Any pilot gone into aviation without a childhood passion for it?

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RagingCacti@reddit

Aviation is not my dream job, but I really enjoy how it leans into my skillset, pays well, and has a great schedule.

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dumptruckulent@reddit

I’m like you except the pay is just ok and the hours are horrendous

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Useful-Wash5488@reddit

You're not in aviation. You're in the military

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fly-guy@reddit

Didn't think about flying until I saw an ad when I was 16/17.

Wasn't a passion, still isn't.

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swakid8@reddit

Ive always wanted to be a pilot but i wouldn’t and didn't pursue it until it made sense…

I skipped out on the lost decade because the industry and career just sucked all around.

But 2012-2013 came around, airlines started to figure out how to make money. Recalls were happening, Age 65 retirements were around the corner, well of new pilots were dry, military pilot supply drying up, ATP rule choked off easy pilot pilot supply which forced the start of the upward trend of wage and work rule improvements at the regionals, Part 117 requiring additional bodies.

With all of those changes, I saw that there was going to upward career movement for pilots who get in.

2014, I started in my PPL, made a calculated decision to take a leap of faith and went all in based on the changes that were happening post Colgan crash leading up to 2014.

Before you quit your day job, this decision has to make sense and it will require some commitment to stick with it.

The industry is going through another structural change post-COVID. There was rapid unsustainable upward movement from 2022-2023. This movement lured a ton of new entrant pilots in the pilot pipeline. 2024 the doors slammed shut on that rapid upward movement and that pipeline kept filling up. 2025, saw a slow start of that upward movement but not enough the to deal with the new pilot pipeline. Now, upward movement is slow. The new pilot pipeline is over saturated.

If you come in, come with the expectation that it’s going to be awhile to work your way up getting hired at a regional airline….. Gone are the days you getting on at the regionals with 1500 hours on the dot.

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Vincent-the-great@reddit

I wanted to be an astronaut but I was too stupid so I settled on pilot after having zero interest in planes.

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Vonbismark2@reddit

I had no real interest as a kid. I thought it was kinda cool playing around combat flight sim 2, ms flight sim but no professional interest. I actually have a bachelor in literature. Started training 10ys ago and I'm flying 747s around the world. Love the job, love flying but still is a job. I think it's overrated for what people believe it is, I think is underrated compared to flipping burger or AI monitoring desk jobs. And I get a looooot of time off.

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Tough_Efficiency_719@reddit

I bumbled into it after my chosen career fizzled. Worked as a flight attendant on a whim and got hooked on the lifestyle and benefits. Decided the pilots had it much better sitting down behind that locked door making ungodly amounts more than me. 13000 hours and several airlines later I can’t imagine working a real job.

I’m curious about your literature degree. I’ve spent so much of my down time writing novels and short stories. Even had a few published.

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Smokey_Bird@reddit

I didn’t start flying until I was 21

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justcallme3nder@reddit

10 years ago, about a year before I started flight training, I told a coworker I had zero interest in becoming a pilot. I'm currently at almost 3000 hours and I just got a CJO from Delta to fly for them.

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Necessary_Topic_1656@reddit

Never ever wanted to be a pilot. Now I’m flying a 777.

Life happened. I was stuck in a rut needed a career change and had a pilot certificate and said at 32, “ Hey let’s give being a pilot a try… “ and switched careers at 33.

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Temporary-Fix9578@reddit

Was finishing up an undergrad that bored me, had some friends who were learning to fly and said hey if they can do it, why can’t I? End of story. It’s a good job, I like that people think it’s cool, I think it’s cool sometimes. Happy that it will (hopefully) afford me a comfortable life. I don’t think you need to be “passionate” in order to fly. That’s just the word people use to justify eating shit day after day

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aswadi@reddit

My aunt and uncle had a plane growing up so I was around airplanes as a child. Now I'm 30 years old now, getting ready to take my PPL soon, and hopefully to make a career out of it because I can't stand doing a desk job for another 30-40 years and love the freedom of flying. I went to school for Fashion Merchandising so it was definitely never something I saw myself doing when I was younger!

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RealP4@reddit

Me :) I got into it because I liked skydiving and was around planes a lot

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slendermanboxedwine@reddit

I didn’t have any desire to be a pilot until I was like 17. I never really saw my self doing an office job either and I enjoyed driving places which kinda seems like a stupid comparison but I thought that it would work out because of that. I didn’t really know anything about the industry either I just kinda tried it out and continued to sticks it but. Great job now very happy.

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nolaflygirl@reddit

I think that liking to drive places is a good & valid analogy. I do too. But I also knew from toddler age that I'd fly someday bc I was enthralled as a child by the planes flying over as I played in my backyard! Nobody in my family flew or even wanted to.

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skyHawk3613@reddit

Me

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Superb-Photograph529@reddit

I had a passing interest in aviation, but I had no mentors so I really couldn't easily facilitate a passion into it.

Now in my thirties and am becoming a military pilot. The second best time to get into it is today, as they say.

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

For the majority of you, your first words were Boeing 777 but did anyone here go into aviation as they were sick of corporate 9-5/strategically went into aviation due to the pay and perks and made it out/etc?

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