Odd that this post should appear now. I’m in a very similar position to the OP, only I’ve had my heart set on being a pilot for about 6 years. I’ve had a few flying lessons but that’s all. I’ve always loved being up high, I’m machine mad and the ATPL ground school exam topics all interest me (I sometimes read up on them for lols). I truly think it would be my dream career but that’s it, it’s a career and there’s more to life. For me I have a young family and that’s the most important thing and so (for now), as much as I find it hard to say, I don’t see a way that the pilot thing will work out at this point and believe me I’ve spent a LONG time weighing up options. If you really want something then you’ll work your a** off to make it work in spite of cost. For me the snubber was the uncertainty of basing with the airlines. However the OP might find themselves in a different personal situation and if you have flexibility you could really enjoy the whole process. At the moment things don’t look too bad for a wannabe pilot. There is a trend back towards sponsored training with Easy and Ryanair both recently subsidising type ratings and Aer Lingus running a fully sponsored zero to hero so never say never.
Question from me for the train drivers out there. I’m a do’er with (some) brains, that has somehow ended up in an office and can’t stand it! As I’ve said I’m fairly well “grounded” at the moment and so for the last 18 months have been looking at the driver role with some interest. In many aspects it seems as close to being a pilot as you can get without leaving the ground. Flying appeals to me because your making calculations, working with the weather, using all sorts of navigation tech and using physics to keep a big metal tube in the sky. I’m a fan of the safety culture and the view ain’t too shabby either. I would like to know how transferable the “interest” side of things are. What concerns me is I’ve done a bit of practice on the train driver tests and seem to do quite well with the dots and other common ones but they seem geared at how well you cope with being bored? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think train driving would be boring and there are plenty on here that are very passionate about it which is testament to that but I don’t understand why the ‘boredom’ bit is emphasised so much in the tests. It must be stimulating to some degree with decision making and communicating/ problem solving etc. Would be particularly interested to hear more from @Speedbird738 sounds like the ideal situation!
Sorry for hijacking but I thought the OP would benefit from any resulting discussion!