Quote:
Originally Posted by yzrider58
You've already dedicated a good portion of your education and efforts to the medical field. Remember that you can be a medical professional and fly for fun on the side. Lot's of people never fly professionally and have a big passion for aviation. Since aviation is their hobby, they keep the passoin for many years. I've seen some guys in the professional world who lose the "fun to fly" feeling and it would suck to lose that.
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Thanks, I appreciate the response. That's true, I have dedicated a good deal of time, money, and effort in my current field. I do love my field, but it's my second love. I am a level headed guy, and I don't want to move careers irrationally if it's not necessary. However, I could definitely join the two passions like you suggested, which I've wanted to do for some time. I do have some concerns about doing so though. It is expensive to fly as much as I would like between the cost of airplane rental, and fuel. I could buy my own airplane, but that has many other costs associated with it that I don't think I'm ready for unless multiple people joined in on the purchase of a cheap plane, but mechanically sound one (we could build hours much faster owning one luckily). In my field, the pay isn't great, but it's manageable. It doesn't allow enough room in the funds department for frequent flying, which I would need to train at a pace that is fast enough to not relearn concepts, and therefore spend more money. I have a feeling that flying just as a hobby wouldn't give me the air time I would like. I believe I would like it to be my career. Many of my friends who are pilots often tell me how flying for fun is obviously different than flying for a living. Instead of going wherever you want, you have to go where you're told, and you have to deal with the industry itself, which is can be tough sometimes (for many different reasons that you guys are aware of). This is what you explained as well, and I could completely see where this would get tough on pilots. They could easily loose their passion and love for flying. From what I've been told, the industry and the job in general is not what it used to be. However, I would love to be at my "office" at 30,000+ feet, rather than on the ground
. Luckily, I know the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Then again, I may never know if I would have loved it as a career (even with any downfalls that may come with the territory), if I don't try. I'm not in a huge rush, as the hiring spree in the flying biz isn't exactly stellar right now, and it hasn't been over the years. Over the last few years the pay has been significantly cut, the benefits changed or eliminated all together, and there has been increased flight hour minimums to get hired. With all that, people may think I'm insane for attempting to get into that career path, but it's something I want to work toward and do everything I can to make it happen. I need to just ensure that I do it smart, strategically, and as debt free as possible (which is difficult considering training is unbelievably expensive now-a-days. Most people either pay as they go and get into the better positions later, or others take out loans and get their hour minimums quickly but have trouble paying the loans since the salary is so low). We'll see how it pans out, but I am definitely tossing around the idea. I definitely envy all you guys flying every day. It takes sacrifice, hard work, and training, but it sure seems worth it in the long run only if the passion for flying is strong, and undeniable.