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Where to start, back after 6+ years?!

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VampyreGTX

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2003
Posts
232
I'm looking at getting back into aviation after a 6+ year hiatus. My dream has always been to fly, but that hit the wall since I got my ratings in 2002 and started a family. Now that I'm more settled, I'm looking to get back into it. I currently have about 270 total time (all 6+ years ago) and have my Commercial Multi and Instrument. I was hoping to get into obtaining my CFI ratings by next summer at the latest and be done with all 3 hopefully by end of next year.

I'd moved back into finance and have been trying to get into firefighting (my other passion) and have been doing that 5 years part-time, but I'm 33 and have only 1.5 years left before I hit the max. age to be hired by state statute. (I would prefer to fly though so it's no brainer for me.)

Just want some good advice on getting back into it after so long, anyone else on here been in this situation?
 
thats easy....just go down to your local FBO and get checked and go flying....You'll need a bfr but that's no big deal.


If you want to do it for a living you need to get rid of all your debt, that includes selling your family and your house. Then find someone to support you for the next 25+ years.

And no, I aint kidding this isnt a joke.

Go find something else to do.
 
seriously, do you want your wife,kids and extended family to hate you?

run fast - get a stable 9 to 5 job and buy a J-3 cub.
 
wife and kids hate me? really?! I currently work in excess of 100 hours a week, 50% as a firefighter/paramedic which I absolutely love doing, but in the end my 'hourly rate' is probably barely over minimum wage when factoring in the time away from home. Going into aviation wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me, but I'd be doing something I truly love and enjoy. I'm not into flying for the prestige or the money, I'm in it so that I can proudly say to myself I'm finally doing what I truly enjoy and love doing (even more so than a FF). If I end up flight instructing only for the rest of my flying life, then so be it, I could easily supplement the income up to a livable wage with my part-time FF gig or somehow get picked up Full time at another district. It's easy to spot the difference between people in any job and see which are doing it because they like and the ones that are doing it because they have to or expected something else. I started my flight training in the midst of the beginning of the industry crash. I asked for advice on where to start to re-enter the aviation world, and I barely got half an answer to that question.
 
Go fly, get current and proficient. Work towards your CFI. Job-wise, as you probably know, right now the market is terrible, but that will change. Realistically, except for instructing, you've got a long way to go to get the hours needed to be hireable, but, that's entirely do-able.
Do a search for all the "don't quit your day job" threads. Get that CFI rating, start building time outside your regular job (weekends, evenings, etc.), and, in a few years, when aviation hiring swings up again, you'll have the hours to make the leap.
If that's your passion, go for it! But, don't get in a hurry, with this economy, there's really no place to hurry to.
 
Go find a job flying job fighting fires and you will have the best of both worlds. Including the uncertainty.
 
The job market is really bad. I know out of work 15,000 hour pilots getting their CFI in the hopes of getting any flying job.

Look for a flying club in your area. Group insurance, cheaper rentals, group of pilots who may really need a CFI and keep one close by.......
 
...Flying is the best job in the world as long as you don't have to rely on it for a source of income.
 
Law school that's where!!!! Flying is great and only less than ten percent of the total population can do it. But the aviation industry from flight schools to airline and Corp. Jobs suxs!!!! The business of aviation is something to stay away from if you can!!!!!
 
thats easy....just go down to your local FBO and get checked and go flying....You'll need a bfr but that's no big deal.


If you want to do it for a living you need to get rid of all your debt, that includes selling your family and your house. Then find someone to support you for the next 25+ years.

And no, I aint kidding this isnt a joke.

Go find something else to do.

First reply nails it.
 

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