To sever or not to sever?
 

I hope nobody minds me talking figures here but they are necessary for context and I'd appreciate some views!

I have a couple of options:

Take severence from my current IT Management job which might result in a windfall of around £30k to invest in flight training and borrow the remainder.

Take a career break from my current job and borrow the whole lot for flight training against the equity in our house. The advantage of this being a guaranteed job with my current employer if it all goes tits up!

We have no children (yet) and my wife has a reasonably well paid job - but it won't cover our mortgage and living expenses (we live in the SE!) so I will need to borrow money for some living expenses too.

In short - would you be prepared to lose the £30k severence in order to never have to fear stacking shelves in B&Q?

Interested in responses.

Desk-pilot

Sounds like a great Win-Win choice!

I trained during the late eighties airline recession, and tried to support a family on a flying instructor's pittance for years.
Many students at the school had "proper" jobs and just trained on days off and holidays, all the way to ATPL.

The only career difference that I have seen subsequently, is that those who didn't throw themselves in at the deep-end took a little longer to get their commands. (Perhaps this is a statistical illusion, or perhaps those with the commitment to risk it all and live on nothing for a few years actually do have more drive and commitment?)

The lifestyle difference however was enormous, since they still had well paid and secure jobs, the bills were paid, the families were well fed, and no hiding from the rent-man.

I don't have a crystal ball, but if you can keep the day-job going and borrow the cash (at todays low rates) then why not?
Things are quite pleasant for those of us with a current 737 rating at the moment, but desperate for the unfortunate (and well qualified) many who haven't. Clearing that backlog of pilots ahead of you may take some time...

Blimey Desk-Pilot, you've hit the proverbially nail on the head. I'm in a similar quandry and can't seem to get my head straight on whether to go at this full tilt or adopt a more pragmatic approach... I can't seem to see the wood for the trees.
I work in IT and in the good old days of a few years ago, jobs were aplenty and you could walk from contract to contract without too much fuss. I even managed to save for a 6 month jolly to NZ (where I got my PPL and associated gubbings). However, the market these days is dire. I'm in a job at the moment that most IT blokes would give their granny's teeth for, yet I'm planning to jack it all in and start Residential Grounds school at lgu in september. The course doesn't finish till April and when all is said and done, I won't get any wonga for 8 months... Assuming I pass first time (which of course I won't) I then need to find at least 10 grand to finish the CPL course and maybe get an FI rating aswell.
I've done the sums, have a house which can be used as equity and a little saved up, but I'll be honest, this idea scares the pants off me. Especially as the market in ALL industries is dire at the moment and once qualified I'll have trouble getting a job back in IT, seeds of doubt are growing quietly in the back of my mind. I'm an impatient sod and I tried to do distance learning, but never seem to have the time to study (actually I'm just plain lazy), so I feel that residential is the only way I can get these exams cracked and move on to the next stage of this dream.
I'll probably look back on this in five years time and then I'll know, but thats the benfit of having 20/20 hindsight :roll eyes:


I think most of this ramble has been so I can sort things out in my head. Sorry for boring the rest of you, but life changing moments have you lying awake at 12:30am wondering what the hell youre doing with your life. :rolleyes:

Snap!

My current contract is coming to and end and looks like the only ones available in the current climate involve a move to Germany.

I don't think I can do it any more, really struggling to show any enthusiasm for the job. I have saved enough for an ab initio (though not for retakes and accommodation if required) and am thinking of taking the plunge in the summer! I've been procrastinating far too long already....GULP!

So now it looks like my decisions are where to take it, and where to watch the world cup ;)

I've narrowed down my choices to OATS, BAE, or the MultiFlight modular package (cheap and able to live at home during groundschool)......

Well, good luck with WHATEVER you choose to do guys, the wisest option is probably to sit tight for another 6 months....I'm just hoping fortune favours the brave (or foolish) ;)

From a more risk-averse standpoint, it would be best in my mind to do the career break option. At least then you have more options available to you, and WHEN there are jobs for which you are eligible in the flying world which are worth getting, you can then take you severance (assuming they are still offering it) and use that to pay off the loan. Now that's a win-win situation, IF you can guarantee the severance!