Lawyer to Airline Pilot
Posted by lsthrowaway69@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 44 comments
Has anyone here started their career as a lawyer and made the transition to ATP? I’m a BigLaw attorney in New York with degrees from top schools under my belt, but I often find myself wondering what life would be like if I had pursued my passion for aviation instead (particularly during weeks like this one where I’m on track to bill 60+ hours…)
Don’t get me wrong, I like being a lawyer and I’m not ready to make the jump just yet, but just curious how the grass looks on the other side. FWIW I have ~5 hours of C172 time and I absolutely love flying, but appreciate that I would have 1,500+ hours and many years ahead of me if I chose to go down this path.
FridayMcNight@reddit
What’s Cravath money… like 350ish as a first year associate? You’re financially well positioned to fund pilot training and time building to 1500. You might still want to be a CFI, but you wouldn’t need to. Finding the time in your own schedule might be the bigger challenge, but for real… you don’t need to take that pay cut.
anon234523457773457@reddit
215k as a first year attorney.
Slade918@reddit
Ivy League Attorney here and left a big firm to get into real estate. Doing what you enjoy is worth more than the money. Plus now I make more money and enjoy it and am not billing 60 hrs per week.
I fly for fun now and really enjoy it. Only reason I would do it professionally if they would let me do it part time for free even would be to get to fly the big planes. Would not change careers for it though.
anon234523457773457@reddit
Just out of curiosity (as a miserable biglaw Ivey leaguer myself) what does getting into real estate mean? Like you're a broker or you flip houses or...? Thanks!
bzam_flyer@reddit
There's two ways of going about this. You can go full-on career change or slowly get your ratings while still working. Which path you take will depend on whether you want to maintain a very nice income or not. Living in NYC (but not sure if you are in the suburbs or not) can have it's own challenges considering the crazy commute you'll have to an airport like KFRG or KMMU, whereas if you lived in other parts of the country you could just be driving 10 minutes to the field on nights and weekends while working a decent law job.
You could also go through an accelerated program but you’d have no income.
Either way, I think you should work towards your PPL and go from there before making any big decisions.
andrewrbat@reddit
I am an airline pilot and although it took a while to get to this level, i work maybe a tenth as much as my family members who are lawyers and make way more per unit of time invested. Im in my early 30s and make more than 300 a yr for 13-15 days of work a month.
redditburner_5000@reddit
Every single high-earner I know who has wanted to go be an airline pilot goes back to high-earning. It's only a couple data points, but that's what I've directly observed.
fuckman5@reddit
Why is that? Any stories?
drumstick2121@reddit
What’s income is high earner in your book?
redditburner_5000@reddit
As a general rule, an income at or above the 95th-percentile threshold in the area you live is high earning to me.
bingeflying@reddit
Where could you find that data? I just looked for my area and all I can get is median household income
redditburner_5000@reddit
https://dqydj.com/income-by-city/
Frequent-Location400@reddit
All the “high earners” I know that became a pilot, including myself, stuck with flying
nomadschomad@reddit
Stay the course, make partner, buy a Cirrus, be a flashy douche nozzle and fly your family to Montauk or the Cape.
Frequent-Location400@reddit
I was a banker in nyc and quit to start flying. Haven’t looked back or regretted it in the slightest. You probably are making a killing so focus on saving money, helped me not have an income and afford full time training. Flying in nyc is awful so I moved away. I second all the previous comments that say to start with PPL and go from there, always could work as attorney till X age (not sure how old you are) and treat flying as a second career where money doesn’t really matter. I hate reading the comments that center around the pay, sure it’s worse than your current position or many others your qualified for, but my worst day flying has been better than my best day in an office
Mr-Hyde-@reddit
Fellow big law associate here. I’ve also had the same fantasies since I also wanted to be a pilot growing up, but I’ve ultimately decided that its better to just use my salary to fund aviation as a hobby rather than try to make it a career. It just doesn’t make financial sense to swap, and if it’s the enjoyment of aviation that is driving you, then flying as a private pilot will get you what you want.
I did my PPL training over the course of approximately a year and a half, flying just on weekends, weather and work permitting, passed my checkride on the first try a few months ago, and am now working on instrument training.
I’ve considered eventually working my way up to being a CFI and then teaching on the weekends as a way to give back but also deepen my knowledge and experience as I get further along.
Mimshot@reddit
Every lawyer I know is looking for a second career.
cessnacapt@reddit
I’m a full time pilot and part time lawyer. I also know other pilot/lawyers that do more of a 50/50 split than me. I sent you a DM but let me know if you want to know about our experiences.
Odd_Phone9697@reddit
Sounds like you shouldn’t swap one for the other. Pursuing flying on the side for fun and building your hours slowly towards a back-up plan career sounds smarter. Might help you blow off steam and feel less dependent on the man.
signuporloginagain@reddit
I know someone who went from airline pilot to lawyer and then back to airlines. That’s all I got.
ThatLooksRight@reddit
I worked a 10 hour day and got paid for 5:15.
Chew on that for a bit.
Capital-Cricket-1010@reddit
absolutely do not do it. holy shit
lsthrowaway69@reddit (OP)
Lmao. Yeah, the income drop from Cravath scale to CFI pay definitely gives me a lot of pause.
Baystate411@reddit
Curious, what's a big lawyer making?
ronaldoswanson@reddit
https://abovethelaw.com/2023/11/cravath-announces-raises-comes-over-the-top-of-milbank-scale-for-some-associates/
Biglaw largely match each others pay scales.
There is also a bonus that is $20-115k depending on class year.
After year 8 it really depends if you make partner or not but income can rise dramatically.
Odd_Entrepreneur4386@reddit
Do these firms only hire from specific schools? That’s impressive for someone straight out of law school.
ronaldoswanson@reddit
No. But it’s very competitive. You would have to be the top of your class from a non-top tier school.
Baystate411@reddit
Not too shabby
MEINSHNAKE@reddit
Just buy a plane and enjoy aviation, not many pilots can say they can do either of those things.
snoandsk88@reddit
At my last company we had two lawyers, they both still practiced law and offered their services to the pilot union.
Suscap@reddit
Lawyer with a PPL here. Do it on the side as a hobby first if possible. I have impulse all the time to quit law and go into flying full time. But browsing Reddit immediately killed that impulse - huge opportunity costs with worst investment return.
No_Relationship4508@reddit
Lots of varied backgrounds at the airlines from your average Joe CFI turned big-wing, to lawyers, doctors, astronauts, and navy SEALs. Your law background will be a welcome addition to any Union!
PullTheGreenRing@reddit
I know a lawyer that went all the way to the airlines then quit and went back to being a lawyer after finding out he didn’t like the lifestyle
LateralThinkerer@reddit
If you like the challenge, start getting lessons and build up to your own private jet. Congratulations, you're now your own airline and can go anyplace you like anytime you like.
You're already likely earning more than topped out airline pilots, why face all the nonsense they do?
This is the way.
Iknewitseason11@reddit
Get your private and instrument and fly for fun. You have the money to really afford that, definitely keep your current career lol
escapingdarwin@reddit
Great guidance but don’t let your checkbook and airframe acquisition capability outpace your skills. That is the path to “fork tail doctor killer”, the vtail Bonanza. I’m an old guy and that was the reference back in the day. Not to be dark but true.
PlaneShenaniganz@reddit
I know one very intelligent pilot who is also a lawyer and a writer. It’s possible. He started as a pilot FWIW. Passed the bar when he was building hours at the regionals.
anaqvi786@reddit
I’ve flown with captains who were also attorneys and doing the airline stuff for fun.
lsthrowaway69@reddit (OP)
I’m curious how they can swing that. My firm would definitely have a problem with me moonlighting as a pilot haha
anaqvi786@reddit
He happened to be a pretty high ranking guy in an aviation law firm. Everyone there happened to be a pilot in some capacity according to him, with numerous airline guys.
I’ve always wanted to go to law school. Feels like my calling is helping negotiate and write contracts for the union at my destination airline whenever it’s contract negotiation time
WithConfidence@reddit
I am a lawyer and a pilot. You can do it as a hobby and see what you think of it before you drop the law firm.
Bring blunt: It sounds like lately you have flying as an escape from the hours and work life that you don’t like. See if it’s that or you really want to fly.
Mortekai_1@reddit
Instead of what everyone else is saying, if you don't mind taking a financial hit, do it if you love it. Go take a discovery flight and see if it's even something you're interested in. You seem like you make the type of money where you can fly some pretty badass planes as a private pilot regardless of doing it as a career or not.
AutomaticClick1387@reddit
I’m a G4/G5/550 captain and I’ve been thinking of law school only because I’ve always wanted to do it. Sadly, it doesn’t make sense right now and commuting to it would be almost impossible. But, the law really fascinates me. Why do you want to leave a great career you worked your butt off for?
disfannj@reddit
send me a pm