My name is Greg and i have a question for anyone who can answer it for me. I have always loved to fly, when i was a kid i wanted to fly the big commercial airlines when i grew up, unfortunately this never happen and recently i have been wondering about what a career in flying would be like and if its even possible for me. I have looked into the flight school ATP and from what i can see there schedule is like having a full time job. currently i am 31 years old, married and have 1 son that is 3 years old. i am the main provider for my family and work around 50 hours a week right now.
My question is, with having a family and being the sole provider for them, is it realistic to try and accomplish my childhood dream of flying or is it something thats going to be a pretty difficult task at hand while keeping my steady job at the 50 hours a week? i appreciate any feedback from anyone who could give me a great insight on this.
Welcome to the forum and thanks for the question. You are correct in that attending ATP is similar to a full time job. One of the ways that ATP is able to train people so quickly is by immersing them in the flying environment, this means that you are available to fly, work in the simulator, attend ground school, etc seven days a week. It would not be feasible to maintain any sort of job during this period.
However, there are other flight schools that can accommodate your type of schedule. Most small airports have a mom and pop type of school that is able to work around student’s schedules. I will warn you though that this approach will take considerably longer and could end up costing you more money in the long run as you will not fly as often and thus need to spend a significant portion of each training day relearning what you had been working on the time prior. I completed my private pilot license in this manner and it took forever.
Your dream is feasible, but it will be tough while working such a full schedule and will take some time. If there is any way possible for you to be able to take six months off of work to complete the program I would really recommend going with that approach.