Should i take on flight school?

I'm contemplating whether to do this or not. I have always loved flying and it would be a dream come true but the time and the cost to until you get to become an airline pilot is alot. The school it self will take 2 years and after that i can go work for a small charter airline/ plane making about 40 grand a year. Or become a flight instructor While doing this i can build my hours. Which will take a couple of years. I'm about to join the air force soon. But i have been waiting for a while so i don't know how everything will pan out. I have other careers in mind that i don't mind doing will probably take less time and will pay well too. I would really like to fly planes but at the same time i don't want to put all this time and effort and then, in the long run, find out its nothing I ever wanted to do you know.

No time like the present! You'll always kick yourself off you don't do it now. You'll figure out the money.

Have you ever flown a plane? I ask because unless you are absolutely crazy about flying, it may not be worth it. Some people live to fly, which is great, but if you only fly because it's a way to make a living you will likely struggle. I suggest you go take a "discovery flight" - a 30 minute first lesson - most people are not ambivalent about small planes, chances are you will love it or hate it.

The career path you described is a bit unrealistic - you will NOT make $40k a year as a newly minted commercial pilot, you would be lucky to make half of that. You should be aware that many career paths in flying require a college degree - the major airlines will not interview you without one.

If your going to join the Air Force theirs no use in going to school now, they will teach you everything you need to know.

If you want to join the Air Force at least know that both words are capitalized. Your reason for joining the Air Force should be because you want to serve your country, not because you want to look cool in you airline pilot's uniform as you strut through an airport terminal. Don't join just for the free flight lessons. You must be a commissioned officer and in the top academic and physical percentiles to even apply for flight training. Many apply, few are chosen and even fewer get to fly.

As far as getting a flying job " for a small charter airline/ plane making about 40 grand a year" after only two years after starting your flight training - in you dreams! It will take you at least twice that or more to get all the necessary ratings and accumulate enough flight hours so that your resume does not get filed in the round file. The starting salary of a newly hired "regional partner" airline pilot is less than twenty thousand dollars per year at some airlines. Major airlines farm out their short haul routes to the lowest bidders, so there's a definite race to the bottom. Since regionals can't do much about their capital costs, the only way they can compete is by paying their staff wages that make their employees eligible for Food Stamps.

Your best bet is probably getting accepted into an airline's ab initio training program. Again, just like in the military, many apply, few are chosen, well you know the rest. The only airline in the US that I know of that makes its own pilots from scratch is jetBlue and it accepts six to twelve applicants per year. After a couple of years of training you MAY get to fly a Cessna 402 from Providence to Block Island for Cape Air, jetBlue's regional partner.

If you can afford to go to flight school then go ahead. But getting a job even with small air companies is not easy. My son was a pilot in New Guinea for several years before he was able to get a job with a small airline operating in the USA

If you are going to enlist in the US Air Force, check around when you get to your first permanent duty station. If you're lucky, they may have an Aero Club on the base, and you can rent small airplanes and take flying lessons from well qualified flight instructors at a discount over what it would cost at a civilian airport. You can have a PRIVATE pilot's license in just a few months.

Yes! Flying is amazing, and the entire airspace and navigation system works so slick, especially when flying by instruments. If you join the air force you'll be able to build a ton of hours, whether or not you get on the instruction side of things, and that will look great to the airlines when you start looking for a job. Even if you just get your private pilot license and fly small planes for fun, it is so worth it.

Forty thousand with a small charter company?
In your dreams sonny!

Do you have a 4-year college degree? Join the AF if they'll let you apply for the pilot training program. You need to pass and be able to maintain a First Class flight physical. Otherwise, open your wallet and prepare to pay lots and lots and lots of money.

You flyboys crack me up!