Hello. I'm pretty new to this forum and wanted to say Hi to you all! I didn't know where this topic should've been but I'll put it here.

As it says in the title, I have completely lost ALL love for aviation. I have loved aviation for as long as I can remember. Aviation was the number one thing for me. I'm now a teenager and I suddenly lost my interest and enthusiasm for about a year and a half ago. Back then, my enthusiasm was at its highest. I was so enthusiastic. I was going to play flight simulator and all that again. But one day while looking through a norwegian flight sim forum, I saw this topic about FSX. It said that this guy had thrown away his FSX addons and stuff like that and had started with P3D. It's nothing wrong with that but suddenly my love for Flightsim went down. Usually when I read something negative about Aviation, it makes me love it more. But as soon as I lost my flightsim enthusiasm, my WHOLE aviation enthusiasm went down. And since then, I have been struggling with it and have tried everything. I flew a Cessna, went on multiple trips but it's just not the same anymore. It feels boring.
Should I give up and accept that I have lost it since it happened over a year ago?

I just wanted to become a pilot one day but it seems like it wont work out. I always looked up at the sky, now I look down at the ground.

"In thrust we trust".

You're a teenager. It won't be the last time you find out you're not as interested in something as much as you once were.

Yeah but why did I lose interest in something like aviation? Like if people see me, they will immediately think "planeguy" since aviation was so close to me. I have tried to rebuild my enthusiasm multiple times but it vanished again after 1-2 days. What made you guys like aviation?

I think most youth with an interest in aviation go through this. My advice is follow your heart. Have a social life and experience new things but believe me you will always find your way back. Maybe just limit your sim time for a while. Too much of anything is bad.

Go out and get laid

mrromalley wrote:

I think most youth with an interest in aviation go through this. My advice is follow your heart. Have a social life and experience new things but believe me you will always find your way back. Maybe just limit your sim time for a while. Too much of anything is bad.

Go out and get laid

What if I forget how and why I liked planes :O then I can't "reconstruct" the enthusiasm and feeling towards planes.

As we get older we change. That's just something we all have to learn to accept.

Well this change isn't good for me

ConcourseB wrote:

Well this change isn't good for me

It happens. Sometimes you find other things are more interesting or enjoyable.

Eventually you'll find you one thing in life you love doing.

Hey bud!

I know exactly how you feel. I'm 18, and I went through a similar phase around two years ago. My advice? Don't push it. Don't try to continue to like aviation. Follow your heart; do other things. And, like me, I'm sure you'll develop the love for it again. Remember, what got you into aviation the first time wasn't anything forced. You started to like it, so you spent your time in it. Now, follow your heart, don't force anything, and in time, the love will come back.

Amrit

I dropped out and came back in, in my 20s at a more measured level. I've still been on a few dates to the airport but that's mostly because I've been lucky enough to have been with women who've enjoyed it.

My flightsim computer has been off for a year - I simply don't have space, but when I move in with my partner later this year she's excited about us setting it all up.

ConcourseB wrote:

I have completely lost ALL love for aviation.

It's easy to understand in this era of poor airline customer service and nickel and dime fees. As an enthusiast, my main interest is in the early jet age and as a traveler I feel that the industry peaked in the 1990s. My interest in air travel has diminished as the airlines have diminished their product while gouging customers for items formerly included in the fare. I'd probably cut back on my flying more if it were not for my wife's desire to travel.

I'll never loose my love for aviation - its just something thats in me. Sure, I've lost my zest for flight sim, models and this site, but the passion for taking to the sky is still there.

ConcourseB wrote:

Should I give up and accept that I have lost it since it happened over a year ago?

You lost interest, not a biggie. Focus on what you are interested in now instead of focusing something you're clearly not interested in anymore.

All very normal. While aviation is still a big, arguably defining, part of my life, my enthusiasm toward certain aspects of the hobby have definitely diminished somewhat since I was a kid/teen. I rarely take pictures at LAX anymore, even though I work there and have ramp access, because shooting the exact same planes over and over again has lost its luster to me. I now usually only bring my camera when I fly, visit new airports or know that something unusual will be visiting LAX.

I also haven't flown my FS in at least a year, if not longer. I don't dislike it, but I found the amount of time I used to put into it draining. Like the others said before, don't force it. You're young, explore any and all interests you find. This is the time in your life when you'll start discovering these things about yourself. Maybe one day you'll return to aviation, but if not, that's OK too.

If you want to know why folks lose interest in aviation, read:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-big ... 1470850460

and

http://www.businessinsider.com/delta-un ... lob-2016-8

I even liked the worst parts of aviation. I don't think any of you loved it as much as I did. It was a HUGE part of me. I'm feel very different and uncomfortable now. When I read something negative about aviation and something that would normally demotivate someone, it made me twice as much excited and enthusiastic.

As someone of you say, leave it and it will come back. The worst thing I did was to stress out and overthink about it. It even ruined it more. I lost it a year and a half ago and I've tried so many times to get it back that now I have nothing exciting in aviation left. It's very hard to get it back since after so much thinking, planes just aren't the same thing.

I still have the dream to become a pilot but I now it's not because of the planes and flying, it's because of nice uniform+++ :/

This enthusiasm lasted so long. I had my love for planes for as long as I can remember. I NEVER lost my enthusiasm back then. So just imagine the shock when the most important thing to me vanished...

All I can say is patience. Don't force yourself to love something you don't. It is not worth the stress.

I'm sorry to put you guys through this it is going to be very long and probably weird, but for me, aviation was a part of my life from when I was very young. I didn't know much about it, but I thought it was cool to like something like that because certain people around me were into it. I started a model collection and sometimes would attempt to fly on Flight Simulator. That almost never went well... When I would go on vacation, the flying was always my favorite part. As the years went on I learned much more, my collection of models grew, and my love for aviation grew. Then something happend two years ago. I was going on a trip and I was flying to LAX from YYC. Going to LAX I went through DEN on UA. I wanted to go this way because I would get to fly on a 757 on the DEN-LAX. I know this might be quite cliche, but the 757 back then was and still may be my favorite plane. At that point, the lat time I was on a 757 was a few years before and it had been too long. The flight came and went and as I disembarked the plane and began walking though LAX I looked out the window and saw the plane, N550UA, and realized I might not get to fly on one again. The return trip was on AC through YVR.

Fast forward to about a year later I was to be going on another trip flying to ATL through YYZ from YYC. I was hoping to find an option with UA that would involve a 757 and early on there was, but it was later removed. Another option came up. It was to fly on AC though YYZ and the first flight would be operated by a 767. They only had this option twice a week and I though it was the next best thing to the 757 as to me they are almost the same plane, but then in some ways maybe better. The day came that I was to be flying on it. I got to the airport only to find out that I could not fly on that flight because it was delayed two hours and I would miss my connection. The way AC did it is that they would run a flight from YYC to NRT daily and use the same 767 for a few days then send it back to YYZ on a repositioning flight. They would also reposition one to YYC to continue to NRT. The two planes would cross over in YYC and go their separate ways. So the inbound plane from YYZ went mechanical and the plane that came from NRT that was supposed to get repositioned on my flight was sent back to NRT on time instead and the delayed plane would come and operate my flight. I got put on a different flight operated by an E90. While I was waiting I go to see the 767 I was supposed to be on depart to NRT and it bothered me. Now I know the seats are very wide on the E90 and I was in an extra legroom seat, but I have never been more uncomfortable on a plane ever other than any other time I have been on an E90. The seats had no padding and the overall experience was just boring. I felt ripped off that I couldn't fly on my almost favorite plane. I felt weird the whole time on the trip. I can't explain why I did, but I guess at that point my passion for aviation grew and I don't know why. The return trip was quite eventful with planes going mechanical, but it turned out to be fun. I expected the bizarre feeling that I had would go away, but I was wrong. I swore to myself that next time I travelled I would do everything in my power to make sure I was able to fly on something like a 757 or 767 or something new to me like an A330 or 777.

Next time came just over a month ago. I was flying from YYC to MCO. I knew at that point trying to get on a 757 was unrealistic as UA is getting more and more obsessed with the 737-900 all the time (don't get me started on how much I can't stand the 739) and the last 757 I was on was to be retired shortly as the last of its series to be retired. I again ended up going through YYZ on AC. The options presented at the time of booking were the same initial flight as the year before supposedly on a 767 to YYZ and then an A319 to MCO. The other best option was to fly to YYZ much earlier on an A321 and then 767 to MCO. I ended up on this second option. The return was going to be through YYZ again . There were to options that were acceptable. One was the the evening departure on a 767 again to YYZ and the A320 to YYC or the morning departure out of MCO in an A319 and then on an A321 to YYC which later became an A320. Much tom my dissapointement, I ended up with the second option, but convinced myself that it was fine because I would be enjoying the A320 family as much as I could before the go for 737s (UGH!!! WHY AIR CANADA?!?!?). I also had the feeling deep down that something good would come out of it, but I wasn't to sold on that idea. So the YYC-YYZ-MCO trip couldn't have gone better, the A321 was great and the 767 was amazing. I had expected that funny feeling to go away, but it didn't because I had an opportunity to fly on what was now my favorite plane taken away from me the year before where I should have had it. Fastforward to the day before the return trip. I was thinking again about how much fun the 767 was to fly on and felt really disappointed that I was not flying on one on the return. I wake up the morning of the departure to find out that my A319 was switched to, you guessed it, a 767! Just as I was surprised a year before in a bad way, I was surprised again equally, but in a good way. I boarded the plane, sat down in the exit row (a first for me) and eventually we took off and I noticed that the funny feeling I had had for over a year was gone. The flight I did not get to fly last year in essence was given back to me in much the same manner it was taken away from me. Again my passion grew even more, but now I felt really good about it. Now all I have to decide is whether I want to become a pilot as a career or just for hobby...

Sorry this story is rather odd and very, very long. My love for aviation has always been a part of me. I liked it as a hobby, but now I want more. I am sorry you once felt passion for it, but don't anymore. My passion is as strong or stronger than anyone else's, but I admit there are planes I hate/resent and there are things that may happen to aviation that will make me no longer like it at all such as BWB planes or electric windowless, pilotless planes.

All I can say like before is that passion and love are not things you can force upon yourself. Not now and not ever. It just cannot be done. I love aviation for many reasons, some of which I do not understand. I think that's what makes it so exciting for me. You may not be the same way. You said when you love for FSX died when someone claimed to dump all their FSX addons that would have worked fine on P3D when the switched, maybe that is a sign that it was just a hobby. If your lost passion is causing more trouble that it's worth, forget it. I have lost passion from time to time when I have been discouraged by something like Air Canada ordering 737s. This would last for a day or two and then back to normal I go. Other times for exaple Delta or Air Canada ordering CSeries planes boosted my passion. The best thing to do is talk to people. You have started that here and many people including have responded, but there are people out there who can help you more and are more qualified to help you then and some others here are. We don't know what the future has in store for us. It is the unsettling yet exciting part of being human. Your passion may come back or it might go elsewhere.

One thing I would like to know if you don't mind me asking, when you see a plane or think of aviation, what do you think and how do you feel?

I kinda feel empty/sad/bored. I just dont know how to react to an airplane anymore. I have started to think back on when I had my enthusiasm and how I felt and reacted to things. It's just the thought that I have lost my airplane passion that scares me. It feels like I have a scar in my life. You know how I felt when I lost it? It felt like someone kidnapped my mother and then I tried to get her back. My enthusiasm was at that level. So it wasn't just a hobby. It was simply life. I had two separate enthusiasms that were attached to each others. I had my FSX enthusiasm and my aviation enthuasiasm. The FSX enthusiasm vansihed and the aviation enthusiasm went with it. I remember that I lost 50% of the excitement and enthusiasm, but as time went, and I got stressed and forced myself to love it, it completely vanished. I lost i mid February 2015. 18 months ago.

I didn't like old airplanes and I wasn't really into Helicopters. I mostly cared about passenger jets. I really liked the feeling of travelling and being inside airports and airplanes. Just the thought of an airport would make me happy. At that time, I started getting a little bit into military aviation. My enthusiasm was at its highest peak. My enthusiasm had always been with me.

18 months have gone and I still haven't got it back. I'm scared that it could be a phase. I remember when I was 8/9 years old, and I wrote a letter to myself in my teenager years. It said that I should never lose my love for planes. I remember the disappointment and the idea of leaving something as great as aviation. I randomly wrote that letter. Now I'm struggling hard. If I just hadn't registred at that flightsim forum...arghh the regrets.

As I said, bad stuff about aviation only made me happier, As army rangers say: "I love the way this sucks". How could a topic in a forum puncture the greatest thing I had... I still wonder to this day.

Well lucky you for losing your aviation interest so early on. You should be happy! At least it'll hopefully steer you away from becoming a pilot which is a lousy job these days and has been for around two decades now. Miserable lifestyle is to blame. Little time home with your family and the pay doesn't compensate for that in any way. The airlines are thriving on idiots who are willing to give up everything to fly an aircraft and the only way it can change is by having a genuine massive pilot shortage for many years.

AirPacific747 wrote:

Well lucky you for losing your aviation interest so early on. You should be happy! At least it'll hopefully steer you away from becoming a pilot which is a lousy job these days and has been for around two decades now. Miserable lifestyle is to blame. Little time home with your family and the pay doesn't compensate for that in any way. The airlines are thriving on idiots who are willing to give up everything to fly an aircraft and the only way it can change is by having a genuine massive pilot shortage for many years.

I guess I am one of those idiots.

Eagle15 wrote:

I guess I am one of those idiots.

So am I. lol

AirPacific747 wrote:

Eagle15 wrote:

I guess I am one of those idiots.

So am I. lol

I am actually still training to be one of those idiots.

Eagle15 wrote:

I am actually still training to be one of those idiots.

OK well enjoy flight training while it lasts. It's the best and most interesting flying you'll do in your career. After that, flying soon just becomes a job.

All the BS around flying, especially in the commercial world drives most of us insane, or away from aviation at some point or other. I've found the best cure (I'm sure some airline guys will agree with me) is to find a place where you can rent a small plane, ultra-light, glider, whatever, and go fly. Preferably in a chunk of uncontrolled airspace, or even a training area if you're somewhere busy. No IFR, no controllers, no traffic, just go and fly. Don't plan to fly anywhere. Just go into the area, crank and bank, some steep turns, stalls (don't blow the A/C limitations obviously). Alternatively, if you have the time and money, take said small plane and do sort of a road trip with it. All VFR. The idea is to reduce everything as much as possible to it's basic elements, pure flying. Just enjoy flight.

Or you know, wait a few months and see how you feel, we all need a little detox from aviation from time to time.

Hey there buddy!

I've been in love with aviation since I was about 8 years old (Turning 27 next month). At the beginning I wanted to be a pilot. I loved going to airport and watching the planes, subscribed to FLYING and Plane & Pilot magazines, and even built my own LEGO airport. As I headed into high school I realized that being a pilot wasn't really right for me and began looking into different aviation occupations. I ended up going to Purdue University and studying Aviation Management, focusing in Airport Ops and ATC. Now I am a pilot crew scheduler for United Airlines and I love my job.

Guess my point is that what I wanted to do in aviation changed throughout the years. There are many different jobs in the aviation world. Explore as much as you can and I'm sure there's something that will catch your interest. Even now with me working at a great job/company, I am still looking for different opportunities for work in aviation.

Keep your head up and keep looking at the sky and planes. We are here for you buddy!

I totally understand you. At some point I also lost my interest to some degree, there were simply other things going through my mind. At some point however, my interest in aviation returned although there are different aspects today that fascinate me.
With age, interests shift but I don't think a passion gets lost forever unless you experienced something traumatic. Maybe aviation is just not the priority for your emotions right now. Don't despair. Follow your heart and if at some point your excitement for aviation returns you can embrace it and simply continue where you have left. Keep your airliners profile and it would be nice to welcome you back in the future!

AirPacific747 wrote:

Eagle15 wrote:

I am actually still training to be one of those idiots.

OK well enjoy flight training while it lasts. It's the best and most interesting flying you'll do in your career. After that, flying soon just becomes a job.

I wouldn't be so sure. I know pilots that say that what comes after training is better.

ConcourseB wrote:

As it says in the title, I have completely lost ALL love for aviation. I have loved aviation for as long as I can remember. Aviation was the number one thing for me. I'm now a teenager and I suddenly lost my interest and enthusiasm for about a year and a half ago.

I flew a Cessna, went on multiple trips but it's just not the same anymore. It feels boring. Should I give up and accept that I have lost it since it happened over a year ago?

I just wanted to become a pilot one day but it seems like it won't work out. I always looked up at the sky, now I look down at the ground.

I smile when I read this. You are young and the teenage years are not an easy time to be alive. I strongly believe you are overthinking it. If your interest goes, find something else to take its place. The more you worry about it the more you will associate aviation with negative feelings.

geologyrocks wrote:

You're a teenager. It won't be the last time you find out you're not as interested in something as much as you once were.

ConcourseB wrote:

Yeah but why did I lose interest in something like aviation? Like if people see me, they will immediately think "planeguy" since aviation was so close to me. I have tried to rebuild my enthusiasm multiple times but it vanished again after 1-2 days. What made you guys like aviation?

It helps when you don't choose or HAVE to like it, just go with how you feel - at the moment just leave it well alone. It is not like a job where you still have to turn up. You are not laden with debt that you can't escape.

For me, I think in my adult years, living near an airport helped increase my enthusiasm, as aircraft were a part of my daily life. Then I moved away, before moving back. I 'gave up' aviation, and NEVER thought I would rekindle any kind of hobby or pastime of it. I left this site in 2004 and never thought I would ever come back - I got rid of nearly everything aviation-related as that was not my interest at that point in my life.

News stories like AF447 or even QF32, to a lesser extent, where things that hardly registered in my brain. Did I worry and overthink it, no, I was too busy getting on with everything else in my life.

Why did I come back to it? One, because I had a lot more room in my life for it, also, I have more increasing freedom of means ($) to do more with my passion and hobby, and, new technologies like FR24 came along. Actually, there doesn't have to be a reason. It can just tap you on the shoulder and say, I am back, here I am. Make the most of it.

You sound like you really need a break from it - the flight simming for one. Have a look at another aspect of aviation you may not have explored if you don't consciously want to walk away from it.

mrromalley wrote:

I think most youth with an interest in aviation go through this. My advice is follow your heart. Have a social life and experience new things but believe me you will always find your way back. Maybe just limit your sim time for a while. Too much of anything is bad. Go out and get laid.

LOL. That should take your mind of it.

Well here is my two cents for what its not worth. I loved airplanes since before I could talk, as I grew up all I knew was that I was going to be a pilot almost like that was my whole purpose in life. I started taking lessons when I was 14 and soloed when I was 16, see well on my way to being a pilot. I was your A typical airplane nerd, I was the kid that on a DC-10 flight was in my seat with a map and compass plotting our course over the water, yes total nerd I know. But then the shoe dropped, I was 17 went to get my second class medical and could not because my vision was not good enough. Here I am 17 and finding out flying professionally isn't going to happen. I went off to college with no idea what I wanted to do because all I knew was flying, during my second year in college I was hired at a company to fuel the freighter aircraft early in the morning at the airport, what was only going to be a part time job while I finished college became a full time job that I did for over 10 years, but then Sept 11 happened and I could see the writing on the wall, and because I was getting sick of the politics within the company I was at and the 60-80 hour weeks I decided it was time for me to leave and so I went back to school for IT. Once I left the airline industry and was back in school, I just lost that fire inside for aviation and for almost two years I had nothing at all to do with airplanes, but as quick as it went away my love for it was back and so here I am a desk jockey with a love for aviation, I miss the ramp, and being around the airplanes and hope someday to once again be able to do something just part time, just to be around the airplanes but not be so involved it becomes a job again. If you had that interest chances are its still there but live life and don't sweat it, if it comes back great and if it doesn't no sweat.

Hi ConcourseB,

I just joined this forum after reading this post of yours. I'm sending this around 6 months later, but are you still not feeling the same about aviation? I was reading through your initial post and replies, and I can sadly relate at this moment in time. I have my PPL and I am seriously looking to apply to CTC Wings for their integrated ATPL programme, however I am struggling with holding onto the passion. Flying is all I've ever wanted to do and even now, I can't see myself doing anything else....I want to be up there ^ but something is not right and I feel really empty.
If you are still hanging around this forum, send me a message because I'd love to talk.

In spite of being based near NYC - what with its diversity of airlines and non-stop destinations - the cream of the crop for me is still Russia/CIS. Soviet/Russian-made aircraft are a primary reason for my desire to visit that part of the world. Aeroflot/S7/Rossiya aren't too interesting anymore (at least aircraft-wise), but there are plenty of other choices and abandoned birds out there that are beckoning.

nb visiting North Korea a few years ago first introduced me to Tupolev and Ilyushin.

This website does tend to kill off people's aviation bug- specially photography related. Their standards are unrealistically high and...well...do not make me speak much. Go and see for yourself what Reddit has to say.
I signed up to submit photographs, but after many rejections, stopped clicking altogether (did not know about other sites back then), since I do not have the time nor the resources to get the million quid cameras that one needs to get pictures through the screening process.

But hell, I am a techno-phobic geezer. Don't listen to me. I still come here for the fora discussions and to, of course, look at the pictures others have posted. Not a bad experience, I would say.

planeophilic wrote:

This website does tend to kill off people's aviation bug- specially photography related. Their standards are unrealistically high and...well...do not make me speak much. Go and see for yourself what Reddit has to say.
I signed up to submit photographs, but after many rejections, stopped clicking altogether (did not know about other sites back then), since I do not have the time nor the resources to get the million quid cameras that one needs to get pictures through the screening process.

But hell, I am a techno-phobic geezer. Don't listen to me. I still come here for the fora discussions and to, of course, look at the pictures others have posted. Not a bad experience, I would say.

I used to spot at LHR whilst I was living there from 2004-2007; I was an American studying at King's College London. On many a Saturday I went out to LHR on the Piccadilly line from Russell Square (my local tube stop) with my camera and shot thousands of photos of (mostly) 27L arrivals from a spot on Myrtle Avenue. I tried to submit photos to A.net then, but I could never meet the impossibly high standards for acceptance of photos. I only got 4 photos--total--on A.net, in 2006, when I was fortunate to get a decent camera (Fujifilm S5600, not quite a DSLR). Back then, digital cameras were still in their infancy and I was completely new to anything digital (my first digital camera was a crappy point-and-shoot I bought in 2004 before I left the USA for London). DSLRs were light-years away for me financially (and most of them still are today). I gave up on submitting photos to A.net (but tried other avphoto sites like Jetphotos, and got quite a few on Jetphotos). What I ended up doing was just going to the local photo shop and printing off all my photos from the camera's memory card. For a while, I went back to film--shooting with a Nikon N65 SLR--and got much better quality photos with that than with digital cameras (which were barely starting to evolve then). I shot at other UK airports whilst living in the UK those 3 years. I still have a box (and two small plastic bags) full of thousands of prints of photos taken during those 3 years, that I still hang onto (but would like to sell as many as I can at the next Airliners International convention coming in June 2017 at DEN).

But since I got back to the USA in 2007, I have rarely taken the time to go to airports just to shoot photos--due to lack of time (much busier now) and most US airports are harder to get to, with most cities lacking public transport to airports. Airplanes are also quite tricky to shoot once they are airborne, especially since I still do not have big enough lenses for the distance. New DSLRs are still too dear for me to afford. I take photos with a quite old (possibly first-generation) Canon digital Rebel (300D) that I found for $70 in a local pawnshop with an 18-55mm lens, far too short for shooting planes at any distance other than nearby on the ramp at an airport if I happen to taxi by one when travelling. I still lack the confidence to do serious A.net level avphotography.

My photography hobby mainly focuses on architecture, history, and other interesting subjects, and I'm in a city all the time now for that.

Other than photography, I still love aviation (I still look up when I hear a jet flying overhead), especially Boeing 747s (my all-time favourite since age 7 or 8 when I discovered a love for planes). However my passion has dimmed a bit, due to the lack of variety of planes (due to standardisation of planes to twinjets with the cookie-cutter tube-and-wings design) and the fact they all look alike (just as cars all look bland and boring and practically identical to me today). There is also a dearth of interest and variety among the US carriers due to bland-isation of branding and product and service. Flying commercial used to be an adventure for me back in the day, but with the advent of TSA, as well as the nickel-and-dime fees for everything and devolving customer service, it has become a chore. I have used my NEXUS/GE (and associated TSA PreCheck benefit) to ease and shorten my time in security and customs (to get it overwith ASAP). I have taken to packing a carryon only if at all possible to avoid paying fees to check a bag. Once in a while I'm fortunate to find a smashing deal on first or business class that is competitive with Y, and take advantage of that to skip the nickel-and-diming whilst enjoying the rare pleasure of an inflight meal and comfortable seat in F or business class.

I have found that cruising (as in cruise ships) is the most relaxing way to travel (been on 3 cruises so far, and 3 in the future). I am seriously thinking (if I have the opportunity to move back the the UK/Europe) of using Cunard Line's flagship Queen Mary 2 to cross the pond as my means of relocating there, instead of taking the usual transatlantic redeye flight (and thus avoid the hassle and jetlag).

To find real magic in flight, one has to look away from the chore of commercial flying and focus on pure flight (taking a Cessna up for a flight) and the history of flight (visiting airshows and flight museums for example); I have rekindled my love of planes in these various ways outside of commercial flight.

I mentioned the 747 is my all-time favourite; I still dream of taking the controls of one at least once in my life just for the sheer pleasure of it. Due to my physical challenges (with sight and hearing), I've always known I would never be able to fly professionally (civil or military), but I still dream of taking full control of a plane (Cessna or 747) just for the pure joy of flying. I wouldn't mind having a 747 for my own BBJ

SmithAir747

My case is kind of the other way around:

I don't think I was ever really interested in aviation before, but now I started to consider becoming a pilot as a possible career choice.

The problem is that I hear about all these people who dreamt about becoming pilots when they were young, and building model planes and all that... but I never was one of those people. It's not that I hated the idea of flying, I actually did like it (but then again, don't most people like it?), it's just that it was never my main interest. When I was young, I remember wanting to become an astronomer, astronaut, paleontologist, volcanologist, architect, engineer... but never a pilot.

You see, I'm really worried about choosing the right career for myself, and I strongly believe that my career should be what I consider to be my sole purpose on this Earth, what I was made for, what my passion is, something that I have always dreamed of doing. And that's where my idea about becoming a pilot comes in, I never really even considered it up until now. I feel like it would be a great job, I feel like it could suit me, but I just feel unsure about whether it is 'my sole purpose in life'.

I also kind of feel like I'm forcing a passion for aviation onto myself because I want to be a pilot now.

So what do you guys think? Is becoming a pilot the right thing for me?

Georgeushakov wrote:

So what do you guys think? Is becoming a pilot the right thing for me?

Take a flying lesson and see if you still like it. Don't do it for the money.

Hi Aviator,

No need to struggle for your love because it in you.
keep doing with what you do for aviation as simulator practice and all.
Just challenge your self for every sortie while going with simulator.
also there are so many things in aviation so keep doing it. because its right time to go with its and whatever happens with others not necessary that will happen with you. its your choice whether you win or loose doesn't really matter.
I saw a video of a baker who become F-22 pilot must watch on you tube.

Don't worry about losing your passion for something. Either it was just a phase, or it will come back to you later in life. I can't even tell you how many things I was passionate about in my youth, and then lost interest for a while, or forever...

I was in love with Aviation as a young man, but fell out of love with the hobby in college. Honestly, with everything going on in my life, aviation and airliners were the last thing I cared about. It wasn't until a few years ago that my love for aviation was sparked again. I had booked a last minute trip over to Europe to meet a friend of mine, and when I got to Newark to connect onto my Lufthansa 747, my love for aviation came flowing right back. I had never been on a 747 before, and knowing that I was about to fly on this beauty brought all of the love and passion right back. Since that trip, i've taken 20+ trips across the atlantic on everything from Airbus A330 / Boeing 767 / A-340 / Boeing 787 / Boeing 777, etc...

Don't worry about not caring about something right now. Just enjoy life.

Hi there!

I'm a teenager too, so I kind of get you here. I very much am still completely and utterly blindly in love with aviation, and I wanna become a pilot as well, but I've had my downs. Maybe you get interested in it again, maybe not. Who cares? As long as you're feeling good then it doesn't matter if you like planes or anything else. Or if you wanna get back I'll say (contrary to what most others will) that this is the golden age of aviation with several new (and sexy looking) planes, more comfortable seats in premium classes which are now more affordable, entertainment for those 15-hour flights, and aviation being the safest form of travel etc. And considering where I come from the 100k required for a pilot job is next to a lottery in chances of happening and with all the negativity in forums, the news, what the general public thinks etc. it can be hard. But it'll probably come back to you eventually.

I lost interest in aviation too as a teenager, probably around aged 15-16 or so. It happens and I wouldn't worry about it, you are just experiencing life as a grown up, and especially at your age, hormonal influences and peer pressure tend to guide you into more stereotypical 'teenage modes'. The chances are you will re-visit your passion later in life, I did. I got back into aviation again aged around 31, by chance after encountering an abandoned Airliner World magazine on a train journey. A quick flick through some pages and suddenly I found myself really back to where I once was and nothing has changed ever since, some 15 years later. As other's have suggested, go with the flow for now and see where life takes you.