Hello, what if after years of flying you fail the medical exam? Or God forbid something health related happens that prevents you from flying at your current job, can you fly anything else? What other job would you be able to do?
Jose,
If you lose your medical you won’t be flying, it’s that simple. You could look into a mgmt position but there are no guarantees of course.
This is one of the reasons we don’t recommend aviation degrees. It’s important to have a Plan B.
Adam
Jose,
This is one of the reasons that most airline pilots have rather good Long Term Disability Insurance available to them. I have done a few stints on LTD myself and while that pay is not great, it is certainly livable.
Chris
Thank you for the response and information. strong text
Jose,
This is why we stress the importance of backup plans! If I were furloughed I could explore going back to part 135 flying the CJ3 since I have that type or even using my CFI to instruct. If I lost my medical altogether, I’d use my degree and go back to news producing or writing.
The point of all this, it’s not just about getting to the airlines and thinking you made it. Build a good foundation on your way there in case you ever need to fall back on it.
Hannah
Jose,
Many threads we are asked, “do I really need a college degree to be an airline pilot” and the simple answer is “no, but what is your backup plan if something in aviation falls through?” Similar to Hannah, if something in aviation fell for me, I’d probably jump right back into the financing world, or management position in an airport environment (if possible).
Brady
Thanks , yes at this time I have thankfully 2 backups. Appreciate everyone’s response and not that I wasted money or too much time, I happen to have a college degree, mainly was thinking of the backup back then. Thanks again for the info and insight.