RE: Should I get a pilots license?
Well, I'm 52 with BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the University of Maine at Orono (class of '83). At graduation there were no engineering positions except for paper company work and the top students in my class went there. I worked retail and manual labor jobs for several years while getting married and starting a family a few years later. I didn't gat a salaried engineering position until 1985. Once my son was in high school, I got my private pilots license in 2004. If I'd had the chance to start flying when I was 15 I would have jumped at it! Learning to fly is a great education in itself with both the technical aspects of flying, aerodynamics, airspace, FAA rules and regulations plus the discipline required to learn, ask questions, make critical decisions in all the areas of flight.
Should you get a pilots license? Well, not unless your career plans are aviation based I guess.
Would getting your pilots license be a great educational experience as well as one of the most fun and challenging adventures you could try? Yes!
In 2004 my license took most of a year and cost about $6500.
I rent from the local airport at $110 hour including fuel. I have a special savings account that has money from every paycheck deposited into it just for flying.
Learning to fly will never get less expensive, only more as prices continue to rise.
This past Spring I flew in a glider south of Miami, Fl with an instructor who just turned 18 that day and he was one of the nicest young men I'd ever met. Very compitent and confident and an excellent instructor. He'd started flying gliders at age 15 and had his pilots license as well so it can be done.
Good luck and clear skies!
Jaybird