Run like he** away from aviation!

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So being here at Riddle now, enrolled in the AeroSci program would it be safe to say I made the wrong decision?

Now before anybody says its what you make of it or it could help you in the future, I reaaalllyyy dont like it here so far. Daytona is very much washed out and Riddle, is becoming more and more the SELF proclaimed best in aviation school. Plus...no girls. lol

If flying is really what I want to do, which it most certainly is, would it be better to go to my dream school, OHIO STATE, and get a degree in buisness or engineering and fly using there aviation program. I could even dual major, which is no problem for me.

I have been here a couple days now and I am really one to take things at face value alot of the time, and so far...not so impressing. My roomate and 2 suitemates feel very much the same.
 
FlYemHI said:
So being here at Riddle now, enrolled in the AeroSci program would it be safe to say I made the wrong decision?

Now before anybody says its what you make of it or it could help you in the future, I reaaalllyyy dont like it here so far. Daytona is very much washed out and Riddle, is becoming more and more the SELF proclaimed best in aviation school. Plus...no girls. lol

If flying is really what I want to do, which it most certainly is, would it be better to go to my dream school, OHIO STATE, and get a degree in buisness or engineering and fly using there aviation program. I could even dual major, which is no problem for me.

I have been here a couple days now and I am really one to take things at face value alot of the time, and so far...not so impressing. My roomate and 2 suitemates feel very much the same.
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Hey dude,
When I got to Riddle PRC we were all excited to be at "The Harvard of the Skies!" because we took their words for what they were. Multiple corporate pilots, flight instructors, and fellow pilots advised me not to go (including Doug and other grads from this site. I didn't listen). After going there for a summer and semester I realized what all those people were all saying. I had put my eggs all in one basket, and left myself no outs incase something bad happened. Part 142 is so rigid coming from a 61/141 environment coupled with with quite a bit of $$ for tuition and such that I was no longer having fun, acutally I hated flying. I was learning the multi and I hated it! I stopped riddle flying and went across the field for the rest of the semester and finished my instrument rating, and came back home.

I left after a summer semester and fall semester. You don't need to use a university's flying program, a local FBO will do the job and as long as you're dedicated you can get it done as fast as you can progress. I would've had my CFI in fall of 07, but I just passed the ride for it a few weeks ago.

My advice, go to a state school, a college town school with a football team, cheaper tuition, chicks haha, study something else that interests you, you know, in case you lose your medical certificate. But if all you want to learn is aviation stuff, then more power to you brothaman.
 
By all means, it's a good school. I met some of the best people on earth during my 5 year tenure there.

The flight academics are good, but the non-aviation curriculum is seriously a waste of time for an educated high school graduate. "Maff for piolets" and "Werld Hisstory fer people who really just want the kreditts" wasn't worth the cost per credit hour.

But in retrospect, if my kid wanted to follow in my footsteps, I'd have him study something technical at a state college and flight train during semester breaks or after graduation.
 
"go to my dream school, OHIO STATE, and get a degree in buisness or engineering and fly using there aviation program"

Now that sounds like a good plan.
 
Almost everywhere I go, people ask me what in the world am I getting an aviation degree for... well, for me who dont really like to study, the aviation degree is the most funnest, which makes studying a little easier, second, I dont need to worry about a job if the aviation industry falls, I can go right now and make $50.00 an hour doing construction, (been doing it for 10 years). or if I want an easy lifestyle I can play banjo at a studio. I get job offers like every month in non aviation fields, yet I turn them down because I like flying, and the Aviation degree is probably the most easiest and funnest for me.
 
The guy is right.
Period end of sentence.
As of right now I like my job. I can't imagine doing anything else. Is my QOL good? No. Do I have over 100k in loans? Yeah. But my other friends may have more money in their pockets but if there was a forum for car sales men, aerospace engineers, or real estate agents I'm sure there would be bitching and complaining on there too. I couldn't work 9-5. Am I going to look back at my decisions from after high school as a mistake? Maybe or maybe not. I can tell you right now I don't get a hardon for major airline cockpits. Even if it was aviation in the "Glory Days" I wouldn't want that. I like flying something different. I'm damn proud of the fact that I don't fly for company that my neighbors have heard of. If I ever do get out of overnight freight who knows where I'll go. Maybe floatplanes. Maybe bush flying. Maybe back to flight instructing. Who the heck knows. I can tell you right now I can't/won't discourage a newcomer to aviation from continueing. I can share my experiences with them and give them an honest view of what its like but why should I say, "Aviation sucks go find a real job". How do I know that kid won't be like me?
 
I can understand expilot's point of view. I did the AeroSci degree. If I had to do it again, I'd get a more useful degree along with my ratings. Probably Business even though I always told myself I had no interest in business. In retrospect, that would have been the most useful to me. I flight instructed three years and finally got on with a regional. It was cool at first, but after a year, I'm getting out to pursue a Mon-Fri 9-5 job. I'm tired of spending all my time sitting at an airport, in a hotel, or deadheading on an airplane, and using 2 of three days off to commute home. I'm married, so that has something to do with it, too. If I were single, maybe I'd stay longer. In any case, I'm all about QOL now. I want to stay home, hang out with friends, brew beer in my garage, maybe start a family. Aviation is a great hobby. The most fun I had was early on... getting my private, taking friends for rides, hanging out at the local uncontrolled field. That's where the fun is, in my opinion. Sometimes, turning a fun hobby into a career can turn into "too much of a good thing". Anyway, to each his own. If you've got the bug, you have to give it a try. If you don't like it, then at least you don't ever have to wonder "what if"..... and you've still got your ratings in the end to have fun with.
 
Kudos to expilot for his post - this message board needs more people with considerable experience to share their opinions, regardless of what that opinion may be. This board definitely suffers from a problem of a lot of kids not old enough to drink waxing intellectual about the state of the industry. Read the writing on the wall, the regionals are losing pilots by the dozens each month. It's about time someone on here said something that didn't involve the blowing of sunshine.
 
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