Do I have "the right stuff" to become a pilot?

Rolling Thunder

Rolling Thunder

Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone,

This website has been most informative, but I still have some lingering questions. First a little about me.

-I am a 23 year old college student getting my B.S. in geography.

-I have wanted to fly for as long as I can remember. (I still look up every
time I hear a plane and get the window seat when I fly with family).

-I have taken two introductory flights from two different schools. The first lesson, when I was 16, left me overwhelmed and questioning my choice of career, so much so that I asked my dad to cancel the next lesson on the following day. I was devestated and confused. Devestated because I spent the majority of my life up to that point dreaming of the day I would become an airline pilot, only to have the dream yanked away in the matter of an hour; confused because I no longer had a goal or future ambition. I finally mustered up the courage to take another intro flight in 2007 from a different part 61 school. I was armed with much more knowledge this time as at this point I had managed to read Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook cover to cover. I also had a pilot career guide. So, this time I felt better, but it was no walk in the park. Since this time I have read AOPA's Flight Training Magazine, visited numerous websites, and found out about Jetcareers this week; so I think I've come a long way since that first lesson when I hadn't even driven a car yet.

-My personality also has some traits I've read might undermine my success, for example:

-I've been described as shy

-My basic math skills are okay, but my algebra leaves much to be desired.

-I've never taken physics

-My technichal skills? Don't know. Got a D in Jr. high shop class.

I'm still a year and a half away from committing to flight lessons because that's when I graduate, so I have time to think about all this. I will say I could see myself getting burned out or overwhelmed with flight lessons if I start before I'm ready or I try to chug through them too fast. Would it be better if I got a full time job with my geography degree after I graduate? Then maybe I could take lessons on the weekends to see if I like it or can handle it?

I know that was long, but thanks for your patience. Any advise is helpful. I've been reading lots of threads and appriciate what you guys bring to the table.
 
ill just be the non-politically-correct guy and just say no. why? because if you need other people to tell you what youre capable of... you have other issues to attend to first.

good luck.

(this post IS intended to motivate)
 
Rolling Thunder said:
Would it be better if I got a full time job with my geography degree after I graduate? Then maybe I could take lessons on the weekends to see if I like it or can handle it?
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That would be wise, as you are looking at $30,000+ to get to the point where anyone would pay you to fly, and even then, it isn't a guarantee. Better to have a day job to cover the cost of flying. You won't feel so bad if it doesn't work out, and you'll still have a day job to pay the bills.
 
Rolling Thunder said:
I'm still a year and a half away from committing to flight lessons
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Start now.

Seriously there is nothing stopping you from taking 5-10 hours of introductory lessons to see if you have any aptitude for flying. We ALL were overwhelmed for our first few lessons, but we all learned. It won't cost very much, and you won't be commiting yourself to a path that may or may not wish to take.

The rest will work itself out.


Pilots come in every personality type, some are the life of the party, some are bookworms. I personally HATE public speaking. However most people are not very shy when talking about their favorite subject (airplanes).

The myth that you need to be an engineer who can do advanced calc in his head, to fly an airplane is totally false. Basic math algebra is important, but more important is a high degree of spatial reasoning..

You can learn systems if you really want to.
 
- The first few hours will be very overwhelming, probably the first 10 hours of instruction. After that things generally get a little easier because you start to grasp things better with the more experience you have doing it.

- You don't have to be outgoing to be a pilot, so long as you have a little bit of aggressiveness. I don't mean the bad kind of aggressiveness, but the kind where you can tell people that you are not going to do something just because they want to, or that you are going to do it the way you see fit because you want to keep them and yourself alive.

- As long as you can do simple math problems, you should be okay.

- I've never taken physics either!!!!
 
Thanks everyone. I do appriciate your honest opinions. I think I'll do what Drunkenbeagle said and plan on getting a full-time job with my degree. That's what I was leaning towards. Perhaps I could fit some lessons in this summer to test my aptitude and desire for flight as USMCmech said. That's a good idea too.
 
mojo6911 said:
If you have 60 grand to complete the training, you automatically have "the right stuff".
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The good thing about America is no matter how bad you are at anything in life, if you have the credit limit, you can have the ratings.
 
Flying is 90 percent mental and 5 percent technical. If this is really what you want to do then you should go for it. Don't worry so much about being shy I am too but it shouldn't stop you from becoming a pilot.
 
Of course you can do it. If I had to come up with a list of things that are a requirement it would be this;

1. Health- Can you obtain a first class medical? It takes $100 to find out.
2. Funds- Depending on where you live, how quickly you can learn, how fast you want to go, it can range from 20k to 60k....maybe more if you get taken advantage of.
3. Motivation- How bad to you want it? What are you willing to put up with? What sacrifices are you willing to make?

Just based off your post I would say go take some lessons. Ask a lot of questions (jetcareers is a great resource, it got me started). If you like it and want to continue get to the point of soloing and then evaluate if you want to complete your private pilots license. At that point you have made a tremendous accomplishment, take a step back and decide if you want to continue with your ratings knowing that it may take 10 years from that point to make more than 50k and have weekends off. Are you prepared to move around? What else interests you and what are your other options? Weigh all the facts and good luck, I hope this helps.
 
I seriously wouldn't let anything you've described stand in the way of what you want to do. Yes, you have a goal, and yes, you've identified some obstacles, but quite frankly none of them are anywhere close to putting the kibosh on what you want to do.

Let me suggest another route however: you may be able to use some of your current skill set to get a position in an aviation related position: an airborne sensor operator. I do one at least one outfit in Anchorage that hires airborne sensor operators every summer to fly around in the back of cabin class twins to do all the dirty work while the pilot does his thing.

If you need some more education for that, you can look into UAA school of Geomatics and look into some GIS related classes that could well equip you for a career in that field.

At the same time, if you just decided to forget everything negative anyone has ever told you about your abilities and just go for it you have that option as well, and more than likely you'll succeed.
 
There is nothing stopping you from becoming a pilot but you. If you want it bad enough you can do it. Almost anything you do for the first time, that has any complexity to it, will seem awkward or hard. Try several flight instructors out until you find one you work well with. Not everyone learns in the same way. On the Intro flight they should let you fly some, just try and relax and have some fun with it.

If I were you I would finish my degree and get a job in your degree field and start making some money to pay for flight school on the side. Then just try and fly 3 to 4 days a week and concentrate on getting your private.

Good Luck.
 
Bandit_Driver said:
There is nothing stopping you from becoming a pilot but you. If you want it bad enough you can do it. Almost anything you do for the first time, that has any complexity to it, will seem awkward or hard. Try several flight instructors out until you find one you work well with. Not everyone learns in the same way. On the Intro flight they should let you fly some, just try and relax and have some fun with it.

If I were you I would finish my degree and get a job in your degree field and start making some money to pay for flight school on the side. Then just try and fly 3 to 4 days a week and concentrate on getting your private.

Good Luck.
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:yeahthat:

(and hopefully it was obvious my above post was related to the avatar thing, not trying to make fun of anybody or anything)
 
jspeed87 said:
Flying is 90 percent mental and 5 percent technical. If this is really what you want to do then you should go for it. Don't worry so much about being shy I am too but it shouldn't stop you from becoming a pilot.
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What's the other 5% then? :D
 
mojo6911 said:
If you have 60 grand to complete the training, you automatically have "the right stuff".
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Sad but true.
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If you are not already, I would suggest looking at this from a different angle.

Step one - Get a good job to afford flying for fun under a PPL.
Step two - Reevaluate situation and pick -
A. Career flying
B. Hobby flying
C. The PPL was fun but I think I'll pick up golf.

either way you need to take lessons to determine if flying is something you want to do. I'd start sooner than later if funds allow.
As a CFI I see plenty of people you decide very quickly if they want to continue.
 
I don't have the "right stuff" to become a pilot. Hell, I don't even own a leather bomber jacket. But I haven't let that stop me! :bandit:
 
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