22 Year Old Helicopter C.F.I.... INTRIGUED!

The Lorax

New Member
Hello everyone,

Looks like a decently active forum you have here, don't mind if I join!

I'm a 22 year old C.F.I. for helicopters. The market for flight instructor jobs is very bad (I don't have a job). I am going to school at Utah Valley University (online degree) for a Bachelor's in Aviation Administration. I have done some research over the past few days about the Flight Dispatching career. Naturally, I have some questions for all of you!


1. Being 22, what are my options as far as working before I am 23? I JUST turned 22 a week ago. I wouldn't mind starting as a Customer Service rep at an airline just to get my foot in the door (or anything else for that matter).

2. I live in Houston, TX. I would like to avoid trying to relocate as much as possible. Being 22, I figure that I would have maybe a year to search for a job around me. This isn't a problem for me. Are there plenty of carriers that operate out of Houston? Austin? Dallas?

3. Being a Certified Flight Instructor seems like it might help to get a rookie job. But do you think it will skew employers thoughts on me for my licenses to be in Helicopters? (Also, will my prospective degree choice help?)

4. My main concern is being able to stay in TEXAS, I have obligations here. Is this realistic if I'm willing to wait for a year?



Thanks in advance everyone, I know you get tons of these newbie questions but I figure that I can bring a different perspective being 22 and wanting to get a head start.

--The Lorax
 
Hello everyone,

Looks like a decently active forum you have here, don't mind if I join!

I'm a 22 year old C.F.I. for helicopters. The market for flight instructor jobs is very bad (I don't have a job). I am going to school at Utah Valley University (online degree) for a Bachelor's in Aviation Administration. I have done some research over the past few days about the Flight Dispatching career. Naturally, I have some questions for all of you!


1. Being 22, what are my options as far as working before I am 23? I JUST turned 22 a week ago. I wouldn't mind starting as a Customer Service rep at an airline just to get my foot in the door (or anything else for that matter).

2. I live in Houston, TX. I would like to avoid trying to relocate as much as possible. Being 22, I figure that I would have maybe a year to search for a job around me. This isn't a problem for me. Are there plenty of carriers that operate out of Houston? Austin? Dallas?

3. Being a Certified Flight Instructor seems like it might help to get a rookie job. But do you think it will skew employers thoughts on me for my licenses to be in Helicopters? (Also, will my prospective degree choice help?)

4. My main concern is being able to stay in TEXAS, I have obligations here. Is this realistic if I'm willing to wait for a year?



Thanks in advance everyone, I know you get tons of these newbie questions but I figure that I can bring a different perspective being 22 and wanting to get a head start.

--The Lorax

Lorax,

1. Being 22, what are my options as far as working before I am 23? I JUST turned 22 a week ago. I wouldn't mind starting as a Customer Service rep at an airline just to get my foot in the door (or anything else for that matter). Working for an airline at 22 is possible, but I don't think you can work as a dispatcher. Thats federal regulation. In fact, some schools may not even take you until you're at least 23.

2. I live in Houston, TX. I would like to avoid trying to relocate as much as possible. Being 22, I figure that I would have maybe a year to search for a job around me. This isn't a problem for me. Are there plenty of carriers that operate out of Houston? Austin? Dallas? Most carriers in Texas are major (i.e. Southwest, Continental) and if you don't want to relocate for a dispatching job, then dispatching is not for you. I've told others that unless you're willing to relocate anywhere for this job, its not for you. I had to move to Elko, Nevada for my first job. I now live in Phoenix and can't relocate so I'm out of work.

3. Being a Certified Flight Instructor seems like it might help to get a rookie job. But do you think it will skew employers thoughts on me for my licenses to be in Helicopters? (Also, will my prospective degree choice help?) Not sure, maybe someone else can give you an insight on this. I don't think it should matter, because as long as you have a dispatcher license, your there to do a dispatching job only.

4. My main concern is being able to stay in TEXAS, I have obligations here. Is this realistic if I'm willing to wait for a year? Its obvious that you cannot leave Texas for this job, so I would honestly say that dispatching is not for you. This is an extremely tough industry to get into right now. Lots of folks are struggling in this industry right now trying to get jobs and trying to stay in jobs. If you're not able to move for this job, then you would be wasting your money getting the license.

This is just my 0.02 cents.

Goodluck to you
 
Thanks for the quick reply and advice. I wonder when the industry will pick up again...

Does it just depend on the economy and how many people are traveling by air? If so, hopefully in the next couple years things will pick up and people will start flying more.

Well, anyways, is anyone else in a similar position as myself? As far as age goes. I'm curious how many younger people are actively pursuing this career. I feel as if helicopters right now are clogged up with young folks waiting for all the old Vietnam vets to finally hang up the towel.

One more Question though... if I were to get a job at Southwest or a major in Houston, would the chances of my getting a dispatch job with them rise considerably if I were to get all of the necessary qualifications while working for them? If that's possible I would definitely be more apt to pursue.

As far as everything else with my perspective careers, I guess I'll just wait!
 
I am just wondering about the story that ends with you being 22 with enough time for a rotor commercial and CFI
 
You should hear about my old CFI, he wasn't even 21 when he got a job at one of the largest operators in the Gulf of Mexico: Era.

I got started when I was 19 and finished everything November 2008, 3 months after my 21st birthday. I haven't done a single hour of instruction. It's near impossible to find a job with less than 500 hrs Total Time.
 
And you get total time by instructing right? What are your thoughts on flying in the army?

Wow, ok so i'm not even addressing the dispatching questions. Sorry if I'm not contributing anything.
 
no army for me. total time is just total time in the helicopter.



Has anyone started low in a major (Southwest/continental) as a customer service rep and worked into flight dispatching?
 
Well, anyways, is anyone else in a similar position as myself? As far as age goes. I'm curious how many younger people are actively pursuing this career. I feel as if helicopters right now are clogged up with young folks waiting for all the old Vietnam vets to finally hang up the towel.

I just turned 23 and got my CFI ASE last month. It took me forever because of my airplane situation and college, but two years ago when I was finishing my commercial some flight schools were begging for CFIs and even paying for additional training. It's crazy how things have changed but I'm keeping my chin up through all of this, and working on my CFII to make myself more marketable. But the bottom line is I'm a low time pilot and I don't know how much more $$$ I can put into this to get into the industry. But I'm also working on my degree through ERAU to get a degree with a specialization in aviation safety, so maybe I can get an entry level position in that field...only time will tell.
 
Has anyone started low in a major (Southwest/continental) as a customer service rep and worked into flight dispatching?

Most of the time it is very hard to move up internally into flight control/ dispatch because most of the other jobs (crew scheduling, CSR, reservations, etc.) are not very technical to aviation and candidates that do move up have a high wash out rate with training for dispatch. Obviously every airline is different and there are weird special circumstances.

btw Continental is looking for crew schedulers right now.
 
There is a place in Houston, I believe it is called Universal Weather that does dispatching for part 91 and maybe some 135. Haven't heard much about them, good or bad. But again you need to be 23 to dispatch. I also think you can take the class/test and can be employed as an assistant until you reach 23 but that depends on the company.

Also try Colt International Flight Operations

Best of Luck

F9DXER
 
Hello everyone,

Looks like a decently active forum you have here, don't mind if I join!

I'm a 22 year old C.F.I. for helicopters. The market for flight instructor jobs is very bad (I don't have a job). I am going to school at Utah Valley University (online degree) for a Bachelor's in Aviation Administration. I have done some research over the past few days about the Flight Dispatching career. Naturally, I have some questions for all of you!


1. Being 22, what are my options as far as working before I am 23? I JUST turned 22 a week ago. I wouldn't mind starting as a Customer Service rep at an airline just to get my foot in the door (or anything else for that matter).

2. I live in Houston, TX. I would like to avoid trying to relocate as much as possible. Being 22, I figure that I would have maybe a year to search for a job around me. This isn't a problem for me. Are there plenty of carriers that operate out of Houston? Austin? Dallas?

3. Being a Certified Flight Instructor seems like it might help to get a rookie job. But do you think it will skew employers thoughts on me for my licenses to be in Helicopters? (Also, will my prospective degree choice help?)

4. My main concern is being able to stay in TEXAS, I have obligations here. Is this realistic if I'm willing to wait for a year?



Thanks in advance everyone, I know you get tons of these newbie questions but I figure that I can bring a different perspective being 22 and wanting to get a head start.

--The Lorax

I would agree that you should be flexible with your move options if you're trying to get into dispatching. For my first job, I moved to New England all the way from New Mexico. However, there are SOME regional airlines that operate in Texas...American Eagle, in Dallas, and ExpressJet, in Houston, come to mind...but you can't count on one of them making you an offer. American Eagle had furloughs recently so they aren't hiring, and one of their dispatch offices is in Puerto Rico. I don't think ExpressJet is hiring right now either. As I recall, Dallas had a number of other small carriers and cargo outfits...but when you first get your license, and don't have any experience, you really have to be willing to move wherever you get an offer in order to get some experience.

As far as your license, you can complete the course before you're 23, but it's unlikely you could find work before you turn 23. Your degree and ratings definitely wouldn't hurt in showing employers you are serious about aviation, but the most important thing is to get experience...which is to say, if it's a choice between someone with a degree and someone with a few years of experience dispatching, usually the job would go to someone with the experience dispatching (at least, this is what I've encountered.) Now, regional carriers do hire people without experience quite often, so don't get discouraged about not having any, but major airlines don't.

Good luck with your aviation career!
 
Has anyone started low in a major (Southwest/continental) as a customer service rep and worked into flight dispatching?

I hear that Southwest, Delta, FedEx and many others do like to hire internally for dispatch...however, I've never worked at an airline as anything other than a dispatcher, so I don't know what's involved in transitioning. At my current airline (which is a major) we have had people move from flight operations or load planning into dispatching...also one or two people from crew scheduling but that doesn't happen quite as often. However, as with most airlines right now, we're not actively hiring...so what I am saying is, if you get on with Southwest as a ramp agent and work in operations at the airport for a while, you may be doing that for a few years before there are any openings in dispatch that you can apply for.
 
And you get total time by instructing right? What are your thoughts on flying in the army?

Wow, ok so i'm not even addressing the dispatching questions. Sorry if I'm not contributing anything.

I thought it was an excellent contribution. Reserve/National Guard. . .either are excellent options short term depending upon the caliber/demeanor of the person.
 
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