[Howard Yang]

Hello, this is my first post on this forum. It seems to be pretty much focused on people intent on becoming pilots.

However, my question is a little further back along the timeline. I am actually still a high school student, and thinking about my future career path. Ever since I was young, I have always had a fascination with flying and airplanes. I have been using Microsoft's Flight Simulator X for about 3 or 4 years now, and I still never get sick of it. I hope to become a commercial pilot one day in the future.

Unfortunately, my parents aren't exactly 100% supportive in this matter. They think that my interest in aviation is only temporary, and if I really must pursue it in the future, I should become and aeronautical engineer and work at NASA, etc. However, I find the thought of sitting at a desk looking at computer models all day rather repugnant.

I've agreed, however, that I should go to an engineering school to study Aeronautical Engineering, such as Georgia Tech, Purdue, or even M.I.T. However, I'm worried that if I spend all my time learning engineering, I'll be too far behind the other prospective pilots my age who attending flight school or aviation school. However, if aviation falls through for me, I'll still have a backup plan of engineering.

So, after that long narrative, my question boils down to this: Am I kidding myself with this? Should I just become and engineer? Or do you think, as a pilot or one applying to be, that I have a chance at flying the Big Iron someday?

Thanks,
-Howard Yang