Sacrifices made to afford flight training?

Njonl

Njonl

Filing Flight Plan
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Jan 24, 2012
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Njonl
It's no secret that flight training is expensive.... I have just recently received my private pilot ticket and am anxious to keep going. I currently work in the law enforcement field and I love the career--however, I would love it even more if I could combine it with aviation. I've looked at different jobs within the career field for pilots and most of them require a commercial rating at the very least. In an effort to progress with my training, and be able to afford it, I'm entertaining the idea of selling my beautiful and amazing truck. I love that truck..... But I love flying more. Cutting out that significant car payment will free up some money for training. I'm wondering what others have had to sacrifice to support this hobby? I don't lead a bland lifestyle by any means, but I'm thinking I might need to start cutting back! Thanks for any responses,

Nick
 
Njonl said:
It's no secret that flight training is expensive.... I have just recently received my private pilot ticket and am anxious to keep going. I currently work in the law enforcement field and I love the career--however, I would love it even more if I could combine it with aviation. I've looked at different jobs within the career field for pilots and most of them require a commercial rating at the very least. In an effort to progress with my training, and be able to afford it, I'm entertaining the idea of selling my beautiful and amazing truck. I love that truck..... But I love flying more. Cutting out that significant car payment will free up some money for training. I'm wondering what others have had to sacrifice to support this hobby? I don't lead a bland lifestyle by any means, but I'm thinking I might need to start cutting back! Thanks for any responses,

Nick
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Ever think of flying for law enforcement? Guy I work with now (EMS) used to. They paid for all his training and ratings. Not sure how many of those openings come available though.
 
Velocity173 said:
Ever think of flying for law enforcement? Guy I work with now (EMS) used to. They paid for all his training and ratings. Not sure how many of those openings come available though.
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you don't say where you are but every county in California has an aviation department, CHP, State Police, every state generally also has an Av department within their state police and its a heavily political appointment system due to the high pay, prestige and paid ratings and training.
 
Njonl said:
I've looked at different jobs within the career field for pilots and most of them require a commercial rating at the very least.
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I think all of them would. was "most of them" just a coin of phrase, or did you find a job that didn't?
 
Didn't take a vacation for a year. I think it would be good idea to rent a plane for like a week and make that a vacation. See different places, different states, etc. That will be my "catching up to vacation"
 
Mafoo said:
I think all of them would. was "most of them" just a coin of phrase, or did you find a job that didn't?
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Actually--there are paid flying jobs in the government that do not require commercial certificates. "Public Aircraft" are exempt from the FAA's regulation. The FAA's job is regulate civil aircraft.

The government can maintain their airplanes however they see fit, do whatever they see fit with them, and have whomever they see fit fly them. The FAA has very little say in it.

So if a Highway Patrol department decides they want private pilots flying their aircraft and getting paid they can choose to do that. Or no certificate what-so-ever.

My understanding of this isn't absolute..but there is a lot of information in Advisory Circular AC-00-1
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...fm/go/document.information/documentID/1019988

Interestingly enough this means that many Highway Patrol aircraft or other government aircraft are simply not practical to get airworthy again to FAA standards after the government has had them.
 
jesse said:
Actually--there are paid flying jobs in the government that do not require commercial certificates. "Public Aircraft" are exempt from the FAA's regulation. The FAA's job is regulate civil aircraft.

The government can maintain their airplanes however they see fit, do whatever they see fit with them, and have whomever they see fit fly them. The FAA has very little say in it.

So if a Highway Patrol department decides they want private pilots flying their aircraft and getting paid they can choose to do that. Or no certificate what-so-ever.

My understanding of this isn't absolute..but there is a lot of information in Advisory Circular AC-00-1
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...fm/go/document.information/documentID/1019988

Interestingly enough this means that many Highway Patrol aircraft or other government aircraft are simply not practical to get airworthy again to FAA standards after the government has had them.
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Interesting. I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
 
Is sold my blood plasma to pay for flying, as a new pilot...

Sent from my Nexus 7
 
I always told people when I was younger that I drove 12 year old cars so I could fly 30 year old airplanes.
 
I recently sold both my Dodge Challenger and my motorcycle, so I could have more money to use on the airplane. It seems to have helped, as I just recently put in an EDM-830 engine monitor, new stringers, new air ducts, new insulation, new LED beacon and have fixed a lot of small squawks. While it's extremely costly, it's sort of one of the things I enjoy about owning a plane, as there's an endless supply of projects available. I still want to do an autopilot, new paint, new interior, a glass panel system, etc...

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
 
Njonl said:
It's no secret that flight training is expensive.... I have just recently received my private pilot ticket and am anxious to keep going. I currently work in the law enforcement field and I love the career--however, I would love it even more if I could combine it with aviation. I've looked at different jobs within the career field for pilots and most of them require a commercial rating at the very least. In an effort to progress with my training, and be able to afford it, I'm entertaining the idea of selling my beautiful and amazing truck. I love that truck..... But I love flying more. Cutting out that significant car payment will free up some money for training. I'm wondering what others have had to sacrifice to support this hobby? I don't lead a bland lifestyle by any means, but I'm thinking I might need to start cutting back! Thanks for any responses,

Nick
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Most all of us sacrificed other major and important parts of our lives to become pilots. I risked becoming permanently blind, along with a host of other issues. If you are torn about selling a truck to become a pilot, myself, I would suggest you keep the truck and forget about flying. You don't want it bad enough.

-John
 
John Baker said:
Most all of us sacrificed other major and important parts of our lives to become pilots. I risked becoming permanently blind, along with a host of other issues. If you are torn about selling a truck to become a pilot, myself, I would suggest you keep the truck and forget about flying. You don't want it bad enough.

-John
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Except for Threefingeredjack, he didn't have to do squat, probably kept his truck too. :D

-John
 
John Baker said:
Except for Threefingeredjack, he didn't have to do squat, probably kept his truck too. :D

-John
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Yes I did!!!

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Njonl said:
I've looked at different jobs within the career field for pilots and most of them require a commercial rating at the very least.
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You might want to add the following web site to your browser bookmarks; it contains suggestions of unconventional jobs in aviation people might not have considered or were aware of:

http://oddballpilot.com/
 
Different states have different aviation positions. I know a couple of the officers in South Dakota who do flying for the Highway Patrol. One guy flies only airplanes right now (getting his commercial currently) for them and the other flies their airplanes and helicopter. They fly both a Bell 206 and a Cessna 206. Look for something like that in your department or related departments, lots of times they'll take a private piot and train them so they can work for law enforcement.
 
Thanks for the responses. I do love my truck, as it is another hobby of mine..... But selling it to fund flying will not be a problem.
I've looked at different agencies within the state and it looks like only state agencies have a fixed wing aviation program. Most counties have a helicopter, but not fixed wing.
Thanks for that unconventional aviation job link, pretty interesting!
 
CBP has an extensive flight department, but I think they prefer pilots who have both fixed and rotor certs. Worth a check however. Prior LE experience would be a leg up if you wanted to make the move.
 
Njonl said:
I'm wondering what others have had to sacrifice to support this hobby?
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Remember you can make some sacrifices in the flying itself. Flying is flying. Doesn't have to be in the newest, fastest, shiniest, loaded, aircraft.
 
CBP does have quite an aviation program. I'm definitely looking into it, along with USFS, Fish & Wildlife Service, also at the state level, and possibly even the Alaska State Troopers.
I just finished my PPL in a Tomahawk, and may move up to an Arrow for the IR. Definitely nothing too fancy!
 
I am almost complete with my private pilot.
I gave up going out with friends very often. If I have any drinks, I limit myself to only a couple, preferably the cheapest beer. I probably will pass on the food unless it is free, or very cheap. I avoid the movie theater, and stick with netflix, or renting a movie. I avoid road trips unless others are kicking in gas money. When my car payment is gone, it will go straight to the aviation fund. I have sold extra stereo equipment, and guitar amps. I browse Craigslist for free items, pick them up, and then put them up for sale.

How bad do you really want to be a pilot? If you want to be a career pilot, do some real research into this. Talk to pilots about the journey to that position. My hope is after being licensed I will once again start to be paid what I used to, and make aviation a little more affordable.
 
Also I want to point this out. You probably need a truck to get you from place to place, but a truck as nice as you have, is a luxury item.

Trading one luxury for another, is not in my opinion, a sacrifice.

Let's say someone dropped 10 grand in my hand today, and said I had to spend it on something fun. If I thought of 100 things, and then chose one, I didn't sacrifice 99 things so I could do that one.
 
Told the wife to stop shopping...Oh wait. We are talking about sacrifices I made, sorry.
 
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