Is it worth it?????
 

Hi,

I am looking at spending around £60,000 on flight training in the near future. Which will mean a big big loan!

Looking around on this site I get the impression that the starting pay is not the best i.e around £25,000 - £35,000 TOTAL PER YEAR BEFORE TAX.

Considering i will have to pay back this loan over quite a few years. It doesnt seem like a well payed job at all!

Also the working condidtions seem to be very harsh i.e very hard to plan a holdiays or time off, are from what i hear you are basically treated like !!!!!.

So my question is, has anyone been through what I am about to start? And do you think it has been worth it?

Also is this profession as well paid as people think????

Any help would be great!


:confused:

Allow for up to 2 years living costs as well (no pay while training and looking for a job).

A turboprop operator will pay around £20k pa. Having done a couple of years of that, expect £35k from a loco 737 operator.

So, no, it is not financially worth it. Quite the opposite in fact, especially considering you will be out of the housing market for a long time (unless you are so rich you can afford a house and the training!)

Only do it if you absolutely have to, due to a lifelong sole burning ambition, knowing it is what you were destined to do and that you'll be very good at it.

If you value financial security, weekends, seeing your family, christmas, summers or your sanity, then don't bother.

Good luck!

How badly do you want to fly? Most of us can't imagine doing anything else.

Few of us would ever recommend aviation to our children unless they were desperate to fly. Try and imagine being an middle-of-the road artist or actor - you wouldn't recommend it to anyone in a million years, yet you yourself wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

You write:
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Considering i will have to pay back this loan over quite a few years. It doesnt seem like a well payed job at all!

Also the working condidtions seem to be very harsh i.e very hard to plan a holdiays or time off, are from what i hear you are basically treated like !!!!!.
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But don't most pilots seem happy enough with life? Don't most achieve financial comfort eventually? And where else might they be if they weren't flying, in an insurance office maybe?

Either you are not suited, or you are having a totally understandable wobble!

I am just trying to be a realistic as possible, as i think so many people have tunnel vision when going into this as a career.

So would you say that this is a career that becomes your life and will always have to come first?

Yes, but there are certain protections, particularly where lifestyle packages have been negotiated. And the "career that will always have to come first" is certainly no worse than some other careers in this respect - try being an international sales rep, or self-employed.