BugSmasher
New Member
Well, here goes. I've been lingering on this board for a long time, weighing the decision to fly commercially, airplane fanatic since the age of five, as are many of us. I am at the solo cross country phase of my PPL right now, but with my work schedule it has been difficult to fly more than once a week.
So, this Friday I turned in my two weeks notice, put my apartment up for re-rental, secured storage, and dealt with 401K issues. I'm leaving an otherwise perfectly good job as a corporate paralegal in Chicago to teach English in Korea (South), to save up money for my IFR-MEI training. I was going to try to take out a loan, and get going right away, but luckily found alternative viewpoints on JC before attempting it.
I will have about 5 weeks to finish my PPL before I leave, but it'll be far easier to do that as I wont be working. It may take a year and a half to save up the 35K I'd like to put away, but I'll be hitting the books, DVD- ROMS, and my old friend FS9 in my downtime.
Hopefully, I can come back to the U.S. soon and fly debt-free. The law firm would like to have me return in a part-time role, possibly as a telecommuter - which will be handy money as a poor CFI and later for when on reserve or on a long overnight.
It's a rush when you finally pull the trigger and begin to set the plan in motion, a welcome departure from the "comfort zone."
Thanks in part to JC, I have realistic expectations for the future, and know that it wont be easy or necessarily lucrative. I spent the last four years as a paralegal, less and less enthusiastic about pursuing law further each year, without even considering the cost of law school loans. I was accepted to a couple of so-so law schools right about the time I started taking PPL lessons. Law lost when I soloed.
I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I've chosen to be patient and save up. Even though Ill miss the "regional hiring boom," the decision is to fly in general whether that be CFI, pipeline, 135, 91 - there are MANY interesting options out there. I want to thank the fine folks on JC whose knowledge and humor have helped with this decision.
So, this Friday I turned in my two weeks notice, put my apartment up for re-rental, secured storage, and dealt with 401K issues. I'm leaving an otherwise perfectly good job as a corporate paralegal in Chicago to teach English in Korea (South), to save up money for my IFR-MEI training. I was going to try to take out a loan, and get going right away, but luckily found alternative viewpoints on JC before attempting it.
I will have about 5 weeks to finish my PPL before I leave, but it'll be far easier to do that as I wont be working. It may take a year and a half to save up the 35K I'd like to put away, but I'll be hitting the books, DVD- ROMS, and my old friend FS9 in my downtime.
Hopefully, I can come back to the U.S. soon and fly debt-free. The law firm would like to have me return in a part-time role, possibly as a telecommuter - which will be handy money as a poor CFI and later for when on reserve or on a long overnight.
It's a rush when you finally pull the trigger and begin to set the plan in motion, a welcome departure from the "comfort zone."
Thanks in part to JC, I have realistic expectations for the future, and know that it wont be easy or necessarily lucrative. I spent the last four years as a paralegal, less and less enthusiastic about pursuing law further each year, without even considering the cost of law school loans. I was accepted to a couple of so-so law schools right about the time I started taking PPL lessons. Law lost when I soloed.
I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I've chosen to be patient and save up. Even though Ill miss the "regional hiring boom," the decision is to fly in general whether that be CFI, pipeline, 135, 91 - there are MANY interesting options out there. I want to thank the fine folks on JC whose knowledge and humor have helped with this decision.
Seriously though...we'll set something up in the next month and give you a little going away bash.
