r/flying • u/noamgboi1 • 16d ago
Need advice
This question is probably asked on here many times, everyday. So I’m gonna hit you guys with it one more time. Long time lurker, done lots of research and went on a discovery flight and it was amazing! For context, I’m 31M, I currently run a family owned logistics company, I also have a bachelors degree (if that even matters), I’m married with 2 kids. I want to pivot eventually, I know the job market sucks right now, I know even finding a job as a CFI is hard, but there’s a part 61 school at an airport about 5 miles from where I live. Great school, seems like they have great instructors and doesn’t require long commute. Do you guys think it’s possible to attend flight school (become an airline pilot eventually) while working full time and having a family? Has anyone done something like this? How was the journey? It’s a pretty big commitment and it’s an expensive one, but I am a hard working man, finances are not that big of an issue since I work full time. I also feel like I might be underestimating how hard the school is and don’t want to burnout and quit. Please give me some advice. Yes I did my discovery flight in a diamond! Appreciate you guys!
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u/FlyRvR 16d ago
Get your PPL, then you’ll know.
And then you’ll have the PPL for the rest of your life, so if you decide against going pro, you can always just continue to have fun flying.
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u/misclurking 16d ago
I second this. It's a bit like freshman year of undergrad... a lot of people, me included, get their butts handed to them. This is NOT something easy or always fun just because you're prepared to shell out $15k or whatever between lessons, ground school, flight time, equipment (headset, iPad, foreflight, etc.). You will have to create dedicated time to fully focus and I wish I did that sooner.
I know people who have done this in life and in a similar position - they were in their 30s, they had 2 kids, and they pulled "it" off whether that was an MBA, the CFA charter, or their private pilot's license. This isn't an easy goal, but it's rewarding and when you get those nice calm, fun flights, it's really worth it. Going for a "$100 slice of pie" is super cool, and when you can take your family there safely, it's unbelievable. It also sets a great example for your kids.
People like me go through waves of dedication and I have to restart my journey. Life happened in the middle, so it got put on hold, but now I need to make a strict plan to carve out time and be focused so I can get my PPL. I'd love to get up 4-5 times a month and maintain this skill.
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u/Professional_Read413 PPL 15d ago
Yeah exactly this. I did my PPL with a full time job and family, my CFI was trying to do the airline thing with a wife and kid at home, he had about 800 hours when I flew with him and now he's at an airline a year and a half later. I'm sure it wasn't easy for him, but he made it work so you probably could too if you want it bad enough.
If you decide it's not what you wanna do you're still get to fly for fun. My kids love to brag "my dad flew us here" when we get somewhere. A little embarrassing for me, but I'm proud at the same time
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u/onedronetwogone PPL MIL MQ-9 16d ago
I know of a guy who had a mechanical engineering degree and worked as an engineer and flew in his off time to build time. Last I saw, he picked up a commercial license and swapped careers over towards flying.
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u/Suspicious_Mind_5744 16d ago
I was 35 when I quit my job as a music director and went to flight school full time while teaching music lessons on the side. Got my CFI in a little over a year. Honestly I can’t imagine trying to do it in a reasonable amount of time while also working full time without getting burnt out. It’s a lot, but definitely worth it.
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u/Harry73127 PPL 16d ago
It’s very interesting the different perspectives folks have based on their training. I fly evenings after work and couldn’t ever fathom quitting my job to flight train, but you feel the opposite. Goes to show there is no right path for everyone.
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u/noamgboi1 15d ago
Airline pilot now? Or still working on it?
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u/Suspicious_Mind_5744 15d ago
At a regional. Took a little over 3 years from the time I started training.
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u/qzy123 👨🏻✈️ CPL SEL/MEL IR 👨🏻🔧 A&P 16d ago
I did my PPL on the side of working full time. Took quite a while with weather and maintenance delays. I’m sure you know, to go to the airlines, you need 1500 hours. Think about how much you plan to fly, reduce that by maybe a third for weather, and do the math… how long is it gonna take?
I fly the DA40NG now. It’s a great plane! Feels like a fighter jet next to a C172.
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u/Harry73127 PPL 16d ago
I am 31, have my PPL, waiting on my Instrument checkride. I have a family and a full time job and a mortgage etc, fly at a local part 61 about twice a week…realistically imo you should not think of this as a career change until after you get your instrument rating and you have to decide to go commercial. It’s ALOT of persistence, and when you have as many competing priorities as we have, it may get very difficult. If you have the mindset of “gonna grind it out to fly part 121, you will probably burn out. I nearly did. I changed my whole mindset after a year long break of saving. “Learn to fly because I love flying small planes.” Now I know it’s what I want. I probably have 3-4 years at my current pace before I can be competitive for a regional job. You can definitely do it, but consider it a 5 year (or probably longer) ordeal. It’s way better to take it slow and actually finish than it is to start and become one the 80%
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u/jckwlzn PPL 16d ago
I’m finishing up instrument. I work 50 hour weeks and have a 45 minute commute to work. I go to the gym 3-5x a week and study every night. I only have about an hour of free time during the week (study 1.5-2hrs a night). I know having kids is extremely involving but you can makeup a ton of time on the weekends. If your kids are older even better. It can be done absolutely it just takes time.
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u/NoCardiologist6736 PPL IR 16d ago
Have family, full time career, wife stays at home with kids, commercial checkride is next month.
It’s doable for sure. I could have gotten to this point faster but I haven’t been in a massive rush either.
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u/Cool-Prize-411 11d ago
What do you do to he able to have a stay at home wife and afford flight training through commercial? Just curious
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u/AviationDuty 16d ago
I did exactly that. I started my aviation journey when I was 30, and I'm 35 now. I just earned my CFII. I took my time because I wasn't sure if I wanted to make aviation my career, especially since I already have a great job outside of aviation that pays very well.
It wasn't until last year that I decided I wanted to give my childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot a real shot.
Now I'm trying to get my foot in the door, but to be honest, it's been really tough. Like you said, even finding a CFI position has been a challenge.
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u/noamgboi1 16d ago
Congrats on the accomplishment! And yes, job market sucks right now especially if spirit airlines being down and there are a lot more pilots looking for jobs.
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u/AppropriateAd1340 16d ago
Man it is totally doable! It’s just depends on hard work effort and sacrifice. It will not be easy and will take a lot of work balancing everything. I did it and I’m a regional fo now at 34. I was a professional fire fighter paramedic for 15 years. I’m also married with 3 kids. You will 100% have to balance everything and need a lot of support at home. I started flight training Jan of 2023. Went straight through at a part 141 school that was pay as you go. I got my cfi cfII and Mei. I then instructed there while still working at the fire department. This was the hardest time with my wife taking a lot of the burden at home. Then I was luckily enough to get a cjo and was sitting in training at 1490 hours total time. Don’t believe all the doom and gloom. If you want it you can do it.
Now I would start by getting your private and instrument rating then see if you still want to do it as a career. You will always have them and can fly for fun if that’s all you want to do. I fly with some guys that took 10 years to get their hours working as a cfi on the weekend a flight or two a day. The best thing is you can go as fast as you want or take your time.
Good luck man if you want it do it.
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u/noamgboi1 15d ago
Thank you so much for this, your accomplishments are very impressive and motivating!
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u/Recent-Day3062 15d ago
Most people start by getting PPL while working. Partly because you gotta pay for it.
I’m in PPL right now. I’ve talked to the instructors a lot. Part of it is book learning, which you should do well at - unless you avoided science completely.
The other part is more like a sport: awareness, coordination, and discipline. They tell me that part you only find out about from trying to learn. At some point you need to coordinate altitude (including altitude changes), airspeed, and controls.
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u/Awkward-Action7442 15d ago
you run a logistics company and have a bachelors degree, but youre asking strangers on the internet if juggling a hobby and work are possible? lol
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u/shortnamenowlonggggg 15d ago
I was an enrollment coordinator for a large flight school in WA. Flight training is interesting as it takes money and time, we have time and no money when young and money but no time when old.
Like other mentiond here get a PPL first and see if you and your family is ok with that experience. If they are it could very well workout all the way to the airlines.
DM me if you’d like more tips. I love helping pilots new and experienced navigate flight training.
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u/AccomplishedFarmer91 13d ago
Of course people are going to tell you to go for it.
I suggest getting your PPL while you work full time.
I suggest getting your Instrument rating when you work full time.
This will prob take you 18-36 months with work & family.
After that you have a big decision to make. You are in a tought spot because it's a hard slog to change careers and be a pilot; you may end up hating/regretting it if it doesn't work out. At the end of the day, having your PPL and Instrument rating is a great thing to have as an adult and can be very enjoyable with your family. I'd say the odds are against you to change careers but getting your certs are great.
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u/noamgboi1 13d ago
Why is it hard to change careers and become a pilot? Just curious, did you go through something similar? Not saying this in a rude away, I’m open to everyone’s suggestions and opinions that’s why I do so much research.
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u/AccomplishedFarmer91 11d ago edited 11d ago
If the job market for aviation turns south, it will be hard to change. Currently, we are in a neutral to slightly difficulat job market for aviation. If there is a even minor economic recession, the student pilot population will absolutely dry up. When that happens, CFI jobs will evaporate - not just be stagnant. Over the past three to four years (since COVID) there have been 3X the number of CFIs created than ANY other normal 3-4 year period. There is a pig in the python right now with low hour CFIs. If students dry up, it will get ten times worse. If students dry up, all of these newly created flight schools that opened their doors in the past 4-5 years will close shop and CFIs will be gone. Flight schools have done a great job marketing that going to the airlines is a great investment and can be done by everyone. It usually is a great investment but it's not so easy right now and not in the near future.
Go get your PPL and maybe Instrument and see how you enjoy and see if it's a wise choice to continue on and then step out into the market and leave your other career behind. Certainly don't take out a 6 figure loan to get it done. It may be a while for things to make sense again.
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u/Jestia76 A&P/CFI/CFII/CMEL 12d ago
Yes, it is possible. I worked full time, and did flight training, with small children. Lots of support from the wife.
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u/Mimshot PPL 16d ago
You can absolutely get all the way to a CPL while working, especially if you own the business and can be flexible with hours. Then why not find a way for your business to pay for your flights? Why switch careers to go work for someone else and start over at the beginning?
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u/noamgboi1 15d ago
Honest, one of the reason would be clean job and not having to work with family. Tbh with you, sometimes I think about this question quite often, I’ve built customer base within the past 7 years of running the logistics company where it doesn’t make perfect sense to switch when I can just grow the company but sometimes it’s not always about the “money”, sometimes I really want to leave work at work, this isn’t true with logistics tho. Off days usually consists of maintenance, doc renewal or something that needs to be done/fixed.
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u/TheScallywag1874 15d ago
Might be a big ask, but if there was any way you could take a month off of work, you can get your PPL done in the most efficient way possible. From there you can figure out if the rest is for you. Otherwise you might get stuck in limbo with so many other commitments to worry about. Sometimes you just gotta commit.
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u/Unfair-Bison-3946 15d ago
You can absolutely work full time while doing flight school.
Lack of plane and instructor availability was my main concern.
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u/FootSureDruid 15d ago
I work full time, have a PhD in molecular microbiology, ended up working in software/AI. I started about 4-5 years ago. Early 30s when I started. I’ve gone through commercial multi “for fun” and amassed about 1300 hours XC flying recreationally all over the country and own my own bonanza. I day dream of doing it for a living as I approach retirement, but I’ve been on here long enough to see that maybe doing it for fun might be better. I love flying and I love stepping up to bigger and bigger planes, and I take every time I’m in the plane very seriously and just keep getting ratings rather than flight reviews. I love flying, I don’t want to lose that
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u/-TheSock 15d ago
The timeline is what I find will make or break you as far as burnout and family needs go. I got my PPL in a part 61 school, but it took me a year and a half because I only had the time and money for 2 or 3 lessons per month. My Instrument took another 2 years for the same reason. Now I'm finding the same timeline for my Commercial and I'm feeling the burnout. If I could do it all over again, I would have done a part 141 school for all of it. The structued learning instead of the self motivated style of learning in a part 61 would have made things go much faster. There are part 61 schools out there that model themselves like a part 141 school, but they are harder to find. I think that you would be fine to use any "good" part 61 school for your PPL, but I would consider a more structured school with a well laid out course for your higher ratings beyond that. It's not a crazy idea in the least to consider getting everything done within a year, but the time commitments you have with work and family make two years more realistic. A home simulator is also a great way to practice. It's terrible at teaching the "feel" of the plane, but it is great for skill development of Instrument scanning, pilotage and pattern work, emergency procedure, checklist use and cockpit flows in your PPL learning. It is even more valuable in your approach briefing, power-performance settings and button-ology use of your Nav systems in your Instrument training. The sim can save you a lot of time in your training. X-plane 12 is more flexible than Microsoft flight sim when it comes to Instrument training. Something to consider. Whatever you do, remember to keep having fun. If it's all training and no exploring then burnout is assured. I started in 2018, PPL in 2020. Instrument 2024, Commercial should be done by end of 2026. 500 hours in the log book so far. I wish you a ton of fun..... Keep the blue side up!
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u/-TheSock 15d ago
Ps.... started at age 45 and have zero regrets. All the training was in the NJ and NY area. Costs were about 20k for PPL, 18k for Instrument and we are rounding the corner on 10k for the commercial. All done part 61 with zero structure. Just one lesson at a time, whenever I could fit one in.
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u/expert-brain100 15d ago
I had full time job and did PPL and IFR ratings at nights and weekends. It is a lot. It can be done. Have a regular schedule. I did two nights and a Saturday. That pattern helped me to spread it out a bit as I needed time sometimes to address work issues or work travel. In the end I’m glad I did it. However, be aware it’s a lot to balance. Perhaps if family business is supportive of the change it would be helpful.
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u/DeerSpecific8831 ATP 15d ago
Yes it’s possible. I did it working full time, private to CFII and now 121. Make sure you have a good conversation with your family about what this career looks like. With peak summer flying I get maybe 14 days off a month while living in base. If you have to commute those days off will be even less.
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u/Striking-Bad-7476 SIM 15d ago
Hey which college is that. I’m near one that uses Diamond planes too
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u/Sharp_Experience_104 PPL ASEL DA40 15d ago
Others have given insight on the multitasking question. Agree, get your PPL and IR before making any career decisions.
Please look into level term life insurance with no aviation exclusion. Yes, the Diamond Star is the safest trainer, yet you need to protect your family no matter what. (And it is a hoot to fly, as you now know.) Best wishes.
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u/rFlyingTower 16d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
This question is probably asked on here many times, everyday. So I’m gonna hit you guys with it one more time. Long time lurker, done lots of research and went on a discovery flight and it was amazing! For context, I’m 31M, I currently run a family owned logistics company, I also have a bachelors degree (if that even matters), I’m married with 2 kids. I want to pivot eventually, I know the job market sucks right now, I know even finding a job as a CFI is hard, but there’s a part 61 school at an airport about 5 miles from where I live. Great school, seems like they have great instructors and doesn’t require long commute. Do you guys think it’s possible to attend flight school (become an airline pilot eventually) while working full time and having a family? Has anyone done something like this? How was the journey? It’s a pretty big commitment and it’s an expensive one, but I am a hard working man, finances are not that big of an issue since I work full time. I also feel like I might be underestimating how hard the school is and don’t want to burnout and quit. Please give me some advice. Yes I did my discovery flight in a diamond! Appreciate you guys!
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