About me , thanks for any advice. I'm 45 self employed, directional boring and water wells. I enjoy what I do but its getting tough in the Texas heat wearing all the PPE. It's also tough finding good employees, there's a lot of liability in directional boring. I have a great contract with Union Pacific railroad , that pays well.
So my dream job has always been flying, 4th generation pilot. I own a cirrus SR-22 that carries us to KAXX angelfire 2nd home, quite nicely. I have 600 hrs, instrument rated and working on commercial. I have looked for cheap twins but most are over valued, I'll keep looking. My plan was to fly an Apache or travel air for 200 hrs to add to my resume.
I will always drill holes in the ground but I'm looking to do something I love, ready to pay the dues and ultimately would love to fly 121 as my primary career with drilling as additional income. Wife is on board with this plan. I'm no trust fund kid, and worked for everything I have. Any advice / mentoring /recommendations/expectations are greatly appreciated.
So, you're 45, you've got a business you enjoy, you make enough to own an SR-22, and you have a second house.
Look, I love flying, it's in my blood, but I wish I had a career like that. This stuff is totally unstable, and your health (and my health in my case) and the economy are two of the single greatest factors in whether or not you get to continue enjoying this. Right now things are good "in the industry" - in 5 years? Who knows. I have an awesome career - but it certainly isn't what I thought it would be, and I have buddies who "had it all" who are now at their second or third 121 carrier hoping that they don't have "too much" flight time to be taken seriously at the majors. For me, I never really wanted to be an airline pilot other that at a few places, and have enjoyed a career in AK, but the frustration at being at the mercy of things outside of your control is difficult for a lot of guys who do this for a living.
I remember all this kind of rosy optimism about how quick upgrades were and how quickly you could make it to "the majors" in 2006 and 2007. It wasn't what it is now, but it was similar. That ended in 2008. Again, I'm not complaining, but if you've got something that can support the kind of lifestyle you describe...well, I don't think I'd make flying my "full time thing." Honestly, if anything, I'd work part-time or seasonally (if well digging season is the winter, I don't know, probably not), and enjoy flying still being "fun." Nothing takes the fun out of flying like having to fly 100 hours in a month, or multiple nights away from home, or yet
another MEL sticker. Nothing takes the fun out of flying like getting home after a 7.9 flight hours in a 14 hour day knowing you're going to be doing that for another 4 days in a row (this may not be possible at the regionals since 117, but I don't know). Nothing takes the fun out of flying like getting paired up with a douchebag for multiple days.
Honestly I'm envious of you. I'd absolutely love to know a trade like you do that was lucrative enough to support a family, because flying "ain't" always. What you do sounds cool, and interesting, and a lot of work with your hands. While I imagine it's a ton of work, and the view isn't as good, you probably have a lot of autonomy in your life owning your own business. Speaking of which, after a 4 day long "trip from hell" are you really going to want to run your business drilling wells? Don't get me wrong - I love flying and if you can't see yourself doing anything else, then go fly! You only get one life to live, enjoy it. But flying for fun and flight training fly vis-a-vis flying for a living are wildly different things. A lot of the things that made me want to do this for a living - the challenge, the interesting technical education, the constant need to practice and improve yourself - these things are often hard to find "on the job" unless you look for it. The job is a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Granted, this is the way "most" jobs are, but for me, this is why I was always drawn to flying in Alaska - the dirty secret is that much of flying is mind-numbing punctuated by brief moments of terror.
And the thing is, that's a good thing - after a while, you learn that it SHOULD be boring. The interesting stuff is going to ground school, flying new airplanes, going someplace you've never been before. The real interesting
flying is done in your own airplane off duty. If it's exciting or interesting, you're probably doing something wrong if you've got paying customers in the back. Flying is about the least creative job and most repetitious job there is - I imagine it's like working in a factory with great views. Again - I love flying, it's an amazing job and you
do learn something new every day if you pay attention, but spending a little time out of the cockpit has been good for my perspective on this sort of thing. If you enjoy the autonomy that your work gives you right now, and if you enjoy how much creativity you use from day to day at work (I don't know much about drilling, but I imagine running your own business is challenging but satisfying), then I wouldn't recommend flying professionally as your full-time gig.
If I had a business that was lucrative enough to own a SR-22, I'd probably get a cheaper airplane without a payment, then go and learn something cool every 4 months, like aerobatics, or floats, or whatever. I'd get a CFI and instruct a couple days a week, then try to get a part time job doing charter or something so you could dip your toe into it, but if I had a successful business that I enjoyed I'd maximize my potential there. If your business could grow to support it, you could justify a really cool airplane to shuttle between offices in different parts of the country.
A friend of mine is a self-made man. He sells airplanes for a living now, but I doubt he has to work after he wound down his old business (he used to manufacture high-end cabinets and was very...very successful at it for a long time). He's got at least 3000 hours flying his own personal 206s (he's got two of them) around the country, and puts one on floats every summer. He uses his airplanes to travel, he uses his airplanes for business when he can justify it, and he uses his airplanes to play. If he had become a pilot for a living instead of doing it for fun then I doubt he'd enjoy it as much, and he damn sure wouldn't own more than one airplane unless he "made it" and then only after decades of hard work. He also takes whatever days off he wants (customers permitting obviously) he doesn't work any holidays, and he goes to every recital, soccer game, and school play. Just some things to think about.
