I'm a pilot (well, currently I'm an Assistant Chief Flight Instructor at a mid-sized aviation college). But I have flown professionally, at both a commercial airline and a smaller corperate-charter operator.
I think you've already discovered the prime issue with flight training;
It's expensive! Currently a full-time aviation student at our university average's somewhere in the region of $35,000-$40,000 per year. After four years, they emerge with approximately 250 hours of flight time and a Commercial Pilot- Airplane Single and Multi-Engine certificate. That's ~$120,000 for a degree, and the necessary certificate's and ratings to be employed as a pilot.
Can it be done cheaper? Absolutely. If you stay at a local flight school to work your way through the certificates and ratings to the same point as our graduates get, costs will approach the $50,000-60,000 range. However, it should be noted, at a college or university: financial aid in the form of loans, grants, and scholarships are more easily attainable.
How to start: well, this is easy. First I recommend you visit
AOPA , where you'll find a great bunch of resources for getting started in aviation. Click on the "Learn to Fly" area. Then, go flying. See if it's really something you'd be interested in. Flying is a lot of fun and very rewarding, but also a great deal of work, that carries fairly heavy responsibilities. This is especially true if you plan to work as a commercial pilot.
Another (cheaper) option for learning to fly is the military. However, military pilot spots have become very competative, and usually require lengthy sign-on times. This is directly because of the prohibitive costs of training pilots. So if you don't want to devote 15-20 years of your life to the military, this probably isn't the best option.
If you're looking for a career, now is actually a very interesting time in aviation. Most airlines are not doing very well financially. For the past few months, this has stopped hiring at most regional airlines. However, as the major airlines (your Delta's, United's, etc.) retire pilots at an alarming rate, this trend cannot continue for long. Projections for 10-20 year intervals show a significant lack of pilots. I have seen this myself as hiring minimums (the amount of time needed to get a job as a first officer) for regional airlines (usually the first job new aviators get after flight instructing) have dropped significantly. And yes, I do have "Do not Fly" lists of airlines just because of some of the pilots I have personally known that work there.
I started flying in high school. I had a job as a fueler/washer at the local airport that paid for my beginning lessons. I loved it, and soon I could see no other logical career path. I went to a college for aeronautical science (sometimes called flight operations) bachelor's degree. After 4 years and 100,000, I emerged with a freshly minted commercial pilot certificate and a degree. I flight instructed for approximately 2 years and then landed (what I thought was a dream job) a first officer position at a regional airline. Then Sept. 11th happened. The airlines laid off pilots quicker than ever before. Being a new-hire, of course, I lost my job shortly thereafter.
I went back to the college I attented to flight instruct more, and now have found myself in a very interesting position of being a hotly traded commodity in aviation; a flight instructor with some experience! Now I am involved in curriculum development, new aircraft testing/training, and the training of our instructors. While it isn't where I though I'd end up, I am very happy with my current job (and am making more money than most of those flying regional airliners as either captain or first officer).
Sorry if I ranted for too long. Like I was saying earlier, if you are interested getting started in aviation, check out AOPA, as they have some phenomenal resources. Otherwise, just get down to the local airport and talk to some pilots. Arrange yourself a 1 hr flight lesson to see how you like it. You don't have to (and I wouldn't) commit to any training regimen immediately. Just be aware that the price of training is directly proportional to the cost of gasoline....
But like I said earlier, it's a blast. It's also very difficult work and requires a great deal of judgement, decision making, and multi-tasking. Overall, just get out there and do it!
