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[code3aviation]

Going back to school at 38 years old.

This is the first blog i have ever written, and since there has been such a change in my life these past months, I figured that I would start from there and go backwards.

So sometime near the beginning of last year. The grind of my work had been really affecting my home life, friendships and relationships. I wont go into a ton of detail as that is for perhaps another blog.

Last year, I was a sheriff deputy. Well, I still am technically but i digress. Last year I came to the realization that working in public service, although a noble cause, had far more sacrifice then I was willing to endure. My child was 6 years old at the time, and full of energy and wanting to do things other then stay at home all the time such as play with friends and go to the lake and the like. Also, being six years old, he was old enough to go adult places with mom and dad such as movies, restaurants, long car rides with out tons of constant attention. which meant that times should have been good, if not great. But, they werent.

As a sheriff deputy, I was expected to change my schedule, rotate shifts, get paid to off requests denied, and overall sacrifice those good times for the sake of public safety. What did i get in exchange for it? Honestly I cant think of any positives. the pay was lousy, the paid time off was non existent and the constant changing schedule, meant that I had to ship the kiddo off to the baby sitter a lot more than I would have liked, and those days that I didn't work and had the kid, My wife would almost certainly work. Days off together were far and few between.

When you start talking with some of the older officers on the force and all they keep saying is how they cant wait to retire and that they wish they had done something else, you realize that maybe its time to leave. Thats exactly what I did.

What started out as an idea about a new hobby, turned into a career change. I started off with wanting to get my pilots license just for fun. when i looked into the finances of the whole deal, I realized that I would never be able to afford to fly once i completed training and the license would become a very expensive "Bucket list" item. So I looked into what it took to be a professional pilot. While vastly more expensive, I discovered that pilots make very good salary. this decision was made easier by the fact that the country is going through a pilot shortage and almost every airline and private charter company is desperate for qualified pilots. The return on the investment of flight school was actually pretty high.

So i quit my job and started flight school. Here I am, an almost 40 year old going back to school. The first day felt as awkward as any first day anywhere i guess. I looked around the room filled with about 30 future aviators, and saw maybe 1 or 2 other students around my age. the rest were in their early 20's. Most of my career I have always worked jobs where there are constantly younger people entering the profession for the first time, so I never really felt out of place around the younger crowd. But those co workers always had similar interests and similar experience in which we could share. Now I am in class with a bunch of kids that haven't hardly had any experiences at all. Like, they went straight form high school to flight school. I graduated from high school the year that many of them were born.

So here I am trying to make friends. even though I really dont want to, but i NEED to. These connections that I make will certainly come in handy later in my career. So i smile, tell a joke every once in a while, and pretend to laugh at theirs....most of the time, I have no idea what they're talking about. Social media is huge for this generation and they will talk about certain videos that go viral or certain youtubers that did something. Where as my generation would reference this that happened in movies, current events, sports, etc. So ive had to work a lot harder to, not neccesarily fit in, but participate in this new school setting. For the most part, I don't do a lot of talking to this group. When I do speak, it is mostly school related and I take it very seriously. Something that ive not done in years past. I should mention that a lot of the students that are going to this program are the type that have wanted to be pilots their whole, albeit short lives. for some of them, this is their dream job. Not me. this is a job.

I am certainly not passionate about aviation like I was with law enforcement, but I am passionate about providing a better life for my family. So, as I grind though this process and have various lessons and appointments, I will frequently run into my other class mates that all still seem to show various levels of interests in the profession, but I have connection with them. In fact my instructors are quite a bit younger than i am as well so I have a difficult time connecting with them as well.

My instructors seem to see me as a means to an end. the end meaning that they earn enough flight time teaching me that they are able to apply for the more lucrative pilot jobs. Not that I need them to become best buddies with me or anything, but sitting shoulder to shoulder with someone in what is basically a Honda civic with wings, its tough to feel like you're just another product in an assembly line. has a very "alone" type feeling. i was supposed to start the same school with a buddy of mine, but he has had some issues come up that he needed more time to address. I was hopeful to have him around to be able to share this experience with. there is also another previous co worker that ended up doing the same training, but at a different school and we talk occasionally.

to be continued