Alright guys, this will probably be a little long so I apologize in advance.
I'm 22 years old with a high school diploma, 50 hours & a PPL. The closest flight school to me is about 2.5 hours away and I planned on starting the rest of my ratings in September & even signed a lease to an apartment back in January.
I've always been a homebody..I love being around my family. I also have a serious girlfriend of 5 years, & she's already graduated college while I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to do with my life. We'll be getting ready to settle down here in the next few years & start a family. I have a job landscaping that usually runs from March through November of most years so I at least have an income.
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Being on the road away from your girlfriend will be tough but there are ways to make that time easier. What will be even tougher is if it doesn't work out some where down the road and you sacrificed your flying career. My point is figure out a way to work on both.
In your situation, unless you know someone at a local charter or corporate department, you might have to be willing to make some short term sacrifices. But I think that once you have some turbine experience, or meet 135 mins there may be some opportunities for you to find a job that allows you to live at home or close too it. But virtually all jobs, with the exception of instructing, and fed-ex feeder routes are going to require some time away from home (If I'm not mistaking a lot of flight departments ie. TMC, GAMA, XO, have 2 weeks on, 2 off or 7 on 7 off or stuff like that, but will also airline you in for work from where you live, or the closest major airport. ).
I know for me once I got some SIC turbine time, I started getting more calls for interviews. Your first big hurdle, again unless you know somebody, is building time, whether it be 1200 for 135 or 1500 for 121. If you are willing to go to FL, AZ, or CA, or anywhere that has a big flight academy, you can build it in just over a year. At that point you could spend another year building turbine time either at the airlines or a feeder. At that point, your resume will look a little more attractive and you can start working on getting closer to home.
Finally, I'm like you, in that I Iike being around my family, we can't wait to get back to MI. Having done the regional thing, if you find one where you can live in base, or have a short one leg commute, it's not so bad. Just keep your commute as short as possible(or non-existent preferably) and keep your finances under control for that first year. When on a trip, things like facetime, phone calls and facebook, help me stay close to my family. Once your home, don't even think about flying and make sure you spend quality time with your family.
Of course, stay away from the DUI, it will limit most of those corporate jobs.