should i stay or should i go !

[twin 27]

Hi all

I know you have prob heard this question over before but i would really appreciate the views of some people who really know the aviation world and work in it .

Im 30 yrs old , live in ireland , and have wanted to be a pilot since the age of ten.
I have a wife and kids and a nice hefty mortgage and hold a full time job in transport.

I have started my training for ppl and am loving it and i am hoping to be finished in about 2 yrs. I said to myself it was now or never as im sure many before me did !!

But as usual that feeling of what if is back and niggling in my mind,which has always stopped me .

I dont mind being in dept if it means i can fly but if i spend another 70 grand and like so many posts on here , i find myself unable to secure a job then im really up the creek without a paddle.

any opinions appreciated.

thanks in advance

[JTONeil]

I'm an A320 captain with a UK airline. I've been flying for 20 years, airlines for the last 10. The commercial training cost me my first marriage (but that turned out to be a good thing).

You already know that securing a flying job will be a sole destroying task of herculean proportions. Simply getting qualified is likely to be the most challenging endeavour you have set upon. Debt aside, imagine the impact this process will have on your family.

This is no longer just your dream; this is your life and the life of your wife and children. You have to be convinced, utterly and thoroughly, that your family will still be intact when your hard earned licence drops through the letterbox. You have to be unwaveringly sure that this is the right future for you before you make your first huge cheque out to a flight training school. But your not sure, and with good reason.

Sometimes you have to shush the heart and listen to the head.

Whatever you do I send my best wishes.

[twin 27]

thanks for the opinion jt.
Have to say the wife is behind me anyway and says just go for it or you will never know and like you said about the heart and the head , well i think ive listened to the head for the last ten yrs and cant get it out of my head at the same time:ugh:

I think i will finish my ppl and see what the airline hiring situation looks like by then and take it from there.:)

[AndoniP]

i find myself unable to secure a job then im really up the creek without a paddle

the good thing is that you have your 'transport' job skills to fall back on if you don't get an airline job, or you can still work while you wait for interviews or assessments.

it all depends on what your life is like at the moment, financial security and so on. i assume you are thinking of following the modular route...

good luck! regret the things you do, not the things you don't

[Jet Fuel Addict]

**** it, go for it! :ok:

If you go modular you don't have to spend 70k.
You can do it on your own terms, and probably keep working in the meantime to finance it.
Stop whenever you want if things go bad, etc etc.

I disagree with the last post.

Don't regret the things you did, regret the things you didn't do.

[AndoniP]

ah crap, i got that one spectacularly wrong, didn't i? :}

thanks for the correction JFA.

[3bars]

Been there, done that! Flying jets now.....

.....my advice, for what its worth. The best flying you'll ever do is when you get your PPL. Keep it as a hobby, save your 70 grand. Airlines are not what they used to be.

But its your decission. An t-ádh leat

3bars

[kaptn]

My advise : Keep your full time job, self study...and go for modular.
finish your PPL in Irlend, then go to the US for the CPL/ME, and come back to Irland for the IR...at last you'll have to do only the MCC...I don't think you should go beyon 40K with the above, unless your wife is :ugh:...

a type rating is always good to increase your chances for a job, also flight instruction....

Hope that helps

[hubertz]

I think that if someone dreams firmly, he`ll get what he wants, soon or later.
The question is how much time you have, and if your family does have time to wait for your job.
Life is for the brave people, but careful. Family first. If you can make your dreams come true without exposure your own family, do it.