I'm a first generation of pilot in my whole family history. When I was very young, my mom told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. As a naïve little kid, my response was "I want to be a bird!" I guess I found the next best thing. I moved from NY to NC when I was 13. After saving up enough money mowing lawns, I had enough to take my first few flight lessons when I was 14 years old. By the time I was 15, I was working close to 30+ hours a week while in high school to follow my dream of being a pilot. My parents were VERY supportive, but were not of the means to pay for my lessons although helped ANY time they could! As long as my grades stayed A's and B's, my parents allowed me to work as much as I could in order to pay for lessons. And I did just that. About every two weeks, I'd have just enough to take one hour or so lesson to keep my interest up. At 16, I soloed! within a year or so, I became a private!
The dream continued with me going to a four year private university in North Florida as well as a conjoined flight school. Even with a pretty nice academic scholarship, a few small grants, being an RA by my second semester of freshman year and throughout the next couple years (which paid all my room and board), managing an on campus fitness center (paid a few grand towards tuition), being in student gov't (another grand or so), and working on the weekends as a bouncer, I STILL did not have enough money to continue my schooling as I'd ran out of financial aid (the plight of the lower middle class: too "rich" to get grants, too poor to pay outta pocket). So I dropped to extremely part-time status and got a full time job at UPS (which I got promoted to supervisor in an extremely short amount of time) as well as bouncing, serving, and other odd jobs to pay what little tuition I could to take a class and/or associated flight course here and there. Unfortunately, tuition and flight costs kept rising and that just wasn't enough. So I dropped out completely, started my own construction business with my brother (we installed garage doors) and successfully made enough money on the books to woo banks into private student loans to finish my degree. almost TEN YEARS LATER, I had worked hard enough to graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation management and Flight Operations, as well as achieving my Commercial ASEL, CFI, CFII.
Unfortunately, it was just in time for the airlines to be in shambles and a complete lack of worthwhile jobs to now pay the MASSIVE amount of student loan debt I had (especially the raping I took from the private loans [which should flat out be illegal]). So I stayed in business just to be able to pay off the bills and did almost no flying other than recreation for a couple years. Thanks the economy taking a dump, especially in the housing market, my business actually fell apart. Well hell!
It worked out ok however as it was just the jumpstart I needed to dive head first back into the passion I had since I was a child. So ramen noodles, mac and cheese, water and flight instructing it was as I barely found a job in the Chicago area thanks to a friend! It turned out to be a great choice as in just a little over one year, I had built up a reputation as a successful and passionate instructor with a great pass rate for my students. Then I started building up a HUGE clientele of doctors and lawyers with planes to fast for their abilities, and flight reviews, aerial photography, tour rides around the city and ferrying planes around the country, etc. Pretty much anything that would get me flying, seven days a week, early morning to late night. I built up well over another 1000 hours of instructing and various other flight time working like a dog in just one year's time. I even squeezed in my add on Commercial AMEL into there and got a decent time built in that ever important multi.
Here's where luck and fate played in. A tip from a friend told me a certain airship company was looking for a pilot. I figured, what the hell, I'll give it a shot not thinking I'd even stand a chance. Next thing I know, I get a call back. It turns out that all the things that slowed me down in life lent itself to the particular experience they were looking for. I had the flight time, but more importantly I had the managerial experience they were looking for (as pilots in this company were also managers of a large support crew that works on the blimp) and I also had the public relations experience that was necessary for a job in the media limelight (mainly my networking to be in business at a young age taught me how to work with public). About 8 or 9 interviews later and months down the line, I got hired to my current job as a blimp pilot.
I could not be luckier and more happy with where this journey of becoming an aviator has taken me. Moral of this long bio... If you want it bad enough, DO NOT GIVE UP no matter what sacrifices it takes. I know not everyone gets the lucky break in this very fickle industry and I hate to hear how especially poor the regional level airliners are treated. So I would not recommend anyone to think this is a job of glamour without realizing the insane amount of sacrifice and years that go into making any sort of living in this job, not to mention an insane amount of student loan debt that'll take until you're well into your 40's to pay off (unless mommy and daddy are rich). But if it's a true passion to want to do what most only dream of doing and are willing to take precious years of sacrifice, you can and will succeed. Reach for the skies! And learn to love ramen noodles!
The dream continued with me going to a four year private university in North Florida as well as a conjoined flight school. Even with a pretty nice academic scholarship, a few small grants, being an RA by my second semester of freshman year and throughout the next couple years (which paid all my room and board), managing an on campus fitness center (paid a few grand towards tuition), being in student gov't (another grand or so), and working on the weekends as a bouncer, I STILL did not have enough money to continue my schooling as I'd ran out of financial aid (the plight of the lower middle class: too "rich" to get grants, too poor to pay outta pocket). So I dropped to extremely part-time status and got a full time job at UPS (which I got promoted to supervisor in an extremely short amount of time) as well as bouncing, serving, and other odd jobs to pay what little tuition I could to take a class and/or associated flight course here and there. Unfortunately, tuition and flight costs kept rising and that just wasn't enough. So I dropped out completely, started my own construction business with my brother (we installed garage doors) and successfully made enough money on the books to woo banks into private student loans to finish my degree. almost TEN YEARS LATER, I had worked hard enough to graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation management and Flight Operations, as well as achieving my Commercial ASEL, CFI, CFII.
Unfortunately, it was just in time for the airlines to be in shambles and a complete lack of worthwhile jobs to now pay the MASSIVE amount of student loan debt I had (especially the raping I took from the private loans [which should flat out be illegal]). So I stayed in business just to be able to pay off the bills and did almost no flying other than recreation for a couple years. Thanks the economy taking a dump, especially in the housing market, my business actually fell apart. Well hell!
It worked out ok however as it was just the jumpstart I needed to dive head first back into the passion I had since I was a child. So ramen noodles, mac and cheese, water and flight instructing it was as I barely found a job in the Chicago area thanks to a friend! It turned out to be a great choice as in just a little over one year, I had built up a reputation as a successful and passionate instructor with a great pass rate for my students. Then I started building up a HUGE clientele of doctors and lawyers with planes to fast for their abilities, and flight reviews, aerial photography, tour rides around the city and ferrying planes around the country, etc. Pretty much anything that would get me flying, seven days a week, early morning to late night. I built up well over another 1000 hours of instructing and various other flight time working like a dog in just one year's time. I even squeezed in my add on Commercial AMEL into there and got a decent time built in that ever important multi.
Here's where luck and fate played in. A tip from a friend told me a certain airship company was looking for a pilot. I figured, what the hell, I'll give it a shot not thinking I'd even stand a chance. Next thing I know, I get a call back. It turns out that all the things that slowed me down in life lent itself to the particular experience they were looking for. I had the flight time, but more importantly I had the managerial experience they were looking for (as pilots in this company were also managers of a large support crew that works on the blimp) and I also had the public relations experience that was necessary for a job in the media limelight (mainly my networking to be in business at a young age taught me how to work with public). About 8 or 9 interviews later and months down the line, I got hired to my current job as a blimp pilot.
I could not be luckier and more happy with where this journey of becoming an aviator has taken me. Moral of this long bio... If you want it bad enough, DO NOT GIVE UP no matter what sacrifices it takes. I know not everyone gets the lucky break in this very fickle industry and I hate to hear how especially poor the regional level airliners are treated. So I would not recommend anyone to think this is a job of glamour without realizing the insane amount of sacrifice and years that go into making any sort of living in this job, not to mention an insane amount of student loan debt that'll take until you're well into your 40's to pay off (unless mommy and daddy are rich). But if it's a true passion to want to do what most only dream of doing and are willing to take precious years of sacrifice, you can and will succeed. Reach for the skies! And learn to love ramen noodles!