Advice: What to do?

[felix0315]

Hello Avcanada,

I'm in the middle of a crossroad situation. I can't find anyone to get advice from, so I'm hoping I can get help here.

I've always wanted to be a pilot, all my life. I got my ppl back in 2009, thinking that while in college, I could keep current with flying, and gain experience for my cpl. It's been over 3 years since then. I have dropped out from flying, because i couldn't afford to be current and safe. I have gotten nowhere in school, and now I'm considering i should moving on.

I'm not a stupid person, but for some reason, I just can't commit to the programs I take in college. The reason I'm in school is because of my parents. They wanted me to have a backup and a higher advantage than others, by obtaining a respectable degree. Make no mistake, I fully appreciate their good intentions. But after over 3 years of trying, I'm beginning to think I should move on.

I would like to work as a pilot, but there are also other things to consider. I'm also very mechanically inclined. I could be a pilot, or a mechanic, or both. I've read mixed opinions about both, but more negative from AMEs. I'm considering taking an AME M course but am held back because of fear of getting laid off. To be clear, I'm still going to become a CPL and work my way up. Getting the AME license is just a backup plan. I desire to have my own plane one day and work on it myself, but thats by far just a desire. Is this a realistic plan? Or should I just pursue my CPL and concentrate on healthy living (lol).

Over to another concern that I have. I'm sure this is still happening. I just don't know to what extent. Due to the fact that I'm in a minority (Asian). I can't help but wonder how bad racial preference is in this industry. Both as a pilot and as a mechanic. How much should I expect this to happen?

Like many others, I'm just looking to have a modest and realistic plan to get into this industry.

[BTyyj]

] fear of getting laid off.

Aviation might not be right for you then. Check out healthcare.

That being said, if you really have a keen interest in aviation, and feel that being an AME would be a good backup plan, why complete the degree? If you're not liking the courses, you'd probably not like the job, so getting a degree wouldn't necessarily be a viable backup plan in your case. You could always finish off your degree through correspondance later on.

[mike123]

The reason I'm in school is because of my parents. They wanted me to have a backup and a higher advantage than others, by obtaining a respectable degree. Make no mistake, I fully appreciate their good intentions.

They have good intentions, but do they really know what is good for YOU? It's your life to live.

[Shiny Side Up]

I just can't commit to the programs I take in college. The reason I'm in school is because of my parents.

This is usually a mistake many parents make with the best of intentions. What they always should do is if their children are undecided as to what to do with their lives, is put them to work. Preferrably something brutally back breaking, but with lots of potential to learn skills. They will find that their children will a) continue in that line of work, to which case there probably was no schooling that could have helped them anyways, or b) it will motivate the child strongly to figure it out.

[felix0315]

But the question is, should I bother getting an AME? Or perhaps auto mechanics would be a better choice?

Any comments on racial preference?

[Shiny Side Up]

I hate to say it, but anything you have to ask a question of whether you should do it, doesn't sound like you're really that interested in it. Otherwise you'd already be doing it. Racial questions are irrelevant, welcome to the world. There will be jerks out there who give you a hard time about it. If you're worried about your feelings getting hurt in the process and that's stopping you from doing something, then you probably weren't that interested in it in the first place. As I said before, brute labour is a good mind focuser, unless you find out you really like doing brute labour, in which case you'll just be happy.

Life sucks, get a helmet.

[Beefitarian]

Twenty five years ago everyone would have made jokes about others and/or called you racist slurs but...
You could generally tell who was actually racist. A guy who was would out right say, "I don't hire (insert race)."

Now days no one dares call people names or joke around. Unfortunately I can never tell who is a racist anymore because they do things quietly.

I think you should be fine at most places. As for being a pilot if you know mandarin, Russian or punjabi it might open doors.

I don't mind brute labour but my back is sufficiently broken now so I can't do it like an 18 year old anymore. Bummer I guess.

[xysn]

As far as I can tell everyone has the same modest and realistic plan - get a CPL, then either become an instructor or go north, then move up to progressively larger operations.

Like someone else mentioned labour stability is not really a hallmark of aviation. There is plenty of moving around to chase jobs and the job itself rarely has regular hours or location. Finding a first job is tough. There are plenty of threads on Avcanada from people who are thinking of mid-career jumps into flying as a job and there's good advice in them. For example: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=83215. Although you are starting out there's great information on what it's like to fly for a living.

Ironically enough the chances of you owning and working on your own plane while working as a pilot are quite slim, at least until you're retired. a) You probably won't make enough money b) You will have no time to fly it or work on it

Conversely if you get a job as an engineer out west or as a skilled tradesman @ 60k+ a year, you could probably actually buy a cheap plane or a share in one if you forego a fancy car and big house. And then you can fly when you want, work on it when you want, and not have to deal with pax, or students, or whatever. You could even instruct on the side if you're a) a good pilot and b) a good teacher.

What are you doing in college?

[felix0315]

In terms of job insecurity, it's everywhere. I know it and I accept the fact. I guess I didn't explain myself properly in my earlier post. I'm held back from taking the AME M course because of the working conditions and pay that I've been reading about. Note that I'm not saying its not the same for pilots. In fact I expect it to be quite similar. But for what it's worth, I'd rather fly planes than fix them.

*edit: I've also noticed quite a drop in people applying for the AME program at my school, versus a year ago. I think this is definitely telling me something.

Referring back to plane ownership, that was exactly the answer I was looking for. I should've thought of it earlier (duh), and it makes complete sense.

I am currently a 1st year electrical engineering student, with future options to go into either a diploma or degree program. As it stands, I will not make the degree program. In fact, I am in jeopardy of not even making it into the diploma program. I started this program last year, suffered a flameout and crashed very hard. Now I am trying to clean up my mess and hope the cgpa is going to be enough to compete.

I've already got a game plan for my cpl training, taking lots of suggestions from this forum, starting with training on a tailwheel, and maybe completing a bush float program. I'm hoping to do some bush flying to start. I have no idea how to get there, but that's stuff to think about in the future.

[Beefitarian]

Sounds like electrical engineering is not for you. Have you noticed any portions of the course you enjoyed or particularly did not enjoy. That might help you figure out a direction you would like better. Having a degree would help with many employers provided you have any skills to go with it.

I don't know if tail wheel and float training should be the next thing. Fair enough those skills would be helpfull I'm sure, but neither will directly help you get the license.

Potentially the skills gained could help you control a plane better making portions of the flight test easier but unless you can find a way to do a CPL program on a tail wheel it might be better to wait on that. It's difficult to find a tail wheel plane to train on and when you do it will most likely be more expensive.

[felix0315]

Actually there is a Citabria at the school I trained at. The cost is in between a 152 and 172 so it's not too bad. The idea is to do partial (~70) hours of cpl training on that. Seeing how my flying is beyond rusty right now, I'm planning 120TT dual and solo, including night rating. The bush float training comes post cpl and hopefully acts as an aid in the job finding process.

[Beefitarian]

Seems like a plan. Get to work.