I’m a big fan of being a part of the pilot community online, whether it’s reading blogs, forums, following pilots on Instagram and Facebook, or par-taking in groups on Facebook. It’s a lot of exposure to aviation on a daily basis. Recently, it’s been working against me in a way. I see many pilots getting to fly often, gain new ratings, or just have adventures. I want the same for my flying, but it’s not in my best interest financially and career-wise right now, and that’s a hard thing to cope with when seeing these things all day every day on social media.
In a moment of passion, I’d most likely drop everything, take out a loan and fly until I have all the ratings I want (which will probably never end). But what good does that do to my future? Pretty much nothing, it hurts me in the end. I could do that, get myself in debt, have fun for a year, and then be struggling the rest of my life to repay my debt and barely fly.
It’s been said in my blog before, and for someone who is pretty impatient, it is in my best interest to remind myself again: life is a marathon. You can’t sprint the entire way, but have to conserve your energy to make a fantastic finish. Flying is also a marathon. Jake imparted some knowledge on my recently when I said how much I’d love to earn more ratings at this moment in time. He told me the first 300 hours of flying are the most fun, why rush them? You won’t get to experience that type of learning and experimentation again after those hours. They’re not something to waste and hurry. He wish he could do it again and take more time. Find the perfect airplane to get his complex in, instead of settling for the Piper Arrow his school had. Maybe go the route a friend went and found an airplane that got him his complex, tailwheel, and high performance endorsements all at once. He doesn’t remember what airplane his friend found, but I want to know because that sounds like an awesome airplane!
I know for many of us, especially me, it’s a struggle to wait for what you want. I have to keep telling myself: doing it right will make it more enjoyable than doing it in a hurry. While I intend t
o make aviation my career, I do not want to be a pilot for a career. Even as a career, most pilots I know, say it isn’t worth getting into debt for it. That’s probably the best advice for aspiring pilots: don’t get into debt for flying. Jake routinely flies with captains who are still at a regional airline in their 40s and have lots of flying debt. It’s an unstable and unpredictable career. You can say you’ll be different, but you don’t know how the industry will change in a heartbeat. I’ve seen it first hand with Jake’s career, and he has absolutely no power over it. Well, the only power he has is to be responsible and be ready financially for anything. He’s now instilling that within me.
Every one has hurdles in their training, most commonly a learning plateau or money issues. It’s through hard work and patience we can overcome those hurdles. It’s hard not to get discouraged like I have been recently, but looking to the future and focusing on what you can do in the present helps.
I do feel stuck on the saving up money part since I’m currently waiting to see if I’ll be moving across the country, but I can focus on reading the instrument books I have. Even though it now seems like it’ll be awhile before I can formally start training, I can always save that knowledge and be prepared for it. It will also help me as a dispatcher, so win-win.
It may be the littlest things that can satisfy you until the future, but you can always find something.
I’m getting close the the done-run-out-of-money stage, and to get my commercial licence I’ll pretty much for sure be going into debt. My husband is disabled and unable to work, so our finances are pretty tight, and there’s little chance of us saving much money, and if I waited for the money to come, it would just never happen. I did my private licence with the money from our insurance settlement, and there isn’t going to be another one of those. But my plan is to make it my career, so there’s a hell of a lot more justification in going into debt to fly. C-FLUG has made it a lot easier though.
I bet C-FLUG has helped and it’s such a great resource for training! I also believe the airline industry in different in Canada and pilots aren’t so poorly paid as there are in the US.
Once we move and settle in a bit, Jake and I have plans to getting our glider ratings together (he’ll most likely get his faster than mine and then teach me) because it is a cheaper alternative to build up a lot of the 250 hours required for commercial here, and something fun we can do together.
The plane was probably a Cessna 180
That’s what I was thinking as well when I was researching this, but I wasn’t sure if there was another magical tailwheel out there with it all.
Another terrific post, Caitlin! I’ve again shared it in our Pep Talk Facebook group. Where “across the country” might you move?
I appreciate that Greg! I know it’s hard to hear this advice sometimes, I know I struggled with it a lot and got defensive and emotional thinking I knew better. I think those hazardous attitudes can also be applied to planning flight training as well. I’m waiting to hear from a place in Cincinnati right now. We originally planned for further and that still may happen, it just depends on what I hear in a couple of days, but I’ve applied to at least 20 companies.
That aversion to debt will serve you well through life, Caitlin. You’ll never regret it. Occasionally of course debt is necessary, but more often it’s not. And avoiding it when possible frees up money for the future. I admire your attitude loads!
Caitlin,
It is also cheaper to build hours by flying with another pilot. After I got my private, i flew cross country flights with a host of different pilots. Not only did it help build my confidence, but also kept cost down since I could split costs. And we also did a lot of hood work, so the other pilot could log PIC time while serving as safety pilot. This ultimately is useful since simulated instrument time is needed for the instrument rating and helps improve flying with instruments.
Good luck on the job front as well..
Lakshmi
I’m the guy who took 12 years to get that PPL ticket. One thing I learnt is that its definitely a marathon. My marathon took me through four countries (Ireland, Scotland, England and the US). Had some dark days in the journey where I didn’t fly from year to year. Nothing is forever and you don’t know whats around the corner.
Enjoy the memories you have today and dream about the memories you want in the future.
Great post – as always. I have to constantly slap myself on the hand when I look at how much we’re ahead on our home loan, and how much flying that could get me. You’re so right; it’s a lifelong passion, not a one night stand. So bigger priorities and patience must prevail. Flying will still be there when I’m ready. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Caitlin! Have you heard of ShareAviation.com? It is a fairly new social media site for aviators! I think you’d love it! If you do, find me: Ashley8A6.
“Life is a marathon. You can’t sprint the entire way, but have to conserve your energy to make a fantastic finish.” I LOVE this. Mind if I quote you on it? I find myself trying to “sprint” all the time, as I am so impatient when I set a goal. Thank you so much for this post! I have been discouraged recently and really needed some perspective.
Sorry for my slow reply (it’s been a bit crazy with my big move). Of course you can quote me! I’m glad this post helped. I’m very similar to you and want to “sprint” as well. It’s hard to sometimes take a breath and focus on the bigger biggest sometimes.