What the hell am I doing here???

Maddog1974

Well-Known Member
:banghead:
So to start off i have to say i love my job. I love the fact that i get to fly and get paid to do it. My wife still hates me for being at ATP, but oh well...i had to get here somehow!

I have this job now with a part 61 outfit. They are working on 141 with hte first inspection out of the way. Needless to say the plane was grounded for a month to get the laundry list fixed. The "company" also flies a King Air 100 for a local owner who wants it on a 135 certificate, also on approach with inspections.

My problem is this...I am a low time pilot. I am freakin out about how to build time. I hear that guys that joined AE just a couple of years ago are loving it. I have ATP grads and Instructor who are woking for AE, Mesaba, etc who love it. I hear that an instructor back in carolina has around 1400 hours and is having a hard time getting a job. I respect my boss, former freight dawg and NJ guy, now a test pilot. He says to stick with them a couple years...instruct...gain time and experience and then launch into the industry.

But i tell you what...regionals are loookin pretty sexy right about now. I would make about the same as i do now with the way the economy is going. So i am wondering...WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?

I know, you can't tell me what will float or sink my boat. But it seems to me that seniority is everything, and connections, and friends, and....
I don't want to go airlines. I am 34, no degree (just part of one), married with kids. I just don't know how to approach the 135 pax, freight, or other world. Stay here and instruct, hope the KA gets busy and they get another AC...

So, any advice would be helpful. BTW, i did go to ATP Flight School, i'm at 360 hours and haven't flown a multi since i got here. Can't find a school with a twin to do free lance and current employer can't afford to get me insurance check out in the twin they have. Sure, as soon as business picks up i get checked out...but I am about to have more single than multi time and i paid a crapload to get that!

So, hit the regionals and see what happens.
OR
Stick to my guns and keep killin bugs in OK?

What would you do?
Got any connections to Tulsa i could bribe away/ sell myself for??
:confused:
__________________________________________________
"You could teach monkeys to fly better than that!"
 
:banghead:
So to start off i have to say i love my job. I love the fact that i get to fly and get paid to do it. My wife still hates me for being at ATP, but oh well...i had to get here somehow!

I have this job now with a part 61 outfit. They are working on 141 with hte first inspection out of the way. Needless to say the plane was grounded for a month to get the laundry list fixed. The "company" also flies a King Air 100 for a local owner who wants it on a 135 certificate, also on approach with inspections.

My problem is this...I am a low time pilot. I am freakin out about how to build time. I hear that guys that joined AE just a couple of years ago are loving it. I have ATP grads and Instructor who are woking for AE, Mesaba, etc who love it. I hear that an instructor back in carolina has around 1400 hours and is having a hard time getting a job. I respect my boss, former freight dawg and NJ guy, now a test pilot. He says to stick with them a couple years...instruct...gain time and experience and then launch into the industry.

But i tell you what...regionals are loookin pretty sexy right about now. I would make about the same as i do now with the way the economy is going. So i am wondering...WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?

I know, you can't tell me what will float or sink my boat. But it seems to me that seniority is everything, and connections, and friends, and....
I don't want to go airlines. I am 34, no degree (just part of one), married with kids. I just don't know how to approach the 135 pax, freight, or other world. Stay here and instruct, hope the KA gets busy and they get another AC...

So, any advice would be helpful. BTW, i did go to ATP Flight School, i'm at 360 hours and haven't flown a multi since i got here. Can't find a school with a twin to do free lance and current employer can't afford to get me insurance check out in the twin they have. Sure, as soon as business picks up i get checked out...but I am about to have more single than multi time and i paid a crapload to get that!

So, hit the regionals and see what happens.
OR
Stick to my guns and keep killin bugs in OK?

What would you do?
Got any connections to Tulsa i could bribe away/ sell myself for??
:confused:
__________________________________________________
"You could teach monkeys to fly better than that!"

I don't think the options are there for you now, do CFI and hope the airlines hire again in the near future. Best of luck!
 
You really need to have more flight time. 360 hours is not a whole lot, and if you want to get into 135 flying, you'll really need the 135 IFR mins to have much of a chance. 1200 TT, etc.

I'd say keep being a CFI until you get more time. Even if you did get on with a regional, you'd be at the bottom of the seniority pole and therefore you may not have much in the way of job security. Besides that, if the airlines are not where you want to go with your careers, then don't go.
 
Dude! You have less than 500 hours... The regional boom stopped, but it was abnormal to begin with. 1200/200 was standard 3 years ago.
 
I got my CFI in 2002, took me a year and a 1000 mile move just to get that crappy CFI job, 4 months later after that a second CFI job and another 1000 mile move to get multi time, another 8 months after that another 2400 mile move and 12 more months instructing to get a decent paycheck, finally got the regional gig, 2.5 years later upgraded and after 5 months downgraded back to the right seat.

I often ask myself "what am I doing" as my HS friends make WAY more money, spend more time at home, drive new cars, have Wii's, iPhones, etc. You're not alone.
 
Mojo that avatar is . . . . disturbing. Nice cod piece. I hope they wiped the seat after he sat there.

To the subject at hand. Not many regionals are hiring. Mesaba maybe? Relatively speaking, like the others said, you are fairly low time. Just keep plugging away, you will get there. I suppose if you can find a regional that will give you an interview then go for it.
As I understand it there are more decent paying jobs for instructors these days. I've heard some pay $40 to 50 K (Someone else could probably verify or dispell that, as I am unplugged from the instructing world.) Perhaps if you can't get into the 121 or 135 world quite yet you might find a better CFI gig that could support your family. It might involve moving. But if the price is right . . . . .
 
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #d1d1e1; COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1>
Regionals are looking sexy right now? = SJS

Stay with the instruction and get some experience. Keep building the hours and try to get some MEI time in the twin. When the market turns around you will have the mins for the regionals. Or once you get to 135 mins try and get on with a freight outfit and build some more experience.

You will look at back at your CFI/MEI and/or 135 time someday and realize you were glad you did it and realize how much it taught you.

Good Luck
 
I'm being sarcastic on the whole "the only thing I learned" bit but yeah living as a first year FO was actually pretty easy.

When most people have zero disposable income I had a hell of a lot!! (it's sad, I know)
 
Your post said, basically:

. . . So i am wondering...WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?
. . .

The way I see it, FWIW: You're a mature and responsible individual with good judgement. . . I see you're 34, with a wife and kids. . . And that you didn't think about this before dropping $60K at ATP? WTF. . . you obviously have too much money to worry. . .
 
I have about 1300 hours of single engine and about 170 multi....whats so bad about that? Most people are like that unless you instruct at ATP...
:yeahthat:

I'm at approximately 1200 Single and 14.2 multi; all of the multi is dual received. I still don't even have a multi engine rating; private or commercial.

Not concerned about it one bit, I will get it when I get it.
 
It is normal ot have more ASEL than AMEL when you are first starting out. The regionals ME requirement goes up and down depending on how the market is doing( usually 50 to a couple of hundred). I had 700 ASEL and only 85 AMEL when I was hired as an FO for a 135 operator.
 
:banghead:
...but I am about to have more single than multi time and i paid a crapload to get that!

__________________________________________________
"You could teach monkeys to fly better than that!"


Hang in there dude.
Someone lied to you when they said 300 hours of multi would be the cats meow on a resume.
100 hours of seminole time or 300 hours of seminole time doesn't matter if you don't have the TT.

What you absolutely need is the minimums. For most that is 100 hours of multi, so "pay your dues" and give 100% while you do it.
 
Jim,

Chill out buddy. Are your airplanes still grounded? Once your school gets the 141 cert. then hopefully you will start getting more students. Go out and buy a book called The Savvy Flight Instructor. It has a lot of great tips on how to get business into your school. Unfortunately for us we were finishing ATP as the boom came to a grinding halt, so now its just a matter of waiting out the down turn. We should be in a great position when they do start hiring again. If its a money thing then try to get a part-time job of the side of instructing. That is what I'm trying to do at the moment. Anyways.... watch what you say about wanting to go the airlines on here, you will probably get flamed by just about everyone that already has the job.
 
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