Thinking about making a complete 180 and pursuing my original dream.

[gliderboy]

The grass is greenest where it's watered.

 

[rframe]

Can't we at least agree that anyone who owns a jet aircraft has made a terrible financial decision?

FTFY. The decision is pretty much always financially stooooopid, it's just the degree of foolishness is much higher when a turbine is involved

 

[flyinguitar]

I have 15-16 days off every month (what doctor gets that?).

There are several specialties where you can have a schedule like this. A lot depends on how your practice is structured and how much pay you are willing to forgo for more time off. A common emergency room doc could work 3 12-hour shifts or 4 8-hour shifts. I know a radiologist who does 7 days on, 7 off.

 

[flyinguitar]

Here are the mean (average) numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, probably the most objective numbers out there. If making lots of money is your goal, well, smart people tend to make a lot on Wall Street, but most that I knew there hated their lives. It is certainly easier to become a pilot than to become a doctor. If I could do it in my spare time, it can't be all that hard. Either way, both careers are still much better than the average US wage.

This is the data I trust the most: http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2013/public

 

[flyinguitar]

Or, the alternative: A doctor who owns a jet may have made many terrible financial decisions that have not caught up with him yet.

I know MANY docs who are living well beyond their means, and are facing financial ruin. Many try to live up the stereotypical doctor lifestyle and wind up broke. My wife's aunt is a M.D. who has gone bankrupt twice and lives in her son's basement.

We bought a house well below what we could afford, still haven't bought a new car, are maxing out retirement, and are almost done paying off our student loans. Will I be able to own my own plane someday, sure but it won't be a jet. More likely it will be a RV-7 or some other small airplane that I can fly when I want. BTW, you can pick up a Pitts for less than a Corvette

Very true! What's your wife's specialty? Is she out of residency yet?

Your comment earlier about leaving your crying son with the babysitter hit home. We need to use a lot of babysitters and I just hate it.

 

[flyinguitar]

It isn't that hard to become a doctor.

 

[PhilosopherPilot]

There's a difference between a lot of work, and being difficult. It's a lot of work, no doubt.

 

[GypsyPilot]

There are several specialties where you can have a schedule like this. A lot depends on how your practice is structured and how much pay you are willing to forgo for more time off. A common emergency room doc could work 3 12-hour shifts or 4 8-hour shifts. I know a radiologist who does 7 days on, 7 off.

True. My fiancé is a paramedic, does 3 on 4 off.

 

[3green]

Seriously Op, if you don't want to be a doctor that's your choice. But many of us who've worked the line will tell you this. Just because something is fun as a hobby doesn't mean its fun as a job. How many people love to play the guitar or surf for fun??? A whole lotta people. Could they make a living at it? probably not.

Who cares what you do for a living. Find a job that gives a QOL where you can do what you want with your free time. Every job owns you. Airline or not. Given the choice between making chump change and flying a jet for an airline or making bank and flying my own airplane I'd take my own plane hands down. But hey maybe you want the thrill of waking up at 0530hrs in the morning to catch a van to get to the airport to fly some cranky, cheap passengers around. Or the fun of having your number punched in a furlough. Have at it, we've got a pilot shortage coming up didn't you hear? the job is yours for the taking...