Am I in way over my head?

searcher profile

August 31, 2025

by a searcher from Boston College in Scottsdale, AZ, USA

I am a commercial pilot looking to get into ETA. While I understand the consensus is to quit one's job to dedicate all time and resources to the search, I can't help but wonder if this is something I can pursue while maintaining my career as a pilot. My schedule provides me with an inordinate amount of flexibility. I work 14 days a month, with the ability to drop days as needed. Moreover, many of my "working" days are spent sitting at home on reserve, where I only get called in to fly maybe 10% of the time. As such, I am able to dedicate 40+ hours a week to searching and ultimately running a business. That free time is in addition to the hours spent up at cruise where I can respond to emails, parse through deals, scrape data, etc. My intention is to have ETA be my main career with aviation as my side career. Here are the biggest obstacles I see: 1. Lack of 100% availability, both in the search and running the business. To solve for this problem in running the business, I plan to search for one that either has a manger already in place, or has enough EBITDA and sound enough structure where I can build a management team. 2. Less competitive buyer profile. If a seller encounters two identical offers between myself and another searcher, there rational choice is to go with the searcher who has 100% of their time to running the business. Moreover, I do not hold an MBA nor am I fresh out of a management or finance job. Though I do have experience managing a small business in a previous career. 3. My search will be restricted to businesses that can be managed mostly remote. I am on the road with aviation, therefore I cannot always be at the business to put out the fires. I have enough capital and interested investors, coupled with an SBA loan, to provide the financing for an acquisition. I'm just curious about how foolish I might be to pursue this given my circumstances. What other obstacles might I see? Has anyone here done ETA in addition to maintaining another career or while owning and operating another business?
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commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Saginaw Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Where there is a will, there is a way. You can 100% pursue ETA and manage your role as a pilot. What matters is the effort you put into it. It sounds like you have narrowed down your search criteria and have the investors/loans to back what you want. What is really stopping you from going after it? The biggest hurdle I had with ETA was my limiting beliefs, once I let go of that, working extra hours to pursue ETA, juggle a full-time job and an NFP became easy. Also, a lot of faith. Don't give up. You got this, you are not foolish.
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in Laramie, WY, USA
Doing your search while working full-time is a great way to go. Running a company while having a second full-time job, I would see as very difficult.
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