Living lean and barely able to fly

[JDean3204]

When I made the decision to get out of the military and start flight training, I knew it would come with a huge adjustment in living. Looking at my w-2 and cannot believe how little I made last year. It does not count my go bill benefits but those were not used 100 percent every semester either. At this rate my first year at a regional may be an improvement in QOL.

I am also starting to question my decision to move back to the northwest to fly. Many said it would be beneficial as I would learn to fly in the weather which has held true to a certain extent. However scheduling flights everyday of the week and maybe flying once or twice a week has tested my patience this winter. I am still in the "time building" phase of my part 141 commercial syllabus and cannot complete my stage check until I finish my night hours which include one xc. Maybe one of these weeks the weather will cooperate and I can complete stage four. At least I am getting good training on ADM and making go/nogo decisions based on weather in the meantime!

 

[A Life Aloft]

Jeeez....I lost track of you and haven't noticed you around much lately. Listen, you're getting there...hang in there. Just keep focused and keep taking the next step. When you finish up get to teaching primarily, you can always relocate somewhere with more stable/better wx. Stay the course til then. Come visit here more often. You'll get plenty of support and help. How are you doing otherwise? You okay?

 

[JDean3204]

Jeeez....I lost track of you and haven't noticed you around much lately. Listen, you're getting there...hang in there. Just keep focused and keep taking the next step. When you finish up get to teaching primarily, you can always relocate somewhere with more stable/better wx. Stay the course til then. Come visit here more often. You'll get plenty of support and help. How are you doing otherwise? You okay?

Jeeez....I lost track of you and haven't noticed you around much lately. Listen, you're getting there...hang in there. Just keep focused and keep taking the next step. When you finish up get to teaching primarily, you can always relocate somewhere with more stable/better wx. Stay the course til then. Come visit here more often. You'll get plenty of support and help. How are you doing otherwise? You okay?

Thank you for the response and positive outlook! I am doing well, working part time in a restaurant while going to school and getting through flight training. I just received my final bundle of funding for training which should cover the rest of my ratings as long as I complete them within a year. As soon as decent weather arrives I will be scheduling a few flights a day to make up for the winter months. I am happy to be close to family now as the previous six years I may have seen them a handful of times. I have been absent from the forum for a year or so but have started following again recently, mostly just observing posts though. I am already thinking of moving to a better location to teach once I get to that point, Texas Arizona or Florida. Until then I will take advantage of flying over some of the greatest views I believe this country has to offer in the northwest. Hope all is well with you, Sir!

 

[chrisreedrules]

Florida has pretty insanely low cost of living compared to pretty much anywhere else. And there are plenty of busy flight schools to choose from.

 

[Brn N Rubr]

My wife and I are both active duty stationed in a Texas. Thankfully the weather is decent, but trying to go through the ratings while on AD and having two little ones at home makes it interesting for sure!

I'm working my way through the commercial as well and hope to have it done in the next couple months. 39.5 hours to go! On the days you can't fly, can you sit in on someone else's ground lesson and take notes? Might help prepare for the CFI.

Which part of the GI Bill are you using? I'm using the "vocational training" and ran into some issues that required me to pay a hefty chunk out of pocket.

 

[skypilot6]

Stick with it, and dont give up. Flying in the weather is great experience, and winter will be over before you even know it!

 

[hook_dupin]

Are you single? If so, livin' in a trailer is pretty cheap in Florida... It's not the flying that's the best in FL: its the combination of cheap living costs, cheap airplane costs, and decent enough weather.

 

[Cessnaflyer]

IIRC your in Troutdale. The weather has been sucky for you guys I know we've been to minimums a few times there this year. It will all clear soon!

 

[JOEFRIDAY2]

Dude,

You are more than ahead of the game. The weather this winter has been crazy bad. Just give it a few weeks and you'll be back on a regular schedule. On the days, you can't fly just go out and make some money so that you can fly!

Good luck. It sounds like you are well on your way and will be finished soon.

Joe

 

[Soul Brotha']

I take it family is important to you from your post? The only reason I ask is there are other options to get training elsewhere. I know you'll get great IMC experience amongst other things up there but other regions offer different flying experiences too. Florida(thunderstorms), Arizona(high density altitude/mountainous terrain) amongst other places that might be cheaper to live too. No matter where you train it's going to cost $$$$. The goal is to limit the $$ to a small amount. Trust me on this one, I wish I knew this site existed before I started training. Would of saved me 10's of thousands.

 

[Springer]

Which part of the GI Bill are you using? I'm using the "vocational training" and ran into some issues that required me to pay a hefty chunk out of pocket.

What do you get for the GI Bill these days? Back in the day I was able to obtain an ATP w/Citation type plus a Flight Engineer rating plus most of my graduate degree. Have they cut back on the GI Bill as well?

 

[A Life Aloft]

Thank you for the response and positive outlook! I am doing well, working part time in a restaurant while going to school and getting through flight training. I just received my final bundle of funding for training which should cover the rest of my ratings as long as I complete them within a year. As soon as decent weather arrives I will be scheduling a few flights a day to make up for the winter months. I am happy to be close to family now as the previous six years I may have seen them a handful of times. I have been absent from the forum for a year or so but have started following again recently, mostly just observing posts though. I am already thinking of moving to a better location to teach once I get to that point, Texas Arizona or Florida. Until then I will take advantage of flying over some of the greatest views I believe this country has to offer in the northwest. Hope all is well with you, Sir!

I am glad that you have the support of your family nearby and are getting to spend time with them. That's really important. Makes life a little less daunting at this point. You'll knock out your ratings. I have the confidence in you, that you will. Just look where you were two years ago, a year ago and now. Everything is progressing well. You'll love instructing and there will be some good options for you when the time comes. Then, start networking a bit more and getting some tips on here, check out worthwhile flight schools (against post here and get the skinny on the schools) and you'll be golden. You'll be ready to start the next chapter in this adventure. Hopefully, you'll be able to make some decent money too. if you wind up at a Regional later on, you'll need it. lol

I am doing fine. Slow months for me in December, January and this month as usual. Not looking forward to the madness which will begin in March. I am really milking being a bum and loving it right now. Hard to shake that off for the bits of work/flights I do have The cycle continues. Trying to rest, (I had some serious burn out by November last year-ugh) get some things done on the home front and enjoying being with my family as well. Stay in touch and let us know how you're doing. I wish the best for you. -Gerry

 

[swakid8]

Which GI Bill are you using? I am about to make a similar transition!

 

[Finny]

GI Bill can be a hard benefit to nail down. All depends on your active duty time, when you served, and what kind of training you are applying for. If any of you guys starting out need help getting on track feel free to PM me and I'll offer as much help as I can!

 

[JDean3204]

Florida has pretty insanely low cost of living compared to pretty much anywhere else. And there are plenty of busy flight schools to choose from.

That is what attracts me to Florida. I am sure you still run into wx with the late summer storms and what not but I am sure I will be able to fly more than my current location. My goal is to jump into CFI full time and make that my priority and be able to meet the students schedule needs. In Oregon you can flight instruct full time late spring to early fall, but if you want to be able to pay rent and other bills let alone feed yourself the winter time can be a stretch. BTW I enjoyed your post about your current gig, that is based out of Jacksonville correct? I used to go on detachments down in Mayport quite frequently and enjoyed my time spent in that area. Have you ever heard of a company by the name of Air America? It seems like a good outfit with options as a CFI and Aerial Survey. Not sure how many students you would get at that location since ERAU and other well known schools operate out of KDAB as well.

 

[JDean3204]

Which GI Bill are you using? I am about to make a similar transition!

I have been using the post 9-11 GI Bill benefits since I started training in 2012. It is a great way to provide flight training with little to no cost out of pocket. I still feel as if the benefits are too good to be true as my funds for the rest of training are now in an account ready for me to use! If you have any questions myself and others on this website have a pretty good idea of the ch.33 benefits and some of the good and bad involved with using them. Trust me when I say the good outweighs the bad by a large margin.

 

[JDean3204]

I take it family is important to you from your post? The only reason I ask is there are other options to get training elsewhere. I know you'll get great IMC experience amongst other things up there but other regions offer different flying experiences too. Florida(thunderstorms), Arizona(high density altitude/mountainous terrain) amongst other places that might be cheaper to live too. No matter where you train it's going to cost $$$$. The goal is to limit the $$ to a small amount. Trust me on this one, I wish I knew this site existed before I started training. Would of saved me 10's of thousands.

Yes family does mean a lot to me as my parents have always been very supportive of all my decisions and will continue to be a great influence in my life. I have been lucky to live an hour away from them for a few years now. With that being said, there comes a time where my career needs to be priority in the location I reside in and I feel living in FL, or AZ may provide a better opportunity to excel in the industry. Nothing against OR, it is a beautiful state and Portland is probably one of the greatest cities in the U.S to live in. Pretty much every airline that is based out of PDX is very senior (Alaska, Skywest, Horizon etc.. ) so that speaks volumes about this area.

 

[JDean3204]

Dude,

You are more than ahead of the game. The weather this winter has been crazy bad. Just give it a few weeks and you'll be back on a regular schedule. On the days, you can't fly just go out and make some money so that you can fly!

Good luck. It sounds like you are well on your way and will be finished soon.

Joe

Thank you Joe! I am hoping the weather will cooperate here soon, getting these night flights done is the only thing left I have to do in my current stage of commercial. I have a pretty good gig working at Red Robin for some quick cash, so I try to pick up extra shifts to earn more money here and there!

 

[JDean3204]

I am glad that you have the support of your family nearby and are getting to spend time with them. That's really important. Makes life a little less daunting at this point. You'll knock out your ratings. I have the confidence in you, that you will. Just look where you were two years ago, a year ago and now. Everything is progressing well. You'll love instructing and there will be some good options for you when the time comes. Then, start networking a bit more and getting some tips on here, check out worthwhile flight schools (against post here and get the skinny on the schools) and you'll be golden. You'll be ready to start the next chapter in this adventure. Hopefully, you'll be able to make some decent money too. if you wind up at a Regional later on, you'll need it. lol

I am doing fine. Slow months for me in December, January and this month as usual. Not looking forward to the madness which will begin in March. I am really milking being a bum and loving it right now. Hard to shake that off for the bits of work/flights I do have The cycle continues. Trying to rest, (I had some serious burn out by November last year-ugh) get some things done on the home front and enjoying being with my family as well. Stay in touch and let us know how you're doing. I wish the best for you. -Gerry

I am very excited to become a CFI actually! I have already started working on my lesson plans since my college had an academic course for CFI that I have already completed. Being able to help others in aviation and strive for their goals is something that will make me very happy. I know most view CFI as just a "bridge" to the airlines, I feel it should be much more than that. I have been very picky about my choice of instructors throughout my training so far, I try to choose the ones that seem to love teaching and view our time flying together as not only a time building evolution, but as a time to spread the knowledge that is essential for my career and safety as a pilot. I hope to one day make that same impression on my students. Two of my prior instructors are at the airlines now and I still keep in touch with them as they have became mentors to me throughout my training.

I am glad to hear you have some down time to catch up with other aspects of life. I will definitely be more active on JC as the time is getting closer to make more career minded decisions for myself. I am even hoping to make it to the next NetworkJC event! Thanks again Gerry, it was good to hear from you!

 

[JDean3204]

IIRC your in Troutdale. The weather has been sucky for you guys I know we've been to minimums a few times there this year. It will all clear soon!

Yes I am flying out of TTD. It has been a rough few months to say the least. Either low vis and great amounts of precip, or a clear day with the wind roaring out of the gorge way beyond the limits of a 152/172. Shoot me a PM sometime before you fly into TTD, I live about ten minutes away from the airport and would be more than happy to drive down there for a meet up. Safe flying!