Work and Flying Balance

Hi everyone! I am currently in Colorado with two of my friends. We are staying at my friend's relatives house, so it has been super nice to take a vacation. No major flying updates for the week, so I figured I would discuss something else important. Everyone knows that aviation is very expensive, so a lot of students get jobs while flying. I've worked a couple jobs throughout high school and college while flying, and there is some very important things to note when applying for a job. Back in high school when I was training for my PPL in the Skyhawk, I worked as a lifeguard on the weekends. This was a great way to work, since I could fly on the weekdays and work all day on the weekends. When I got to college, I started working at Starbucks. I loved this job, but the hours did not line up with flying. I would work early mornings, so it was hard to schedule night flights because of my duty period. I ended up quitting to focus on flying. Currently, I work an amazing job where I pick my hours completely. This is great because I can even take the whole week off during finals/check ride season. Overall, I would say the most important parts of a job while flying are:

Flexible! Lots of flight training while will be done at different times.

Availability! It's hard to get in a lot of flight training when you work full time.

Fun! College is hard so try to pick a job that you enjoy.

View from the house in Colorado: