Looking to spark some ideas

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AerialsSoUpHigh

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AerialsSoUpHigh
I'm looking for suggestions, or perhaps a reality check (lol)

I'm a guy with 3k hrs TT (with ATP reqs met), so a fair amount of time but not entrenched-in-a-career level of time. I also have an MBA. I got the MBA after my BS in aviation for a number of reasons but I have always been a business-minded person.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads in life, and I'd really like get involved in the biz side of an aviation company. I would LOVE to get into a company that is doing something new-agey like Reliable Robotics and their pilotless flying (I feel like the growth potential for this kind of thing is massive), but I'd be happy doing in something with a more traditional av company too. My pie-in-the-sky perfect job would be something where I'd be on the business end of the operation, while also doing some flying too.

I'm wondering if you folks have any ideas on how to find a cool company (or just cool companies in general) to get involved with. I don't need some high up position, I'd much rather get into a great company with good opportunity in a lesser capacity and (assuming they know how to take care of their people) move into a mba-appropriate position later on. If there was an aviation-focused job fair or something, that would be the bees knees... but idk where that would be, even if they still did those with the pandemic and all. There might be job boards too but all I know of are the pilot-focused ones.

I guess the other thing is, if I'm being silly and should just get an airline gig or something along those lines, lmk - I don't have a good idea of how it really is these days, other than the general news I catch (ie: pilot shortage: extreme edition, coming soon... but also... unruly/crazy/P.I.T.A. pax while overworked: extreme edition, coming soon)

(and btw, don't feel like I'm trying to ask you folks to do my thinking for me or tell me what to do with my life lol, I'm just feeling out ideas and gathering perspectives) I'm starting here before I wander down to the local airport and just start asking around
 
If possible go to Oshkosh! If you can't go to Oshkosh review the list of vendors that will be in attendance. You should be able to look at websites from there and maybe something that piques your professional interest. Good Luck!
 
idahoflier said:
If possible go to Oshkosh! If you can't go to Oshkosh review the list of vendors that will be in attendance. You should be able to look at websites from there and maybe something that piques your professional interest. Good Luck!
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:yes: Excellent idea, thank god I didn't think to post this after oshkosh this year!! I'm literally making plans to go right now. I want to say "why didn't I think of that??" but, I know why.... cuz that's how I am haha, thats why I posted the question :lol:
 
Another thing you may want to consider is airport management.
 
I think most people shy away from the really cool companies that have dream jobs, so those types of positions are all wide open. Yours for the taking. Go giddit!

Or, in 3000 hrs of flying you haven’t made any great contacts to tap into for a line on one of these pie-in-the-sky dream jobs? I think your idea is outstanding, by the way. I’ve often thought of having a dream job. Good luck!
 
I know a number of guys that flew corporate and charter for various outfits, then eventually split off to build their own 135 or aircraft management companies using the owner network they built over the years. Some had more success than others, but it might be an avenue worth thinking about if you're interested in being active on the business side.
 
somorris said:
Another thing you may want to consider is airport management.
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Hm, this is something I hadn't considered. I'm taking a look at various large airports and it does seem like they have careers pages. Lots of airports to look through, good idea.

Lachlan said:
I’ve often thought of having a dream job.
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:popcorn:I hope its not 'comedian' :popcorn:

kayoh190 said:
I know a number of guys that flew corporate and charter for various outfits, then eventually split off to build their own 135 or aircraft management companies using the owner network they built over the years. Some had more success than others, but it might be an avenue worth thinking about if you're interested in being active on the business side.
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I wonder how to get to know people that are running these kinds of companies? I suppose they post to job boards on occasion, but would just going down the the airport and asking around be more productive? Something more than just dropping a resume, how would one get to know folks doing this kind of thing?
 
Depending on how far & hard, coming to Oshkosh is always a great idea for an aviation enthusiast.

Other factors with career changes can be family, age & how mobile one is, willingness to relocate is almost essential.

Once piloting at an airline there are often plenty of ‘management’ positions one can move towards. A few like doing that, the others are content on the line.
 
sourdough44 said:
Depending on how far & hard, coming to Oshkosh is always a great idea for an aviation enthusiast.

Other factors with career changes can be family, age & how mobile one is, willingness to relocate is almost essential.

Once piloting at an airline there are often plenty of ‘management’ positions one can move towards. A few like doing that, the others are content on the line.
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I'm not sure which is worse... the fact that I've been flying since 06 and never been to airventure, or the fact that I've been to oshkosh multiple times but never during airventure haha. Think this is the year I get my a$$ there for once. As far as willingness to relocate, I'd go anywhere.

About management after flying line, I thought I had heard often times the guys take a bit of a paycut to do that? Then again, that never made sense to me... why work more hours with more responsibility for less pay? Then again, many things in the aviation realm never made full sense :rolleyes:
 
sourdough44 said:
How fare are you from OSH?
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315nm by bird, 355sm by horse, so not bad either way, just depends if I wanna fly up. I'm used to work-flying in high stress situations but flying into airventure intimidates even me having never done it, so I'm not sure on that. I guess theres probably youtube vids of it so maybe if it doesn't seem so bad, I would. I'd much rather fly than drive, 11hrs in a car is not my favorite thing when I'm thinking 'this would be less than 3 if I'd flown...' the whole time haha
 
Love the music taste :thumbsup:

Don't have much else to offer, except that I recently heard a friend talk of one of their friends who has a plane down in Florida, and does nothing but fly people back and forth (and all around) the Bahamas.
You might get both sides of the business that way, and meet some cool folks.
Plus it'd be your business, so you could make it as cool as you want.

Or better yet, create a new company that builds safe, inexpensive, great looking, efficient, super fast cruise, super slow stall, high useful load, low insurance rate, roomy comfortable aircraft.

free your eyes for the eternal prize ;)
 
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AerialsSoUpHigh said:
About management after flying line, I thought I had heard often times the guys take a bit of a paycut to do that? Then again, that never made sense to me... why work more hours with more responsibility for less pay? Then again, many things in the aviation realm never made full sense :rolleyes:
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Our management pilots do make considerably more money, but at least at my airline it's not the kind of management that you're looking to do. None of these guys have the ability to make the sorts of decisions that I get the impression you're wanting to make. I'd imagine it's similar at most if not all airlines of any real size. You're better off on the corporate/charter side IMO.

I generally think that your best path is to get hired and do some flying at the kind of outfit you'd eventually want to run, build a strong network of industry folks, then use the network and your knowledge of what works and what doesn't from an employee perspective to build something from the ground up.
 
If you have a plane, fly into OSH. Just put some thought into the arrival, timing too.
 
Skyrys62 said:
Love the music taste :thumbsup:
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:D Thanks hah

Skyrys62 said:
Don't have much else to offer, except that I recently heard a friend talk of one of their friends who has a plane down in Florida, and does nothing but fly people back and forth (and all around) the Bahamas.
You might get both sides of the business that way, and meet some cool folks.
Plus it'd be your business, so you could make it as cool as you want.
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That would be pretty fun, for sure. Is he doing this just... on his own or did he set a legit certified company up?

Skyrys62 said:
Or better yet, create a new company that builds safe, inexpensive, great looking, efficient, super fast cruise, super slow stall, high useful load, low insurance rate, roomy comfortable aircraft.
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If I had the resources or won the lotto (hard to without playing but hey I found $40 in the street today so who knows!) I would make kits of and/or build mini 1 or 2 person versions of planes that have no business being 1 or 2 person (cri-cri sized Ilya-Muromets or Herc, anyone?) Ah, dreams. The design of something with all those features you listed would have to come after lol (if a quantum-powered AI doesn't beat us all to it).

kayoh190 said:
Our management pilots do make considerably more money, but at least at my airline it's not the kind of management that you're looking to do. None of these guys have the ability to make the sorts of decisions that I get the impression you're wanting to make. I'd imagine it's similar at most if not all airlines of any real size. You're better off on the corporate/charter side IMO.

I generally think that your best path is to get hired and do some flying at the kind of outfit you'd eventually want to run, build a strong network of industry folks, then use the network and your knowledge of what works and what doesn't from an employee perspective to build something from the ground up.
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Hm, that makes a lot of sense, regarding working at a place I'd like to get on the mgmt side of things at. I'll have to look into it more thoroughly, places I'm looking tend to require way more off the bat then, say, the regionals, but I haven't really scoured pilot-specific boards yet. I also worry (in a vague sense) about spending large amounts of time learning the ins-and-outs of how to put the perfect outfit together, only to have something like... reliable robotics come along and perfect a tech that totally changes the nature of the biz. I can pivot pretty quick, but convincing the people with the money is another story. I guess that's one of those things where, you just gotta try anyway though.

I also wonder how you get real, honest opinions about companies doing charter or corporate stuff - I wont name names but there are a couple that I had considered in the past that turned out to have pretty toxic cultures (including getting a friend of mine killed thanks to unchecked goading to do risky things that were ignored or even encouraged by mgmt).

sourdough44 said:
If you have a plane, fly into OSH. Just put some thought into the arrival, timing too.
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If I can swing it, I will. I don't own my own, but I do have access to at least a few. Have you done it? Is it as nutty as it sounds like it gets? I'd prefer not to pull a Roush and have a zillion people watch me oopsie :lol:
 
I think most of the crazy stuff on the Fisk arrival happens Saturday & Sunday. The arrivals are stopped at times for higher priority arrivals, ‘mass arrivals’, military, whatever. When that happens it’s an instant hornets nest.

Not throw in some challenging weather to gum up the works even more.

For the most part, 0715 & later on a weekday, one can waltz right in, land on 27, park in the North 40. Of course there has to be parking room on the field, check ahead. At least that’s what’s been working for me.
 
Yep, lots of networking. Check out the Cool Places to Fly - Airventure sub forum for more tips. I recall they have a career board and maybe a fair. Volunteering there is a great way to meet people too.
 
sourdough44 said:
I think most of the crazy stuff on the Fisk arrival happens Saturday & Sunday. The arrivals are stopped at times for higher priority arrivals, ‘mass arrivals’, military, whatever. When that happens it’s an instant hornets nest.

Not throw in some challenging weather to gum up the works even more.

For the most part, 0715 & later on a weekday, one can waltz right in, land on 27, park in the North 40. Of course there has to be parking room on the field, check ahead. At least that’s what’s been working for me.
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Oh, for sure knowing that I'd make it the plan to come in later in the evening, thanks for that. I'll look more into how it all works as far as calling ahead for parking info and all that. I wonder if they expect this year to be extra busy after the pandemic summer last year.

masloki said:
Yep, lots of networking. Check out the Cool Places to Fly - Airventure sub forum for more tips. I recall they have a career board and maybe a fair. Volunteering there is a great way to meet people too.
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Oh man I got all excited about an airventure career board, but its mostly mechanic/ramp agent type stuff. Even so, its a nice little mix of who is actively looking, so I would think those would be more likely to be receptive to a chat. In any case, I'm definitely going to look for companies to strike up a convo with - even if its just to do a little networking. As far as volunteering, we're probably a little close to show time to get linked up but once I'm there and kind of see how it is, I'm thinking it might be fun to try to look for something to get involved in/with for next year.
 
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