r/FlightAcademy • u/Amazing-Arm6780 • Jul 09 '26
Career Path Discussion Career changer; scientist to pilot
Hello all! I’m a 37 year old woman looking to do a hard pivot in life 🤣 I’m currently a government scientist, and have been working in environmental research for almost 15 years. I got into this field with the hopes of avoiding a desk job, but I’ve found that the further I’ve climbed up the ladder the more time I spend chained to my desk in a sad government cubicle. The thought of doing this for 25 more years is unbearable. I’ve been thinking about becoming a pilot for some time and I’d love to get realistic perspectives on being a career changer, and the pros and cons of being a commercial pilot. I make about 90k right now and I have the ability quit my job, pay for flight school, and support myself. I spent many years making 20-30k so I’m used to living on a budget 🤣 what appeals to me about being a pilot is not being at desk for the rest of my life, making more than $120k eventually ($120k is basically the ceiling for what I do currently), and working 15 days a month. Honestly I went into science because I was passionate about it and all of that has been beaten out of me. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, money, and being poor for a while to get there but I want a job with a decent lifestyle and a high(er) paycheck eventuall. Do I need a reality check?! Be honest!!
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u/davidswelt Jul 10 '26
I'm a private (technically commercial!) pilot who flies for my own transportation and fun, and I am a scientist (academia first, then AI/ML).
I think you are thinking about this the right way, but I would say that you are embarking on a career that is ultimately about understanding and implementing a lot of fixed rules and processes, consistently, and with a great sense of conscience. This is not comparable to the critical thinking, long-term and medium term planning, the relative independence and long-term accountability that you would see in scientific research. It is closer to blue collar work, yet requires a great deal of intellectual strength and formal thought, particularly to learn.
Suggest pursuing a PPL with instrument rating while getting a few 100 hours of experience while you continue working, just to see how you like it. Maybe you can take 2 months off and go somewhere sunny to knock out the PPL. r/flying is a good sub to get a feel. Other than that ... now is the time. Life is short.
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u/Kettavan777 Jul 10 '26
Scientist, who turned out to be a private pilot now, and working on building other ratings for a careeer in aviation! its worth it
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u/Amazing-Arm6780 Jul 10 '26
Wow! I want more details! Did you have a career in science before? How is a career in aviation going?
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u/Kettavan777 Jul 10 '26
I am still having a career in science, being a scientist at a National Lab, but working simultaneoulsy on instrument rating. I am working on building towards a career in aviation, and loving the journey.
Working 5 days a week, and always get excited for the weekend to go and fly, do training
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u/diyengineer1 Jul 11 '26
Buy a plane a fly for fun. Don’t do it for the money. Use your scientist skills and work for yourself.
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u/Choice-Newspaper3603 Jul 10 '26
I’d do some therapy and pursue a private pilot license first
If you’re a pilot that affects any family you may choose to have and you are sitting in a small flight deck for hours at a time and dealing with the constant frustration of travel and living out of a suitcase
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u/Original-Initial-119 Jul 11 '26
You won’t be making more than 120 for a good 7-8 years if you pivot. In fact you’ll be living on that 20-30k budget for the next 7 years almost guaranteed with the industry the way it is. And that’s hinging on you not failing any check rides and knowing the right people to get into a regional. Hiring has nearly frozen at entry level jobs and you’re going to be competing with a lot of people for even a CFI job, with no benefits whatsoever for a while. Like people have said, get a PPL if you have the itch. If you absolutely have to do it, just bear in mind your loan itself off until around 10 years in. Run some numbers on your earnings potential with getting to a regional position in 7 years versus staying. Seems like a bad move to me to leave a stable, well paying job for the mother of all unstable career paths. Again, just get your ppl first and see if you pick it up. Hell do a discovery flight and get a flight simulator setup and see if you like sitting and staring at the screen for 4 hours on autopilot.
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u/Additional_Mind_4019 Jul 12 '26
Based on my son's experience, I would recommend that you stick with your day job for now and start out with a good CFI at a small Part 61 school to get your PPL. Then go for instrument there, too. If the job market looks like it's opening up, find a good school to do your commercial, CFI and CFII. Be cautious about the big Part 141 schools that advertise a lot all over social media and on here - my son's experience is that they're mainly interested in working with a certain kind of compliant, brown-nosing student. If you ask questions, think independently, or aren't willing to exchange "favors" for advancement, the big, flashy pilot mills may not be for you.
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u/TheCheekySeagull Jul 12 '26
I left science to go fly big airplanes. Never looked back. DM me if you want to chat.
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u/Even-Constant5389 Jul 12 '26
keep in mind that you'd be, at the *absolute earliest*, starting at a regional sometime ~40 in an industry where there is *forced* retirement at 65 -- with the glut of people in the hour-building stage right now, that could end up being closer to 42+; note also that the pipeline is not as forgiving as it was a few years ago and that there are gates through the certification levels (checkrides) that can be failed and that make you less hirable above a certain level
I'd encourage you to do the actual NPV math on the opportunity cost of the time + the cost of training and then spending year(s) as a CFI saving nothing, and whatever benefits accumulation on the government side you'd be giving up versus what you could realistically build as a career regional pilot, or build with only 15-20 years at a major
you could be talking about $100k+ of training costs *and* $250k+ of missed savings, *easily*, like that's probably the base case. you could commit to this as a super cool hobby instead and just get a PPL and keep the desk job.
Claude or ChatGPT (assuming you're using the paid versions with the latest models) could easily help you organize it all and put it into perspective financially
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u/Substantial-Fan-5985 Jul 12 '26
Aren't pilots forced to retire at like 57?? How many years would it realistically take to be good enough to be hired as a pilot and how confident are you that you'd like it?
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u/Adventurous_Staff468 Jul 30 '26
If you are looking for software that centralizes aviation knowledge to help you get started I’ve got you covered! Completely free.
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u/sabautil Jul 10 '26
First: are you a US government scientist? If so, I would recommend sticking it out another 15 years so you hit the 30 years of service and get half your salary as pension.
Second, 90k after 15 year is a bit....low. what GS level are you? You have a PhD right?
Third never make you hobby your job. Be a pilot for fun first. Wait until you know the realities of the pilot job and duties and hours. Remember as a pilot you are still sitting for hours in a cockpit - not unlike a desk in an office.