So, in a recent thread on the Michigan Jeepers (http://www.michiganjeepers.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=520158&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1&vc=1) board, there is a link to an IQ test. In addition to that, they have several different tests (personality, career, chokra [WTF?], and ink blot). They were running a special for full services at a discounted rate, so I took all the tests and got the results.

First, a little background. I currently work in an office for my dad's company. Good product, good job, but I'm terrible at it, and I hate it. I hate this town, and I miss CO like you wouldn't believe. The money is ok, but not nearly what everyone around me thinks it is. I've been trying to find a 'career' ever since I realized I'm not a good engineer.

Fast forward to yesterday. The tests indicated that I have exceptional spatial ability, numerical ability, and a few other skills. Most I knew about from previous personality tests, some were a little surprising. But, they also had an algorithm that compared results and spat out recommended careers. There were two that showed up repeatedly in the various tests. The first was architect, and the other was pilot/flight engineer. Both of these careers are fascinating to me! I love planes and buildings. The more exotic, the better in either case.

So, I'm looking to make a dramatic change. A couple of caveats though. Architecture would require another 4 year degree, a 4-day certification test, then, if you really want to design cool stuff, a master's degree. Fawk, I'm 31 with a wife and child to support. Not sure if I can handle that much more schooling on a subject that I may not be good at. It would be different if I was single and younger. That and I'd probably still end up in a cube farm. I hate office environments.

That leaves me with flying. But, I have no idea how to get started. What kind of salaries to rookie pilots get? How do you get training aside from military? What certifications do you have to get? I know I have the apptitudes for flight. I also have the desire. I just need to know if the potential is there, and where to start. Please help if you can!

What kind of a pilot do you want to be? If you want to be an airline pilot you've got a really long road ahead and you had better get into college.

If you want to fly freight, fire, crops, etc. there is a flight school in Oaklahoma that you can go to. You best bet would be to start off by getting you private license then you can go to school and begin getting your various certs and so on.

I'm an ex military Pilot. Helicopters to be exact, but I've a few friends that jumped to the starchwings in the civilian market. I don't want to scare you but....

Take a look at the cost of becoming a comercial instrument pilot, cause that's what you'll need to be able to get paid for flying. Minimum time to accomplish that ~200 hrs. If you're going to fly anything other than crop dusters, you'll need a multi-engine rating. cost starts to climb. you're probably looking at a little over 100,000 if it's all coming out of your pocket. That's why most pilots are ex-military. Gov't foots the bill to get you trained. That's the basics. Now lets look at the reality. Like everything else, the insurance companies rule the skys. Companies will generally not hire a pilot with less than 1000 hrs of flight time, because that's where the price drop begins. The more time you have, the cheaper the insurance on you is.

Commercial airline pilots go thru hell to get a regular schedule. You start out at a home base and on call. You must respond within a 15 minute time should one of the regular pilots call in. Your allowed to turn down 1 call a year. more than that, and they don't want you. You'll probably take a 1 way flight and stay in a hotel until they call you on another flight. Eventually you'll make your way home. It's not easy, oh, and by the way the pay for these junior pilots is usually under 20k for about the first 5 yrs.

This info is based upon my knowledge after I got out about 8 yrs ago, but I don't think it's changed too much.

i work at a corprate airport outside chicago and have talked/flown with many professional pilots. The industry sucks right now, and is starting to turn up a bit. Evreyone tells me to avoid the airlines at all costs, because they treat you like crap, the pay sucks, and the days of the 300k+ salarys a year are on their way out, to companies flying smaller jets and paying less. Get your private licnese and go from there, another key thing in the aviation industry is that its small, its not what you know, its who you know. Try getting a job at an airport and make as MANY contacts as you possibly can, you never know when you will need them, and ive seen many guys get jobs that way, and i got my job that way (even tho im a ramp rat). IT is a cool industry though, and it beats having a real job, just remeber there is more to aviation than the airlines, and dont expect to make large sums of money doing it.

Good luck
Geoff

His son looked up at him proudly and said "Dad, when I grow up I wanna be a pilot."

"Son" he said patiently, "Yer gonna have to make up yer fawking mind.":flipoff2:

Aint nuthing like making your living by spending all day with air under yer a$$ - Go for it!

Rob

Hey, I fly for the largest airline. Took a huge pay cut:flipoff2: Have not encouraged my kids to fly . The future is smaller jets, long hours & low pay. Go for architecture and be both creative & your own boss. Looking forward to retirement.:D Good luck to you.

I am a private pilot and will soon have a degree in Professional Aeronautics. I have learned a little bit working on aircraft for the last decade as well. If you want to fly, go for it. The most cost effective way to get your commercial multi engine rating is to go to a flight training school, Spartan School of Aeronautics is one, but there are a lot of them out there. It will cost between $35-50K to get your comm. multi engine rating. The problem is you can't fly many commercial passenger carrying aircraft without your Air Transport Pilot certificate. Getting your ATP is a big pain in the a$$ and will cost a lot more. If you go fly commuters the starting pay is truly crap, under $40K/year is almost assured to start. Once you get into reasonably sized jets like 757s you will make some decent cheese. There are some fast track ways to get a nice job though, a buddies brother flies corporate jets and started out there immediately after college. He got a four year degree in conjunction with his comm. multi engine rating and they really helped place him with a good company. He makes low 6 figures and has been with the company less than 10 years. It's pretty hard to compete with the ex-military pilots though, they usually get out with at least 2500 hours and are very marketable. The bonus the USAF is paying pilots to keep them in is $25K/year plus their $850/mo flight pay and 60K salary. They do fine considering some of them can barely wipe their own @ss. I am getting my degree from Embry Riddle Aero. University but their normal tuition costs plus flight training is really ridiculously expensive, I can't really recommend them. If you want a job you are passionate about though flying may be right for you, you can work your way up flying some cool, but low paying, jobs like skydiving, power line aerial surveying, and stuff like that. It will pay the bills while you build some hours and make yourself more marketable.

If you have about $100k laying around for flying time, another $200k to support yourself while getting the training/working shit jobs, go for it!!

Something nobody mentioned yet. Your job hinges on passing an FAA Class flight physical every year. The days of if you can see lightning and hear thunder to pass are over. They are pretty though now. Unless you can find a doc to lie for you.

Not to scare you, but most of the online "tests" are created to get you to sign up for something. Especially the IQ tests and any tests you take that is about careers.

I have been a helicopter pilot for 10 years. It is hard on the family but fun work. A lot of time away from home. You really have to
love the work or you will end up hating it. If you got questions about the industry email me.

Originally posted by skycranedriver
I have been a helicopter pilot for 10 years. It is hard on the family but fun work. A lot of time away from home. You really have to
love the work or you will end up hating it. If you got questions about the industry email me.

you fly skycranes? my gawd i would love a ride in one of those:eek: .

Dude...
I used to work at American Airlines as ground crew...
We had both AAEagle and AA crews come in...
Some of the AAEagle pilots and FO's were on WELFARE because they were not making enough money to support their families! And AA wont hire you to fly the silver ships unless you have a SHITLOAD of hours on your record... basically, unless you are ex-military and have flown the larger transport c-5a c-141 type boats and have like 25,000+ hours, then you are not going to get a job at a major airline... AA, Delta, United, etc... you may be able to score dash time with one of the regional lines, like AAEagle, UnitedExpress, etc.... but like I said.. once you get hired you MIGHT be making $16-$20,000 a year as a FO.. and you'll spend at least two years there before you get checked out as Pilot on that particular aircraft... so by the time you get up to the ranks and seniority that you are flying the RJ's (60-70 seat, twin engine Jets) you will have been with them for a decade or so... and MAYBE making $45-$50,000 a year.

Granted, Yes, there are 767 pilots out there making $175,000 a year, but they were vets of Vietnam and/or Korea and have worked for the major carriers since that era.... and are pushing retirement age REALLY fast... BUT, the way the unions have negotiated everything over the last 15 years, all of the new hires are not getting the pay increases that the old timers are... So you may be lucky to top out as a 767 or 777 pilot in 20 years at like $120,000 ...... if you are lucky and can put up with that kind of a shithole life. Just imagine being away from your family for a week and a half at a time and only being home for 2 days.

On the bright side.... the travel bene's are GREAT... dirt cheap hotels, flights, car rentals, etc etc...
Hopping a clight to Cancun for the night? Sure.. no sweat... Especially if you can fly jumpseat because you are flight deck qualified... and ... FDQ's can ride jumpseat on other airlines as well... which means that on the full flights when you are flying Non-Rev that you will get on even if people ahead of you on the seniority list/NR list cannot because there are no regular seats left. Only problem is, you will be going alone because your family cannot get on.. even if they are D1 or D2 classified.. But oh well...
Leave the wife and kids at home and go find yourself a whore in Cancun... There are always a lot of beach buunnies that want to saddle up with pilots because the mystique and honor of the profession is still there.,... no matte how shallow that mystique really is....

OH.... and before you think about it.....
being a railroad engineer sucks just as much.

go into airport management thats where the money is!!

Also the civil aviation world is switching away from military pilots, 2500 hrs over 10 years is SHIT, not to mention half of that is centerline thrust (at least the fighter jockeys) and is totally useless to the airlines. The airlines are starting to hire mostly civil pilots now, but the industry is shit anyway, and i now a bunch of people jumping ship now.