Suggestions needed for pilot career

James331 said:
I’m not sure about the regionals, but the 135/91 world it’s pretty easy to find a six figure job if you got like 2k tt and a ATP.
Click to expand...
I've heard of that happening more than once in my area....
 
CC268 said:
texasclouds - if you don't make it, I'm sure James will give you a job washing his float plane for $5.
Click to expand...

Unless he’s a cute chick in a binki...no :)
 
James331 said:
I’m not sure about the regionals, but the 135/91 world it’s pretty easy to find a six figure job if you got like 2k tt and a ATP.
Click to expand...
Could you provide examples of said jobs? Equipment and schedules?
 
hindsight2020 said:
Could you provide examples of said jobs? Equipment and schedules?
Click to expand...

Think most of the folks I ran into at FSI we’re working half the year, falcons, gulfsteams, etc

Had a unsolicited LR offer, week on and off, like 110 or 120ish, but it was closer it a nasty city, was like a year ago at a airport I was waiting around at.

I haven’t been looking too hard into it as I wasn’t interested.


https://m.facebook.com/groups/708388075887188?ref=bookmarks


Also hear that most of the higher time float drivers in AK clear six figures.
 
I like my current aerial photography flying job, but there are definitely days from time to time when it’s just a job - in my case usually when it’s too hot out, too cold out, or when we are down low over a city and something isn’t right. I think I’d be bored boring straight lines in the sky unless there was a customer service aspect to the job.
To the original posters first question, if you can afford a Cessna 150, do it.
 
Last edited:
RyanShort1 said:
I think I’d be bored boring straight lines in the sky unless there was a customer service aspect to the job.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that. One of the recurring complaints on the fighter side is the lack of sense of mission in civilian employment transitions. Which is why you see some of these folks gravitate to aerial fire fighting, LE work (sometimes even non-flying LE work outright) et al, in spite of the lower aggregate pay. I share that conundrum when it comes to the thought of post-military flying. In my case, my affinity to the "mission focus" is specialized flight instruction, but the pay is a non-starter in the civilian world. It's simply not a valued skillset as it is in the military. Tactical OT/DT testing is rather limited in the civilian sector (especially for a non-TPS grad) and largely saturated on the labor pool side (again, the myth of pilot shortages), so it just isn't in the cards as a probable outcome.

I enjoy what I do, and I recognize the statistical outlier nature to this opportunity in life. But it is still a job. I'm obviously content with that opportunity cost, but I wouldn't do this ---t full-time for 50K/yr. And that's the bottom line. FUPM :D
 
No I can't. I do know that the Regionals are getting more applicants than they can process right now with very lengthy training delays.
 
My best advice is to let the members of PoA decide your career choices for you. These guys are the best of the best, across all industries, and they know what’s best for you. So listen up! The old adage comes to mind, “the internet knows best”.
 
I am sure that there is a bottleneck in the training arena, but that would be because they aren’t setup to train larger groups.
 
And yes, once you hit 1500 hours there are a lot of jobs out there. The real bottleneck are better paying jobs for experienced pilots.
 
Grum.Man said:
Go spend some time on forums for professional pilots. I'm not saying you shouldn't continue towards your goal, just don't want you to think there is a golden ticket all of the sudden.
Click to expand...

Oh man...Grum just finished you off and sent you over to APC. Get your helmet and boots on buddy cause your about to walk through ****ville! Hahaha. You ever noticed how it’s literally about a dozen guys who run the show over there? That place is a comic show.
 
CC268 said:
Oh man...Grum just finished you off and sent you over to APC. Get your helmet and boots on buddy cause your about to walk through ****ville! Hahaha. You ever noticed how it’s literally about a dozen guys who run the show over there? That place is a comic show.
Click to expand...

I certainly don't recommend spending any significant amount of time on that site as it want take you long to have your hopes beat down. If you read between the lines though it does show the current trends. I would wager that most of the people there aren't GA guys and instead are people who got into the gig just for the money and perceived easy going lifestyle.
 
Grum.Man said:
I certainly don't recommend spending any significant amount of time on that site as it want take you long to have your hopes beat down. If you read between the lines though it does show the current trends. I would wager that most of the people there aren't GA guys and instead are people who got into the gig just for the money and perceived easy going lifestyle.
Click to expand...

I have to admit I posted there a while back (fairly long post), explaining my situation and game plan. I actually had pretty positive feedback, which was an absolute shocker. But yea...if you walk into that place and just post a few sentences saying how you want to become a pilot and make it to the majors in 5 years...your going to get the APC beatdown. IMO, I think the best bet is to stay off the online forums and talk with some folks in person. PoA has been invaluable for learning things, even though you often have to dig through the BS, but I wouldn't be posting my career ambitions on here anymore. I suppose its the nature of online forums.
 
Given the nature of online communications, I don't know that I'd post career ambitions anywhere online. Nor would I start any other online discussion for which I was hoping for mostly positive or supportive comments.
 
Grum.Man said:
No I can't. I do know that the Regionals are getting more applicants than they can process right now with very lengthy training delays.
Click to expand...
Yup. I have a good pilot flying right seat for me right now with 2000+ hours, the multi time, and all the qualifications IMO for the regionals and he put in his applications in March and hasn’t been picked up yet. I’ll believe it when I see it.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Y'all gotta realize that I am 35 years old and not some 19 year old kid that has never worked before. I don't mind busting A to get to where I need to be (of course within reason). If it is the chain gang work for peanuts that you are describing, then I definitely appreciate a heads up.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
Given the nature of online communications, I don't know that I'd post career ambitions anywhere online. Nor would I start any other online discussion for which I was hoping for mostly positive or supportive comments.
Click to expand...

Hey this is a seniority based forum. I see you recently joined, so your comments don't hold as much weight here. Sorry man. Just the nature of the business. But I do agree with you. You are wise beyond your years young man.
 
There’s quite a few career changers at my airline who were miserable doing desk jobs. Now that pay is at a somewhat liveable wage, more and more people have come to the regionals. The grass may be greener or it may not be. Be prepared to have a very crappy schedule and miss a lot of significant events in the beginning. I was fortunate that I never worked any holiday and I never missed any birthday. I held weekends off in my second month of flying.
 
jordane93 said:
There’s quite a few career changers at my airline who were miserable doing desk jobs. Now that pay is at a somewhat liveable wage, more and more people have come to the regionals. The grass may be greener or it may not be. Be prepared to have a very crappy schedule and miss a lot of significant events in the beginning. I was fortunate that I never worked any holiday and I never missed any birthday. I held weekends off in my second month of flying.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll keep on with my training and see what doors open.
 
CC268 said:
It’s a horrible career mate. Stick to your current career. You’ll either end up divorced, dead, or in the slammer
Click to expand...

20 years into the airline industry and I’m happily married (21 years), in better shape than I was at 25, and clean as a whistle!

I love being an airline pilot. I’m a junior captain at a major airline and still get 14-17 days off, lots of weekends. We have to be creative with holidays right now, but in the past 20 years I’ve only missed a handful of holidays. There’s enough variety in schedules that there’s something for everyone (not everyone wants the holidays off, if you can believe that).

Current state of the industry is good for new pilots. Come to Alaska- lots of opportunity here for low time pilots. You can ride shotgun in a Beech 1900 for 12 months, upgrade to captain and be on your way to a major airline within a couple years.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
CC268 said:
Hey this is a seniority based forum. I see you recently joined, so your comments don't hold as much weight here.
Click to expand...
That's ok. My comments don't really hold much weight anywhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top