New person going to Ari-Ben with no impertinent questions, I promise.

uglysolutions

uglysolutions

New Member
Yet another career changing 27 year old here,

At the risk of waxing egotistical, here's the backstory: I finished my M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language last May, having intended at the onset of the project to move to the MidEast where they're all too happy to throw money at you.

Suffice it to say, that now seems like a bad idea.

I weathered a year adjuncting in my hometown of St. Louis and decided "Hey, this is crap!" I wasn't sure quite how to go about shifting gears until two fortuitous things happened:

1) I bought Flight Sim 2004 on a whim.
2) I read Spirit of St. Louis.

If anyone can do these two things and not want to fly, it's my belief that they're frigging nuts.

Anywho, I did the research, asked for all of the "propaganda" as Mr. Cohen likes to put it, and wound up settling for Ari-Ben. I wavered momentarily, thinking somehow that Flight Safety might be better in the long run, but my Affordable Side won out. I look to start in mid-June.

I'm doing this entirely thanks to the help of Key Loan, and I constantly wonder why my friends would prefer to waste their credit lines on a Ford Explorer rather than flight school, but it takes all sorts, I suppose.

Anywho, I just wanted to thank everyone on the forum for answering all of my silent questions. BEHOLD THE LOVELY INFORMATION AGE! The mind reels at the prospect of information gathering before forums like these, and I am hyper-appreciative.

I hereby offer to buy all of you a drink in due course.
 
"At the risk of waxing egotistical ..." Ha-ha, I love it.

Congradulations on your career change choice! And great choice of school. They're right near the top of my list. I'm impressed that you've made so prudent and wise a decision, as opposed to being initially swayed by all the slick propoganda of the Delta Connections and Pan Ams. I certainly was. (Then again, I'm a starry-eyed, naive nineteen-year-old.
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While being an airline pilot is something I've wanted to do since I was a kid (I mean, like a little kid--guess I'm still a kid in some of your folks' eyes), Flight Simulator was also a big turning point for me in the decision process. Funny how a little computer game can do that, huh? Actually, it was also seeing the movie Fearless, starring Jeff Bridges. It deals with the post-traumatic disorders of an airline disaster. If you haven't seen the movie, do! It's amazing. (Why a movie concerning complete hydraulic failure in a 737 made me want to be a pilot, I'll never know ...)

Of course, back when I was eight years old, it was the movie Memphis Belle that got the ball rolling, which I'm sure you've all seen ...

Jeez, now I'm starting to wax egotistical.

Again, congrats and good luck!
 
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Of course, back when I was eight years old, it was the movie Memphis Belle that got the ball rolling, which I'm sure you've all seen ...


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I'm assuming your talking of the "hollywoodized" movie with Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, and Harry Connick, Jr. If you liked that one, find the ORIGINAL Memphis Belle shot in the 1940s. The director went along with the crew during some of the bombing runs, and it was released in the states to generate support for the war. I found it at Wal-Mart in a two pack with another movie similar to that for $5. I'm also a Memphis Belle nut (being from Memphis, who would have guessed THAT), so I have the stuff ALL over the place. Col. Robert Morgan (the pilot of the Belle) was at the last two airshows I went to. I've already met him once, but I have to stop by and say hello and thank you every time.
 
Welcome!

You are among the many career changers. I at 30 something. Also from St. Louis, moved to Vero in 2002, attended Ari Ben, instructed, and am now back in St. Louis flying charter out of SUS.

Good choice of schools. You get out of it what you put in.

Life is good!
 
Yep, afraid I meant the Hollywoodized rendition. But man do I love that movie, With the whole final sequence, where one wheel go down, and they're literally skimming the tops on final approach ... sweetness.
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I'll have to check out the original.
 
I too am strongly considering the career change to aviation at the age of 27. I will finish my MEd in Educational Administration this summer. My BS was in chemistry, but I did not like being a chemist. I then started teaching HS in FL, but realized there is no money in it for a long-term career, so I am now finishing my masters for certification to be an asst. principal or principal, where there is a shortage and better money. After teaching several years, I realize education is becoming a more unpleasant area to go into as a career, especially in FL. I have taken a few lessons, and sometimes ride in a small jet with my uncle who flies, and think it would be a pleasant career that I would hopefully not leave for sometime unlike my more previous positions. So...welcome to the club, and it is nice to see that I am not in the boat alone. It is a tough decision to make because of stability and job security, but things may hopefully pick up one day in aviation.
 
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I too am strongly considering the career change to aviation at the age of 27. I will finish my MEd in Educational Administration this summer. My BS was in chemistry, but I did not like being a chemist. I then started teaching HS in FL, but realized there is no money in it for a long-term career, so I am now finishing my masters for certification to be an asst. principal or principal, where there is a shortage and better money. After teaching several years, I realize education is becoming a more unpleasant area to go into as a career, especially in FL. I have taken a few lessons, and sometimes ride in a small jet with my uncle who flies, and think it would be a pleasant career that I would hopefully not leave for sometime unlike my more previous positions. So...welcome to the club, and it is nice to see that I am not in the boat alone. It is a tough decision to make because of stability and job security, but things may hopefully pick up one day in aviation.

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Aviation a "pleasant career"? No offense, but I suggest you take the rose-colored glasses off. Chances are, you will not make more in aviation than you could as a schoolteacher/administrator, and the aviation industry is far more volatile than academia. And if you happen (or ever hope) to be married, recognize that this field involves quite a lot of time away from home and tends to be rather hard on marriages.

If after taking a long hard look at the darker side of the glitz and glamour of aviation you still find the passion to fly, you've come to the right place. Just don't fall for the Darbyesque hype that pilots are in great demand and you'll be making six figures in the left seat of a jet in no time, cuz it just ain't so. You're going to have to work long and hard for next to nothing before you make it anywhere in aviation.
 
How's life over at SUS? I looked at Skyline over there, then settled on getting my Private at St. Charles Flying Service, but finally decided to go the whole way at Ari-Ben.

I'd never been to Spirit before, but took a motorcycle trip over there to check out the arrangement. Looks like the entire valley is being developed; very surprising to me, for some reason. I'm originally South County, and never went west of 270 if I could help it. Being in U.City now, teaching at UMSL and Flo.Valley, I get out a bit more...
 
I live out in St. Charles, therefore I have only a 10 minute drive to the airport. I started out at Thunder Aviation's flight school (now closed). Skyline bought some of Thunders aircraft and inherited some instructors as well.

The area surrounding Spirit is exploding both commercially and residentially. It is a nice clean, new area with lots of convenience.
 
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