Why am I not flying?

Here's a post by a fellow who goes by the name of "Schlem" on avcanada.ca (a Canadian pilot forum... probably the main place for pilots in Canada). If you've every wondered why I never followed through with the whole flying thing, this will explain it to you.
If you want to see where the post came from, click the link in the title of this post.

Quote:

Here's a brief outline of our industry...

1. The average cost of the training required for a commercial licence with a multi-engine instrument rating is upwards of $50,000 not including the cost of an associated 2 year aviation diploma or 4 year degree.

2. 95% of those teaching the new and aspiring pilots at the flight schools are the least experienced and are paid the least of any professional pilot.

3. After landing that most elusive first operational flying job, which many never do, the pilot is paid anywhere from $3/hour or a yearly salary of $12-20,000 dollars until they gain experience while at the same time trying to pay off their $50,000 plus loan. This is after they start actually flying an airplane which is usually following 6 months to 2 years working on the ground as a ramp rat or agent for the same company in northern Canada somehwere.

4. Once the pilot gains enough experience and hours he/she becomes a Captain and then starts to finally earn a decent living... this is after at least 3 years in some cases.

5. Once the pilot decides it's time to make a move to the airlines he/she will take a large paycut, using Air Canada as an example, from making in the area of $65-75,000 per year at their previous job as a senior Captain to $37,000/year at Air Canada with a move to Toronto.

6. Overall in this indusrtry, the least experienced professional pilots are flying the lowest tech and least reliable equipment with the least amount of regulation governing them while the most experienced pilots are flying the highest tech and safest equipment with the most regulation.

That's about it in an nutshell...

Good luck!