Apologies in advance for the long post, and throwaway of course.
I’m 35, currently seriously pondering a shift in careers. This would be from a high-paying job to (essentially) staring from scratch in aviation.
Why:
General unhappiness in my current field, lifelong passion for flying, if not now then when, the works.
In numbers:
I currently make 175k, plus around 30k of additional income from stocks and bonuses.
Wife makes around 65k.
We owe -
Mortgage - 3500mo Car - 750mo Loan - 600mo
The rest are living expenses, savings, 401k. But those are our hard costs.
We have:
Cash - 30k Equity - 140k Other savings - 45k Other assets (art, jewelry) - 20k
————
The shift:
Looking to fly professionally. Currently only need a few hours of training to become a commercial pilot, but then likely will need to get my instructor ratings to be able to start working quickly and build hours. If I work full time, it’s possible that I’ll be able to join an airline or corporate flight department within a year a half.
Investment:
5-8k to get my commercial certificates.
Instructor certification will need to happen quickly after that. Another 5k, depending on if I’m able to land a flying job without instructing.
So roughly 15k and about three-four months which I will do as I work full time.
Outlook:
I’ll need to accumulate 1500 hours before qualifying for a regional airline or corporate jet job (copilot). So I’ll need to work instructing or otherwise flying for hire in small planes.
As an instructor, I stand to make 38-40k a year.
Once I reach my first passenger job, looking at 55-60k. Then up from there.
It’ll likely take me 10+ years to get back to my current income level. But that’s beside the point.
Any others whom have followed a similar path? From high earning to low? How did you plan and manage?
Cheers.
Submitted January 27, 2019 at 10:40AM by fakeaccountnumerouno http://bit.ly/2RQ6PrI
