Step 1 - Deciding to Become a Pilot

I first thought about becoming a pilot in early 2001, when I was a junior at Knox College. Until that point, I considered myself pre-law, until I took a class in Constitutional Law, and realized I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being a lawyer. That left me with a mostly-completed bachelor of arts degree in Economics and International Relations; I wasn't interested in pursuing either field as a career.

I thought about all of the things I would be excited to do, and I kept coming back to being a pilot. I had always wanted to fly, and for Christmas one year my future wife bought me a 2 hour intro flight at Palwaukee aiport. Needless to say, this cemented the idea of being a pilot into my consciousness. I knew I wanted to do it, and I knew I would think of my job as fun.

Unfortunately, as I was to discover, flight school cost a whole lot. Waaaay more than I expected it to. I started looking into it, and decided that unless I wanted to become an airline pilot, I probably wasn't going to be able to afford to fly. So a few months after I got the bug, I logicked my way out of that career plan. But the bug didn't die...