It's possible, but it's not a fun lifestyle. You live like a stereotypical broke college kid. You have to pay for your initial training, and then you spend seve

It's possible, but it's not a fun lifestyle. You live like a stereotypical broke college kid. You have to pay for your initial training, and then you spend several years instructing to build hours. Instructing pays around $15 an hour or so, but only while the prop is spinning and you're not guaranteed any hours. Once you get 1500 hours you can make the jump to that $21k/yr regional airline job. Getting from your first lesson to this point could be done in 2 years, but that would be pretty quick. Realistically it's going to take 3 or 4. Then you need 1000 hours as pilot in command of a jet to get hired by one of the big airlines. It will probably take 4 to 6 years at a regional airline to get those hours. So all told you've got a large initial investment (not sure on the exact amount, a rough guess would be $75k for all the certs) and 10 years of horrible pay to get a $65k/year job. Eventually you make good money, but it takes a while to get there and if your health or eyesight takes a hit along the way it was all for nothing.