Wall of Text about pilot career...

[hairdo]

The only reason to start a career as a pilot is because you love flying~

That should be the only reason but there are still those (uninformed youngsters and Egotists) that enter for the gold braid, money and lifestyle

Sad, but true. They are also the ones who are rudely awakened to the fact that that they MIGHT get one of those items for their first jobs, and it ain't money or lifestyle...

There are PRO's and CON's to every job. If you want to fly, and can't imagine being happy at any other profession, then I would consider it. Otherwise, I don't think it would be a good idea to get into aviation for a career. If a prospective student ever asks me about getting into aviation I tell them that I enjoy it, BUT I also try to give them the best, no BS view of what it is (some of them you can see just blocking out what they don't want to hear. They tend to be the unhappy ones later). If you don't like what you hear now about aviation, then you won't like it when you hear everyone you work with whining about how crappy it is.

If you aren't sure, do what the other guys said, get an intro flight, and think about it. If you like flying, get your PPL and do some flying for fun, maybe get a night rating. Then think about it some more, because you are going to commit more than money to this profession if you start flying for hire. The good scheds, money and such won't come around until you have a lot of ink in your logbook (real stuff, not Parker Penned) unless you get lucky or know the right people.

[CSk3RampBOY]

Must you guys really be dream smashers! So many posts about how crappy the industry is, and little about where he should conduct his flight training. Give the guy a chance to discover what the industry is like.

They tend to be the unhappy ones later).

Oh really? Most of my fellow collegues never regretted going into aviation. Sure, not everybody is happy in this industry, but at least the guy has an idea of what to expect.
Many prospective students are completed clueless and keep asking if Air Canada will take them after their CPL. Of course they're in for a surprise!
On the other hand, Daedalleus plan is completely plausible and he's talking about going to Africa after the CPL. I've had many friends go over there and they have yet come back.
Even if he get's a CPL and decides that aviation is not for him. He becomes much more insurable if buys into his own airplane.

Just my 2cents

[Bobby868]

I'm not being negative I'm being realistic. You are not the typical 18-22 year old, no life, no wife, no kids, no other career guy.

A 20 something kid can give up everything (which is nothing) to compete with you for a job and the competition is fierce.

You have a family, kids, and a good wife and a taste of what a real career can pay and what it can do for your family and though you may think it’s easy to give that up and or put it on hold, when the time comes and you’re looking your daughter in the eyes to tell here you’re going to be gone for 6 months on a contract to a place where neither she nor her mother will be safe or welcome then you’ll get what I’m telling you.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that hard work and a willingness to go wherever and do whatever will get you a job. Everyone that becomes a commercial pilot thinks the same thing so that doesn’t make you special at all.

Africa is flooded with European and some North American pilots right now. Go to the other forum PPrune and read their African Maun postings. 1 out of 30 guys are coming back even more broke than when they left, they’ve spent the last of the money they could borrow from friends and family and with no further flying experience whatsoever.

Northern Canada isn’t much better where your resume will be mixed in with 500 others for a job on a ramp that will have you working manual labour for two years in -40c conditions in the winter and bug infested holes in the summer before you even touch the controls of a plane.

But all my warnings and negativity(realisim) doesn’t matter. I can tell you’ve made up your mind already so you will believe the positive and ignore the cautions. **Keep in mind flight instructors don’t just recruit in the lobby of flight schools, they recruit here on Avcanada too.** So take those super positive private PMs that you get with a grain of salt and remember this: for all the negative and semi positive that you hear on this site and other flying sites you are hearing from pilots that are still holding out hope or that have made it after an unbelievable amount of sacrifice. What you don’t hear are all the pilots that gave up after working twice as hard and giving up twice as much as you are willing to give and they simply don’t participate and post in these forums at all.

Best of luck to you.