What made you choose flying?

Aaron_Kearney

Aaron_Kearney

New Member
If you don't already know this, I'm one of the users here who hasn't actually taken very many steps towards making a career out of flying (especially since I'm still in high school). I've almost always been attracted to flying and take every chance I get to travel, but some of the "gloomy" posts I see on here almost make me rethink being a pilot. Getting your licenses is expensive, yes, but I'm also fairly experienced with computers and I think that if I put my head to it I'd be able to hold a job as a web developer down the road to pay for flight lessons.

At any rate, all I know about what I want in a career is these three things: 1) I'm not really attracted to the normal 9-to-5 desk job; 2) I like to travel...a lot, and basically anywhere, and 3) I'm attracted to flying. You can probably see how I figured being a pilot would be a good career. It's also why I took up flightsimming (and now ATC-simming) as a hobby to "keep me going" during the times in between flying. Reading through some of the more "enlightening" posts here every once in a while though has made me wonder whether I'd be able to get all of those in a different aviation-related career at an airport or as ATC.

Getting back to the main point of this thread, were there any really deciding factors that made you choose being a pilot as your career?
 
The chicks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bandit.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
 
well im 16 and goign to be a senior this fall in high school, I choose flying because its always been my dream ever since I was 5. The whole fact that our flying at mach .82 or so above everyones heads is awsome... second is the uniform....thirs is the ravel....fourth is the decent paycheck, and lots of other reasons.......Im working on my PPL, Start working on yours too!!.
 
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What made you choose flying?

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I must have been dropped on my head when I was little...

In all seriousness... the job is great, the career is very rough...

The part that involves actually flying the airplane is still a lot of fun, even after more than 8,000 hours... The rest of the aspects aren't nearly as fun... (Dealing with job searches, management, low wages, contracts, unions, furloughs, strikes, etc...)

If you are going into this field, make sure you are going in for the right reason (that you absolutely, unequivically, love flying)... Do NOT go into it for the money, travel benefits or time off... For every person who hits it big and lands a good job there are 20 who suffer in crappy jobs... And as the legacy Majors shrink and change, those jobs will diminish also... Make sure you do plenty of research before you jump in with both feet... I know plenty of people who didn't and spent several years flying only to quite and move onto some other career...

And the person who said they were doing it for the uniform... I have seen more airline pilots handed bags (people thinking they were the Sky Cap) than I can count... The "Glory Days" of being an airline pilot are long, long gone... If you think it is anything like that movie being discussed in a different thread (Catch Me If You Can) you will be sorrowly disappointed... If I had to wear that uniform hat, I think I'd shoot myself... I'll stick with my Dockers and a Polo...

With that being said, I can't imagine myself in any other job... But I am a glutten for punishment...
 
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well im 16 and goign to be a senior this fall in high school, I choose flying because its always been my dream ever since I was 5. The whole fact that our flying at mach .82 or so above everyones heads is awsome... second is the uniform....thirs is the ravel....fourth is the decent paycheck, and lots of other reasons.......Im working on my PPL, Start working on yours too!!.

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A 16 year old hs senior? What grades did you skip?
 
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A 16 year old hs senior? What grades did you skip?

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Nothing wrong with that...I turned 17 the june prior to the start of my senior year.

Mike McM
 
Hey, I was a 17 year old college freshman! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Get to drop bombs and shoot stuff...and fly. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Makes the side BS somewhat tolerable.
 
Funny story, I really wanted to fly F/A-18's for the Navy initially, get out and then 'retire' to the airlines when I couldn't fly in the Navy any more.

I discovered I didn't have the eyesight to qualify for a Navy pilot slot so I kind of took a 'plan b'.

To this day I still would rather fly fighter jets than a MD-88.
 
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Funny story, I really wanted to fly F/A-18's for the Navy initially, get out and then 'retire' to the airlines when I couldn't fly in the Navy any more.

I discovered I didn't have the eyesight to qualify for a Navy pilot slot so I kind of took a 'plan b'.

To this day I still would rather fly fighter jets than a MD-88.

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Be based out of Lemoore, and you would've been right back in your neighborhood.
 
I needed to pick up another "hot sounding" skill after I finished running track. Considering I'm married, I just love to fly and still haven't decided where I'll take it professionaly. Maybe instruct part-time or fly freight full-time? I'm leaning towards instructing actually I'm not just leaning, but I have my arm propped on instructing.
 
That's exactly it!

I lived by "Lemoore by the Sea" all of my life and would watch the A-7's and F/A-18's return from the MOA when I was a kid.

Even got to sit in an F/A-18 when I was in junior high school during the LNAS Airshow and one of the pilots showed me around the hangars, mx facilities, etc.
 
I can honestly say that if it weren't for my dad, I probably wouldn't puttin myself through this hell. Everything around me when I was growing up involved airplanes. When I was younger (and the airport security rules weren't as strict), my dad would take me over to MEM, turn on the scanner, and we'd watch airplanes land while listening to the tower frequency. We'd be out there for hours. This went on almost up until I was in high school. He was also big into RC airplanes, and his stress relief after work every night (and I mean EVERY night) was to boot up MSFS and fly for a couple of hours. All through HS I wanted to be a Navy pilot (or do they call them "aviators?"), but I didn't have 20/20 vision. So, I dropped that dream when I went to college. Unfortuantely, this site wasn't around in the early 90s, and the marketing for flight schools in the Memphis area was non-existent. Therefore, I had no IDEA there was a non-military way of training. After kicking around several jobs and thinking theme park management was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I kept coming back to the whole pilot thing. So, I looked on the internet one night, and discovered that I was living in the Mecca of flight schools I didn't know existed. Got myself set up for a discovery flight, and that was pretty much it. Dropped the theme park job, got on as a ramper with SWA to get my foot in the door, and kept training on the side.
 
Temporary insanity /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/insane.gif.. I swear they lace aviation fuel with something so that when you smell it you tend to think illogical things..
 
I'm right there with Kellwolf. I've wanted to fly for as long as I can remember and growing up was into RC planes, rockets, flightsim, and anything that could get airborne. I had all of these misconceptions though as a youngster and even into college about the qualifications and routes to flying professionally. I had always heard that you needed perfect vision (not me) and that all non-military pilots were former military pilots. I also thought that all flight schools were in Florida and Arizona. It wasn't until I actually read an article in "Men's Journal" in 2002 about learning to fly and then doing some research on the internet that I realized how things really work. Now i'm working toward finishing up the Commercial and then it will be onto CFI.
 
Dad was in the Navy. I was born in Doug's Neighborhood at Lemoore NAS. It was in my blood from day one. I also grew up living next to Miramar and me and my friends rode our bikes down to the flight line everyday after school. Top Gun definitely boosted the drive to become a pilot. I didn't get my apponitment to the USNA(Thank god!) I got an NROTC scholorship, but didn't get into a school. Went to CC and worked at American. Joined the Navy and flew as a helicopter crewman to satisfy my fix. Went back home to San Diego, for shore duty had plenty of money saved up from cruises(Tax free Gulf pay), so I got my private. As time to get out came around, started shopping for for flight schools, and picked DCA. Here I am at DCA getting my commerical ASEL out of the way currently.
 
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To this day I still would rather fly fighter jets than a MD-88.

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Think we could give him a commission in Air America-JC??
 
What made me choose flying? Because I can /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I expect to hit tough times down the road, and there are no guarantees at all in any facet of life, so I thought I might as well choose a career that I actually enjoy. It would be a bummer to be sitting in a convalescent home many years from now and saying "I wish I learned to fly" or "I wish I at least tried a career in aviation".

No regrets thus far.
 
For me, flying in and of itself is just a thrill, but even thrilling things can lose thier luster after a bit. That's where doing something else with flying comes into play, and that's when you're a pro. Dropping bombs, giving instruction, hauling passengers or cargo on a schedule, that adds to the challenge.

People just want to fly. That's probably the reason pilots get studied so very much.

Having said that and recognizing how very blessed I am to get paid to fly for a living, it's important to have a backup gig. Get a bachelors in business or romances languages or whatever and 1) you're more marketable as a pilot and 2) Should your body give out (eyes, accident, spouse) you're able to use your back up credentials and still make a living.

Just my 2 cents. Sounds like you're well on your way if at 16 you're looking that far ahead.

-Lostcomm
 
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