I’m excited to kick off my journey towards becoming a pilot, but like any new endeavor, it comes with its fair share of questions and concerns. As I consider aviation as a second career, three major factors have been on my mind: age, how long to match my current level of income and maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
I currently have a fairly comfortable life thanks to a decent (just about) 6 figure income, I work from home on “9 to 5” schedule, I’m able to be my kids’ baseball coach, never miss any of their birthdays or holidays. I understand than, like any other beginnings, it would require some sort of “grind” to start over. How realistic would it be to reach this or a similar level of comfort as a commercial pilot? As I do more research, is encouraging to find so many other people who have made the leap at a similar age than mine. How have you managed to juggle training, flying, and personal commitments? What strategies, advice, or insights can you offer to strike that balance and make it all work?
And then, there’s the financial aspect. Starting from 0 today, what is a realistic timeline of how long it would take to reach a similar salary point?
Looking forward to your thoughts and insights!
Edit: Just to clarify, no… I don’t expect to hit the ground running with all of those perks Simply trying to understand the timeline to reach that level on this path. Thanks
The pay “could” return to 6 figures in approx 4-5yrs. This is based on 2-2.5 yrs to complete your training and another 2yrs as a Regional FO. After that you could either upgrade or possibly get to a Major which would get you in that range.
The big issue is airline pilots by definition travel which means being away from home. You can count on being gone at least half the month and until you accrue some seniority, you will be missing ALOT of holidays, birthdays, ball games etc. How long that will be depends on you and your priorities. If your goal is to rise through the ranks and make the big money, that’ll mean your seniority will constantly being pushed back. You could stay at that Regional and have a great schedule but you’ll remain at the low 6 figures. Move to a Major and you’re back to being the new guy. Take that first upgrade or move to a bigger plane and again it’s back to the bottom. So with that in mind there’s really no way of saying when you’ll return to the income and quality of life you enjoy as much of it is in your hands.
Welcome to the forum. I am with Adam, I see the pay returning in 4-5 years.
The scheduling is going to be a much larger issue. I am going to say that, as an airline pilot, you will never have a 9-5 schedule, it would be extremely difficult to be a coach and you will miss the majority of holidays and birthdays for many years to come. With seniority, these things improve, but that takes many years. Take a look at our Schedules section, it will give you a great idea of how much pilots are on the road.
Simply trying to understand the timeline to reach that level on this path. Thanks