at a crossroads...

[sbe]

Well, here I am a mere couple of weeks from my commercial checkride. I'm convinced I'm having a quarterlife crisis right now.

Flying is everything I imagined it would be and so much more - I'm absolutely addicted to it and live for every time I get to step into an airplane and go fly.

I'm at the point where I'll be doing my CFI/II, then I'll go back and pick up the CMEL and MEI.

Part of me wants to go whole hog after the flying thing all the way to a full time career. I know I'll love it, the biggest thing I'm facing is the initial huge salary cut. I don't make a ton of money right now; but it's a heck of a lot more than I will be. I'm 30 years old, and sometimes have a hard enough time watching my engineer coworkers the same age as myself buying nice houses and SUVs, and I'm renting, driving a beater of a car, and generally making all kinds of sacrifices to do this. I sit and think "shouldn't I be settling down and trying to create financial stability for myself, buying a house..." My boyfriend of three and a half years is very supportive of me (it doesn't hurt that he works for an airline), no matter what I choose...though we talk about marriage we've decided to at the absolute least wait until I'm done with flight training.

As some of you know, I train horses on the side of my full time job to pay for flying. I have two horses in full time training (ridden 5x a week) and one in part time training (ridden 2x a week and a lesson for the owner on Sundays). It's worked well so far, I've paid cash for all of my flying to date. I get two nights a week completely off, and my weekends are *mostly* free as I usually get up really early to work the horses and get it over with. One of my clients has been trying to get me to take a stallion in training; this would be another full time horse. My nights off probably won't be affected, I can anticipate 5 more hours per week (1 hour each time I ride) - the 3 weeknights I do ride I'll be home close to 10pm.

If I take this horse on, the combined training fees will easily cover me for any flight training I have left - CMEL, CFI/II/MEI. Once I get through training, I will whittle the horse stuff down to next to nothing to teach part time (I can't bring myself to quit my day job).

I'm really struggling with whether I can physically handle this. These past few weeks I've been dropping weight from all the physical work and I'm not really trying to diet - not a bad thing, but I've never had this happen before, and when I drop 4 pounds in a weekend it is a bit unnerving. I come home exhausted and have little time for things beyond studying, with the exception of those two weeknights off. It boils down to...how bad do I want this? And that is what I'm trying to put a finger on. Do I want to go after this as a future career and really pour my heart and soul into making the money to pay for it, even with the long hours with the horses? Or am I happy to have a decent paying job, and to do CFI work on the side for enjoyment (I LOVE to teach riding, I can't imagine flying will be any different), along with the corporate gig I have coming up as a possibility starting later this year (that will possibly combine with an office position to create a full time position)?

Decisions. Only I can make them, and I wish I knew what I wanted.

My heart is telling me to take the extra horse into training. My mind is saying "no wait...." Stay tuned, I've got a lot of soul-searching to do in the coming days.

Sarah

 

[CAVOK]

Sometimes there are just those decisions in life that suck

. Just try to look at the good side of this situation, you can make money doing two things that you love to do, and actually enjoy going to work everyday! That is the one thing that sets pilots (and horse trainers) apart from the rest of the population jamming up the turnpike as I turn downwind during rush hour.

Just remember to work within your physical/mental/social capabilities. Don't burn yourself out...because then you will not enjoy doing any of it.

Good luck with everything and KEEP FLYING!!

 

[derg]

sbe-

Lemme come clean. I'm also going thru a thirty-something quarter-life crisis myself but most of it revolves around the trials and tribulations of being someone's employee, especially in the airline business. It's a tremendously cyclical business and will be until we get star trek-esque transporters.

So I'm always actively looking for something to balance out having to depend on solely an airline for my care and feeding.

Primarily one of the reasons why I keep preaching about the getting a valid college degrees and trying your best to build a plan "B". So many kids think if they just rush right into the career and get that first regional job, that everything will be complete and all will be well. A good example is a fresh new hire at USAirways Express whose on top of the world today, but if USAirways goes chapter 7, that EMB-145 job is going to evaporate.

Like my plan "B" is to look into diving into commercial/residential real estate because it'd be nice to have a haven to run to when holding my hands over my ears and screaming "NAAA NAAA NAAA!!" when some airline analyst du jour starts saying that I work too little and earn too much (albeit I'll have been home about 48 hours in the next 11 or so days).

It's be great to think of my primary employment as a 'part time job' and be a full-time something else.

Personally, I'd suggest following your dreams. Keep an iron in the engineering fire and another one in the horse fire. My non-Kristie life more or less revolves around an airline (with all the 'joys' of the profession) and an aviation-related website.

Not that I'm being anti-aviation or anti-airline, but in my wierd world, being someone's employee sucks because a good part of your happiness is contingient on your employer unless you are able to psychologically dilute it.

 

[SteveC]

Sarah,

You sound like you've got your head on pretty straight and I believe you'll work through your indecisions.

My small bit of advice is to Pace Yourself. Don't work yourself into illness by trying to do too much. Enjoy the journey, because when you make it in whatever profession(s) you end up in, you'll look back and remember these times, as hard as they can be, as some of the best of your life.

Enjoy!

 

[Phoenix_Son]

You seem to be satisfied with your work (except for the volume of it), and also with your "significant other" relationship. Since these are two of the most common areas of dissatification for people, you're in an enviable position. But you're working seven days a week (if I'm correctly understanding your post), and people aren't designed to do that. Is there a way to trim a little from your involvement in each area of your life, equally? That's the mantra professed by my college's advisors: "Take 5% away from here and there and pretty soon you've got 20% to devote to your studies." Your situation is a little different; our students usually are re-entering college after a few years off (and with a few kids on), but you get the point.

[ QUOTE ]
Once I get through training, I will whittle the horse stuff down to next to nothing to teach part time ... have a decent paying job ... do CFI work on the side for enjoyment along with the corporate gig.

[/ QUOTE ] sounds like a good, healthy plan. Keep thinking through it, and vent as needed.

 

[MikeD]

Sarah/Doug,

Got a great idea for you. You could always take a flying job that pays real good up front. Who says you've got to fly CFI for too long, or even airlines? You could always fly State Department down in Colombia. Great $$$, albeit with a little risk involved.

Or the two of you could get into wildland firefighting like I do. Good, physical, satisfying work for a good cause, get to travel around the western US, can make great money with little boredom. Get paid to stay in shape. Real estate Doug? C'mon man!

 

[aloft]

30! And here I thought you were one of these kids in your early twenties--and we've met!

Before my real answer, a probing question: what's your aviation goal? Part 121? Corporate? I don't believe I've heard you articulate this, and if you don't know exactly where you're going, the "Direct" button isn't much help, ya know?

 

[sbe]

yep, aloft, I'm old.

to clarify on a few things, since my post last night was kind of a 'stream of consciousness' type rambling: I currently work as a graphic designer. I'm in the corporate communications department of an engineering firm. That is what my degree is in (design). Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of flying airplanes for a living. I never pursued it (till now) - was too busy showing horses.

Got burned out on the horses, turned to flying. Took a two year hiatus from showing, now am back into it simply as a 2nd job venture. It pays for the flying and I like it in that I can totally set my own schedule, which I couldn't do with your run-of-the-mill Starbucks or Old Navy 2nd job like a lot of my coworkers have (kinda sad that most of my non-engineer coworkers have 2nd jobs, huh?) As long as the horses get ridden x amount of times each week, it doesn't matter when or what nights I ride, leaving me free to schedule my flying and social life into the mix.

aloft, to answer your question I always pictured myself going the part 121 route. The past year or so, I've kind of changed that view and really think I'd prefer to go the corporate route after meeting & talking with people involved in that end of pro aviation.

My big stumbling block is that I don't know HOW far into aviation I want to go. In a perfect world, this new job will work out for me this summer. *fingers crossed pleasepleaseplease!!* It is an 'entry-level' corporate position, flying a Bonanza, with the possibility I'll just be able to move to the company full time, doing the kind of stuff I do now when not flying. Is that, coupled with teaching on the side, going to be enough for me? Given the nature of the position it would be decent-paying and I'd have lots of involvement with flying both there and in teaching. Or do I long to push towards something that burns Jet-A sometime? My quandary is how far into this do I want to go. I simply love flying. I could be content doing design and marketing along with some flying mixed in, if it meant financial security and not having to spend time eating ramen. And along with that goes the 'how hard do I push myself on the 2nd job to make the ratings happen?' question. I like to ride, but training is hard work, it is dirty, dusty, hot, and cold work. I enjoy the time I'm on the horses riding, I do not enjoy dealing with clients and their unrealistic expectations, and going away to shows - though the break from horses helped, I am by no means 'cured' of my burnout from the past. In fact, I greatly look forward to the day I can stop doing it.

So that's a little more elaboration on where I stand. The question about 'how far do I want to go' is most likely something that will be answered as I continue on down the road, not right now. In the meantime, I've got to decide how quickly I want to finish ratings and how hard I'm willing to work to do so, without killing myself. I can deal with the burnout on the horse end - it is a job. The flying I am nowhere even remotely close to burnout on...I've just got to watch that I don't push myself to exhaustion.

Thanks for the insight everyone. Doug I understand your view on working for someone completely - I face the exact same thing at my current position. We just came through a tough time (layoffs, nonexistent raises, etc) and things are really picking up, but it really bums you out, you know?

Sarah

ps MikeD - the Colombia thing...I'm crazy, but not THAT crazy.

Firefighting actually sounds cool. Whatever I decide, I will NOT become Peter Gibbons, and I will not spend the rest of my life working for Initech!

 

[derg]

I had a Peter Gibbons moment last week during a trip.

Something about how I worked a four-day trip, had a one day off, worked a three day trip, have 1.5 days off, go to four days of recurrent training, come home for a night and then off on another three-day trip on top of a bunch of dorks insisting I take a pay cut because I'm an overpaid, underworked airline pilot makes one think about "greener pastures".

But I really think the 'greener pastures' are only if I'm able to be my own boss and get to utilize my budding entreprenurial spirit.

"Peter...what's happening..." - Lumburgh.

 

[Indigo]

[ QUOTE ]
My big stumbling block is that I don't know HOW far into aviation I want to go.

[/ QUOTE ]
My 2 cents. Most pilots on the professional track have been taught that you need to set goals and do everything you can to achieve them AS FAST AS YOU CAN. I confess that I'm not a Type A and never went about things this way. You have to follow your own path and do what you think is right for you. I may have ended up about 10 years "behind" most of my peers, but I'm also at a more stable place in my life financially because I didn't sacrifice everything for that flying career. Also, many well-intended people told me to aim for the airlines, but I had a gut feeling it wasn't for me. I spent most of my time working for various aerial survey companies, dabbled with helicopters and now fly for a Part 135 charter company.

BTW, 30 is NOT old.

 

[Minnesota_Flyer]

[ QUOTE ]
I had a Peter Gibbons moment last week during a trip.

"Peter...what's happening..." - Lumburgh.

[/ QUOTE ]

Peter Gibbons is my hero.

But seriously, whatever you do, avoid burn-out. It's not much fun, and it's really hard to recover from (at least for me it has been). I'm 31, and I personally don't see the point to rush, rush, rush through the ratings and get started on the 121 thing. I'll be behind others my age in the pilot gig, but I've also got the house/car/debt situation reasonably under control much earlier than my peers in the pilot gig. That's what works for me.

Incidentially, I'm also leaning towards corporate, rather than 121. Seems like it would offer a bit more variety day to day; plus, there would be more opportunity for other, nonaviation, business-related tasks to spice up the mix.

My $0.02.

MF

 

[Center_Mid]

[ QUOTE ]
Something about how I worked a four-day trip, had a one day off, worked a three day trip, have 1.5 days off, go to four days of recurrent training, come home for a night and then off on another three-day trip on top of a bunch of dorks insisting I take a pay cut because I'm an overpaid, underworked airline pilot makes one think about "greener pastures".

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, that's a killer schedule. How often do you get a line that looks like that??? Plus, don't you commute to your base? Sheesh.

Does being an airline pilot for the majors usually mean having to forego having a consistent social life? Given that you'd have to work shifting schedules and move bases every so often, it would seem that establishing a social (non-professional) network and seeing friends regularly would be tough.

 

[clrd4takeoff]

Sarah,

You only live life one time. Go for your dream!
Everything else will work out one way or another!

TL

 

[Silverhawk]

Chase Your Dreams !!!

One of my fav song lyrics:

" I don't know where all the rivers run...
I don't know how far.. I don't know how come..
but I"m gonnna die believing
each step I take ain't worth the ground we walk on
if we don't walk it our own way "..


Kinda a crazy example .. lol.. but ya get the idea

 

[Cosmo1999]

I guess the best response here is you have to "do whats best for you" I know its cliche however it does ring true. Question is do you want to be home a lot with your significant other, or just home alot period? If you do then you may want to think twice about the airline route. QOL(Quality of life) at any airline for the first year definately isnt the best. You can be on reserve for a very long time(on call) with 5 or 6 days on reserve and only 8-10 days off/month. If you like the place you live and dont want to move commuting is doable but can be extremely hard(as I found out last week when I forgot it was spring break all over the place). You will almost certainly have to relocate with an airline. If you want job security airlines definately arent the best route right now. I work for Mesa and US Airways is one of our primary code share partners. If they go under I am extremely worried about my future. Even though I am in the CRJ not the ERJ it certainly can affect everyone. Southwest moves into Philly within a couple months and who knows what will happen next. Not to mention that while the regionals are doing good right now most of the major airlines arent really showing much growth. If the majors keep doing bad its horrible for both sides for long term growth. Dont get me wrong I love flying and it is great to be able to do what you love. Just remember that there are a lot of sacrifices and uncertainty that come with an airline pilot career. On the other hand if you can keep that great design job, fly for fun on the side I kind of see that as the best of both worlds. I am already thinking up contingency plans just in case. Remember though if being an airline pilot is something you truly want to do, GO FOR IT. It can be a very satisfying career in the long run just make sure your in it for the long run!! Take care.

 

[Kristie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Something about how I worked a four-day trip, had a one day off, worked a three day trip, have 1.5 days off, go to four days of recurrent training, come home for a night and then off on another three-day trip on top of a bunch of dorks insisting I take a pay cut because I'm an overpaid, underworked airline pilot makes one think about "greener pastures".

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, that's a killer schedule. How often do you get a line that looks like that??? Plus, don't you commute to your base? Sheesh.

Does being an airline pilot for the majors usually mean having to forego having a consistent social life? Given that you'd have to work shifting schedules and move bases every so often, it would seem that establishing a social (non-professional) network and seeing friends regularly would be tough.

[/ QUOTE ] he gets lines like that quite a bit.. pretty much on a monthly basis.. just that this month, he has recurrent on top of it and it's not like they take him off of a trip for recurrent training.. nooooo.. it's inbetween trips...

and yes, it does impede his social life quite a lot..and mine... in most cases, he doesn't get together with friends but maybe once a month at the most and we can't do very much until we know what his schedule is going to be...

like right now, we have friends that are going to vegas in may and they already have their room booked, but we won't be able to plan anything until mid-end of april... stuff like that - sucks!

 

[derg]

No doubt. I'm amazed people can crank out kids in this profession! You've got to have opportunity to at least make 'em don't ya?

 

[MQAAord]

[ QUOTE ]
No doubt. I'm amazed people can crank out kids in this profession! You've got to have opportunity to at least make 'em don't ya?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, Alex didn't come along until I was furloughed.

Timing is everything..............

 

[ready2fly]

Geez! I go away for a week and you fall apart.

 

[aloft]

Okay, I've mulled over this a bit, so bear with me while I attempt to make sense of my thoughts.

The good news is that having experienced your personality firsthand, I have no doubt of your ability to go as far as you care to in this industry. You seem to have the combination of extroversion, intelligence and assertiveness that people look for (and expect, really) in pilots, and the positive, easy-going personality that fellow crewmembers wouldn't mind spending a 4-day around. And the fact that you're a woman with these attributes certainly doesn't hurt your odds! As I see it, aviation's brass ring is yours for the taking, even though it may not seem like it to you now.

The bad news is you haven't convinced me that you really want it--that flying is something you just can't not do. Does flying truly do it for you, or is it the old "I love you, I'm just not in love with you"? Let me suggest that it might be time for a serious gut check. Yeah, there's an element of risk involved when giving up something safe like what you're doing now for something that's as unpredictable as a roll of the dice at a craps table. That decision was made easier for me by the dot-com bust and the subsequent offshoring of what jobs in my area of expertise are left, but I'm glad it forced me out of the comfort zone I was in that made taking the aviation plunge impractical, if not downright irrational.

I don't think you're really at a crossroads, I think you're just suffering from a minor bout of FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubt. The only cure I know for this is to charge at your fears head-on and give it your best shot. It may not work out, the Part 121 side of things is still in a precarious state, but the probability of failure if you don't try approaches 1.0. Obviously, no one here can make the choice for you, but as we continue to see here, it's working out for an increasing number of JCers--evidence that if you don't go for it, someone else will assuredly take your seat (maybe me

). There's a large number of folks here that can help with the how, but choosing the what is entirely your call. I look forward to your decision!