Originally Posted by wrxpilot

Believe me, I know ALL too well that feeling of impatience! More than once I was tempted to just get a big loan and make it happen... But I'm glad I didn't. The main reason is the debt situation we already talked about, but the second (and possibly more important) reason was that I spent some time enjoying my training and time building.

You asked how I built that time up? I just flew when I could, and turned the occasional vacation into a time building experience. For example, one year my little brother and I wanted to fly down to FL to have Christmas with our aunt and uncle. So I rented a plane, and we flew from Denver to south FL and back. That was an AMAZING experience that we still talk about, and I learned so much (this was right after my instrument rating, so I was able to experience real world IFR flying to new airports).

That was by far the biggest trip I did, but I definitely flew a lot of "$100" hamburger flights with friends and family. It was really a lot of fun sharing my love of aviation with people in my life, and I've always felt so sorry for the quickie ATP style students that missed out on that stuff. That really is the fun part, and it's also invaluable for building that all important confidence and independent decision making you'll use for the rest of your career.

I should also add that I left engineering once I was a CFI. I didn't want to have a foot in each profession, it's just too difficult to do that and really not that necessary when you're young with little responsibility other than yourself.

Originally Posted by CC268

Ahh that makes a lot of sense...well this has been an interesting view on things and maybe my best bet is to pay for most of my training while working as an engineer - I can always re-evaluate as I go.

Originally Posted by CC268

Ahh that makes a lot of sense...well this has been an interesting view on things and maybe my best bet is to pay for most of my training while working as an engineer - I can always re-evaluate as I go.

My biggest worry in doing it this way is being "too old" to jump ship. I feel like starting with a regional at age 30 or so and you would be pretty broke until you made it on with a major (which I am guessing could be quite a while).

Anyways...thanks a lot for the info...this has given me a good view on what I might be able to do.

Originally Posted by wrxpilot

No problem. FYI, starting at a regional at 30 isn't bad, unless you all of a sudden have a wife and two kids. I currently make about $100k/yr as CA, and made about $55k/yr as a FO. That's without picking up extra flying either.

I made the jump at 30, but didn't start at a regional until 34.