Don’t know why the hell am I doing aviation at this point

[interstellar999]

So I’m a Russian citizen born in ‘99, I first went to the US for training in 2017 to El Cajon to train, I didn’t even get a license that school is notorious for scamming students I ended up getting 68 hours and a student pilot card :ugh:.

I live in the Middle East so I flew back home and wanted to continue back to the US so I found a school from a friend and I went to American Flyers Pompano Beach, so then in 2019 I got my PPL and IR SE while doing the Time-building for commercial I got 200 Hrs + 50 hrs Sim Time but COVID lockdown health scare came and destroyed my progress, all I needed was 2 weeks left of maneuvers to do. So flew back home I had a 2 year stint of doing nothing and waiting basically.

then the Russo-Ukrainian war happened, so the US became the aggravator and I had fears of me being singled out and scammed again. Esp. Visa issues were becoming a worry.

so I went to the UAE for training and now I have to convert to GCAA PPL all over again, do 14 ATPL exams, get a CPL ME, get a MEP rating, an IR ME upgrade, and a fking MCC. And keep in mind it’s a endless money pit

Tell me guys am I the most unlucky pilot in the world?

any solutions would be good right now I’m all ears,
I’m lost in this aviation world. I have no one to guide me and my family members are not pilots.

[Uplinker]

Hi. I have no specific knowledge or information to help you. But I just wanted to sympathise with your predicament. Passing an ATPL course used to be hard enough but having to fly abroad and start again is an extra hardship.

It might be that you are up against insurmountable odds, and it might be wise to have a careful think about your future. I would be very wary of running up a very large debt because there are absolutely no guarantees to getting an airline job to pay it off, and you might spend the rest of your working life in tiny rented accommodation with that hanging around your neck. We do see other wannabes in this situation. Not everyone will get through the long process, but everyone will run up a debt. It is almost like actually gambling these days.

All I can say is that successful pilots are those who can find a way to solve problems - that is what we do. A successful pilot needs two things; money and pilot ability. I had challenges during my full time integrated ATPL course of being the only person in my family earning money and having to pay the mortgage and household bills as well as my ATPL training, for 18 months, without any free time to earn money. But I got through it all successfully, (25 years ago, and the airline industry was different then).

For the same money, you could do a lot of other things or take training in other careers which would be more secure. All I can say is the very best of luck to you but tread very carefully.

[Dan Dare]

If you want to fly more than anything else in the world then I'm sure you will make it happen. Many successful pilots had similarly arduous beginnings. Others have had it easy all the way though. I think it is all down to luck*. The main thing is don't give up and don't regret. If you stop pursuing a flying career it will not happen, but other great thing could - you've obviously got determination, confidence and intelligence to have got this far and they are quite transferable skills! Flying can be quite a fun hobby too if you succeed elsewhere. Like a Faustian-pact the piloting prize may not be worthy of the cost (in time, money, relationships, missed opportunities) and only you can decide. Wishing you luck finding your path.

*aviation is very cyclic and in my time there have been recessions (nobody could afford to fly, airlines went bust and flooded the job markets with pilots), 911 (nobody was safe and people stopped flying), "great" financial crash (same outcome as with recession), wars, COVID etc. and each time aviation comes back bigger and more hungry for pilots than before.