Wow. So last night, a friend of mine planted the idea in my head, that maybe it would be exciting to work toward getting a commercial pilots license and yeah, it probably would be. So I decided to hop on ye ol internet, and research what it takes and whats possible. After googling to no end, reading materials from flight schools and asking questions of pilots and aspiring pilots, Ive come to understand that becoming a commercial pilot is not at all a good idea. Its interesting, full of adventure and adds a great many intriguing facets to ones life experience, but its basically a quick ticket to impoverishment and complete employment unpredictability. Perhaps the most frustrating point of disappointment in my research came when I was reading from flight schools and comparing that information to what I got when I asked veteran pilots for their perspectives. Flight schools speak to no end about pilot shortages, the increased demand for pilots and give a skys the limit sort of impression. That was encouraging and exciting for me, but also seemed very obviously one sided in favour of a sales pitch to sell flight instruction. The story from pilots on wages for those who start out, immediately worked in direct opposition to this narrative. From professionals with years in the industry, (one living in a basement, with no retirement savings and over 30 years under his belt as a commercial pilot) I was told of possible career paths for someone my age. While they werent the best of the best, some paths were still very good but the big takeaway was that even with immense skill and aptitude for aviation, such paths were about the exact opposite of predictable. What is very predictable however is that a commercial pilot will begin their career living in poverty. With an effective cost of education being anywhere from 40,000-80,000 dollars, a brand new commercial pilot can perhaps expect to start out their career as a flight instructor, earning just $20,000 a year. With $80,000 of debt behind you, thats not a lot. The low starting wage isnt just deflating in respect to expectations of success however; more importantly, it belies the claims made by flight schools that pilots are in high demand. If pilots were truly in high demand, their wages would be far higher to start. Either flight schools are lying or...well...I cant think of an alternative that would explain this. After famously landing a passenger jet in the Hudson River, Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger, when testifying to congress said, I do not know a single professional airline pilot who wants his or her children to follow in their footsteps. His testimony was laced with stark facts about the airline industry in the United States and the troublesome reality that is faced by so many aspiring pilots. The competition is fierce, the skillset is advanced and the prospects seem to be limited. Unfortunately, for many, there is a sales pitch out there that obscures this reality and it would seem that the glamour of piloting is what so many people focus on. In just a single evening and during some follow ups in the morning, Ive come to communicate with pilots from many walks of life, many of whom stopped being pilots in favour of becoming accountants, engineers or even truckers. Here I was thinking about taking to the skies as someone stuck to the ground, only to end up talking to those who had ended up aspiring to taking to the highway. Its all been quite an eye opener.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 17:03:14 +0000