Push On

Well, interesting start to the year really, I have finally got a plan together of what I am to do in life, and that is to become a Pilot. I have dreamed about it for a while, but have at last found a real and achievable way to become one, and I am going to give it everything I've got, and will not stop until I am a fully blown employed Pilot.

I recently, this week in fact, went for an interview with Jetstar for Cabin Crew/Flight Attendant and didn't get the job, I got accepted to the interviews and made it through the first wave but not the second. A bit down, but obviously the universe was telling me it's not for me, I did a bit of digging and apparently I need more "experience", in customer service/hospitality I presume. Fair enough really, I haven't had much experience in either role, and well I don't think I will bother applying again, it was just an opportunity that arose and I took it, but I am now onto Phase One of becoming a Pilot.

To become a Pilot you need one thing mainly. Cold. Hard. Cash. Without it, you may as well be pissing in the wind, becoming a pilot costs a mint, these days, costs are up around $100,000 yeah not cheap hey. You can do it for less, but it is a lot harder and you miss out on endorsements that allow you to do things like fly in bad weather, at night, twin engine, retractable landing gear, all of which as a commercial pilot you will have to do and they all require an individual endorsement. The good news is however that Rex, Regional Express Airlines offer a cadet program, to get in you only need $23,000 which is a realistic sum to save up or get part way and get a loan. Other airlines offer cadet ships but they either cost a lot more or you need to be a pilot first. This is the best option for me, and it is what I am going for, so how do I cough up 23k?

Short of running coke across the gulf, me getting my hands on $100,000 for flight school outright in a reasonable amount of time is just not going to happen. However, to get $23,000 I can do that, and how to do that is Phase One, which is working in the snow. I have been there before, it is a very interesting, cold and challenging place, but I love it, and hopefully I can get a job like Snow Grooming which would mean I could make great money and get close to my target of $23,000 by the end of the season then if I am short slightly, get a loan and apply to Rex. If Rex don't accept me at first, then I will keep saving and keep working in the snow until they do accept me, even if it takes a few years, or if I have enough money by then to apply to other cadet ships or flight school. Either way I will make it, and the snow, in particular snow grooming, is a great industry and a good backup career.

The best part of all of this, is my best mate Tom is on the path with me, we both want the same thing, to be pilots, and we both want to chase the snow in order to get there. I know that while my life is hard right now, that it will pay off, and both Tom and myself will be set up for life, and will live this life to it's fullest potential.

Sam

Against All Odds - The Postal Service (Wicker Park OST)