thanks guys!). I have always loved flying and around 1999/2000 I was seriously considering giving up my job to take my PPL further and go commercial/Airlines etc.

However virtually all the Flight crews I spoke to advised against it, their reasoning was I would spend a year earning Zero $, yet spending mega $$$$ getting the licences/ratings, then even if I did get a job (no guarentee) it would be on half what I was earning and with a worse lifestyle for at least 10 years...
....That cold reasoning put me off the idea and had I gone for the CPL/ATPL etc I would have finished the training just as 911 happened with no job and no money - coincidentally, "family" happened around that time for me too.

Secretly I wonder if the enjoyment I get from flying (Its a treat for me) would have the edge taken off, if it were my job.......

Regards, SD..

PS: Now, if I were single with no family to think of, then it would be different and I would probably give it a shot as I would have nothing to lose....