What Options?

On Sep 1, 9:26*pm, "vaughn" wrote:
"gpick" wrote in message

...



Hello, I just had allergy tests to either prove or dispel my food
allergies. Unfortunately, they were confirmed. I have an allergy to
peanuts, fish and berries. This disqualifies me (to my knowledge) from
entering the military at all. I originally planned to join the Air Force
via the Academy.
I am 16 and now know that my flying will have to be done in the
civilian sector. I will start my private pilot training in about one
week. What are some of the options I have down the road regarding jobs
other than charter or airline piloting? I have always wanted to fly but
do not want to just fly the norm. Are there any options even close to
military flying for me? Thanks

If you are college bound, consider majoring in Engineering or Business. *Either
of those are helpful to an aviation career, or could happily and profitably lead
to some other career. *If you are not college bound, consider becoming an
aircraft mechanic. *This gets you inside the aviation world and can lead many
places, including the cockpit.

While you are doing the above, take flight lessons and start working on your
ratings towards CFI. *The classic approach for a non-wealthy civillian to
accumulate flight hours is by providing flight instruction. *Often this is a
part-time job. *Pending changes in FAA regulations will require new airline
pilots to have much more experience than before, so start early.

Vaughn

At the risk of being unduly pessimistic, it's my opinion the
opportunities on the general aviation side of the ledger are going to
continue to trend downward . Fuel costs will keep rising, the demand
for oil products is overtaking overtaking supply, increased regulation
will add artificial costs that have to paid for with real dollars, and
the need for physical travel will probably decline with increasing
digital communication. I see this happening now -- decision makers
that I used to visit are happier to take a virtual meeting than a
real one, and the coming generation is better at that kind of
communication than we are.

Think for a moment about a strategic plan for general aviation,
consider its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. My own
observation is the factors associated with the second and fourth items
on that list far outweigh the first and third. My version of the
coming realities may be much different and more negative than others
on this forum, and I hope they are right. Still, my bet is aviation
had passed its peak for careers and investments.

I can hear my grand children as adults asking this: "Granddad A, you
flew your own airplane? Why?"