Getting in was easy....how do you get out?

Airdale

Airdale

Well-Known Member
Here's the deal - I've wanted to be an "airline pilot" since I was a kid. Like most I'm sure. Flying has always fascinated me and I've had more than a few moments where the rest of the world goes silent as you are captured by some flying machine lifting from the earth and reaching skyward. I love flying.

The problem is, I've been flying for the airlines since the beginning of 2007. I worked at Colgan for a year before coming to Republic in early '08. After all the hard work and time invested....not to mention the money spent and currently still paying for, I'm not sure I want to be in this industry for the duration of my adult life. I'm starting to get extremely bitter about everything related to this job.

I hate spending my days off commuting...especially when I commute to sit reserve for 5 on and 2 off. I held a line last month...and that was better, but only marginally. I still had to commute on my off days because the trips were uncommutable.

I hate the company's attitude towards the work force. I hate the fact that we pretty much can't do anything to stop putting other pilots out of work and flying an E190 for regional pay. I was displaced from my home base on a furlough and when inquiring about when I can get back to that base, I am met with a snide reply....as if I should just be happy to be flying big airplanes for nothing.

On top of that, I've got some health issues I've been battling with, probably stress induced, but none the less, I have to take FMLA once in awhile to keep my sanity.

I love to fly, and I've been searching and applying for any flying job outside the airlines that maybe can provide some sort of home life. But in addition to that, I'm going to school for a degree in Wildlife management/environmental science. I'm looking at atleast 5 years before I can get a job in that field.

I just feel like I got into the industry easily...but now I can't get out. Gotta have a job, so I need to keep trucking along until something that pays better than this comes up.

Anybody else in the same situation?
 
I left an engineering career to fly, like you spent a ton on it and like you started with the airlines in early 2007. Prior to hitting my airline I had three of the four aviation companies I worked for go belly up while I was there, I was raked over the coals by the FAA for a fuel starvation incident and just recently I've hit the streets on furlough. It all sucks, but the thing is, like you, when I am doing my job, I love it. Every flying job I've had, when I was actually meeting my job description, I loved it.

Now, if I always had to sit reserve, if I had to commute (if we are recalled, that would be a strong possibility) and if I never had weekends off, I couldn't do it! Here's the thing though - it won't always be this bad. The economy will get better, our pay will get better, our schedules will get better, and I will still love flying.

I personally plan to stick it out but I certainly feel you pain!
 
While I am not a airline pilot I'm just a low timer I have a good job outside of aviation and I am starting to think that having a regular job outside aviation and just teaching in gliders and airplanes part time and owning my own airplane will keep me happier than flying for a living.
 
I don't know, I think a lot of people are feeling this way right now, not just current pilots, but also people on furlough, flight instructors, student pilots, etc. I think it is the whole downturn of the economy, state of the aviation industry and the stagnation. It is funny, because when I was at Comair, I hated my life.... reserve, never enough money, displacements, downgrades, dealing with scheduling and the uncertainty what DL is going to do next to your company. The flying and the crews all made up for it though. Now I'm sitting here, almost 11 months later still on furlough searching for a flying job. I swore to myself that I wouldn't go back to the regionals and start all over again, but now I'm looking at them again, because it is a job and I do miss flying. I thought about getting out of aviation, doing a different job, or moving back overseas. I the end, I always remember how much I wanted to fly for a living, how much time, effort and money I've put into this career and how I can't quit now. It will get better, but we all just have to hang in there for now.
 
CRJDriver you said something about how you have put so much time and money into it and thats why you continue to pursue it. For me if I just instructed part time and taugt something like aerobatics I wouldnt feel as though I wasted that time and money. I would feel that I am teaching something I really enjoy while being able to do other things with my life.
 
This career is like no other, but one thing is for sure, it always changes. But to be honest what most of you have said, has been around before any of us started this job. And most of us accepted the downside for some upside. But the grass is not always greener on the other side. I look at a daily job, 50 plus hours a week, plus 1 or 2 weeks vacation a year. I only work 12 days a month. But you are right, about the no respect and crap wages, but again talk to a some guys that have been through worse to get thier jobs and I say I have been lucky. The shinney jets and the uniforms were off after a few years, but to be honest, I dont work, I monitor. And I get paid to sit and look outside, I have no boss and the rules and the procedures are easy to follow. This job is easy, but the does that make up for the downside, that is up to you.
 
Dude, you already made it. You fly for a major with mainline aircraft. What more could you possibly want? The 747s are coming soon.
 
You dont have much to worry about...This RAH experiment is about to go TU, and the airline will be cut in half to die a slow death.
 
joliet said:
Dude, you already made it. You fly for a major with mainline aircraft. What more could you possibly want? The 747s are coming soon.
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I figured somebody would make a comment like that. Its all good.

We're not mainline, hardly. Republic is just a regional on par with everyone else, we may have "mainline" planes now, but we still have Regional pay and work rules.

There are many things that make me bitter about my job. I think the biggest thing though, is leaving home for 5 nights to race home for one night to go back out for another 5. Pile on top of that the money I make and the company treatment, its just not fun.

Everybody has to pay dues in this industry - I understand that.

But what are we paying our dues for now? What is at the end of this "dues paying" road?
A job with a legacy? Start all over again with the never-home reserve abuse? Get your job outsourced?

I just don't see the same future at a Legacy carrier that used to be there. The decline in this profession has been pretty drastic...and I'm not sure I want to be 35yrs old and still flying at a Regional. I want a job in aviation...but I think I want to walk away from this airline industry holding a middle finger in the air and never look back.
 
Well with all due resepct, if you want to quit, what's stopping you? I'm thankful that my distaste for the industry manifested itself before I ever had to get near a regional airline. But when I decided to quit, I quit. I enrolled in a school to learn a new job skill about 3 days later. And about six weeks after I quit flying, I had a job working 4 days a week and making almost $20k more than I ever made as a pilot.

There is good paying non-aviation work out there if you want it. Even if you only want it as a temporary thing while you get a degree in a different field.
 
Kingairer said:
What are you seeking here? Want to quit? Quit. Want to stay? Stay. Just stop whining, please.
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Not whining, just looking for some other folks who have left the airlines but still working in aviation...how hard was it to do?

Whats stopping me from quitting is another job. I just can't quit and sit at home on the couch. Looking for some career ideas...
 
Airdale said:
I figured somebody would make a comment like that. Its all good.

We're not mainline, hardly. Republic is just a regional on par with everyone else, we may have "mainline" planes now, but we still have Regional pay and work rules.

There are many things that make me bitter about my job. I think the biggest thing though, is leaving home for 5 nights to race home for one night to go back out for another 5. Pile on top of that the money I make and the company treatment, its just not fun.

Everybody has to pay dues in this industry - I understand that.

But what are we paying our dues for now? What is at the end of this "dues paying" road?
A job with a legacy? Start all over again with the never-home reserve abuse? Get your job outsourced?

I just don't see the same future at a Legacy carrier that used to be there. The decline in this profession has been pretty drastic...and I'm not sure I want to be 35yrs old and still flying at a Regional. I want a job in aviation...but I think I want to walk away from this airline industry holding a middle finger in the air and never look back.
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You can easily stay in aviation (if you want) and not be at a 121 carrier. Airline flying isn't the end-all be-all many people try to make it out to be, not the top of the mountain by any means. There are other well-paying and stable aviation opportunities out there. That's what I'm doing, while never having to spend time 121.
 
Airdale said:
Not whining, just looking for some other folks who have left the airlines but still working in aviation...how hard was it to do?

Whats stopping me from quitting is another job. I just can't quit and sit at home on the couch. Looking for some career ideas...
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If I were you I'd send out applications. My buddy moved to Las Vegas with no job but went from airport to airport and was talking to different folks about flying in the area. He ended up with a couple opportunities.

Do the same man, plus send out some resumes.

When I get done with this stupid -900 crap, I'm heading back to mem to find myself a part time job. My part time aspirations are high, I'm hoping for Home Depot.
 
After 8 years in the Marine Corps, I decided that I didn't want to be in the Marine Corps anymore. I didn't ask my friends for advice. I didn't post on the Internet about it. I didn't complain about how bad my knees were, and that it was the fault of the Marine Corps.

I packed my bags, and I left . . . after I was discharged, of course.
 
I'm going to be completely frank with you, this may sound a little cold, but well, we're an advice-based website so here comes.

Like I've explained over the years time and time again it's "ebb and flow". I have good weeks and I also have bad weeks and will continue to do so until I either permanently bust my medical or reach age-70 retirement.

Personally, there's nothing else I'd rather do at this point in my life than fly airplanes across the ocean. Will that change? Maybe, I don't know, but it certainly beats any other alternatives.

Does flying complete me? NOPE.

Did I expect it to complete me? Initially YES, but as I matured (both cronologically and career-wise), I realized that only I can complete myself and that was very liberating.

It seems like what you're talking about are the pressures of commuting (well, stop commuting) and the pressures of being low on the seniority list that were incurred after you left Colgan for a lateral move to another regional (remember my endless speeches about lateral moves?)

Personally, I'd get off the internet, buy a six pack of beer, sit in the backyard for a bit and figure out my 12-month, 5-year and 15-year goals and ascertain if what you're doing today is consistent with meeting those objectives.

Call a friend, and if you don't have anyone that can empathize with your situation, hell, call me (PM me for the number) I'll grab a beer and we'll shoot the shiznit for a bit and help you make figure some stuff out. That's a real offer.
 
I feel your agony! It is hard to be stuck in a position that you can't stand. Commuting to a 5on-2off reserve schedule in crazy and is pathetic that these companies come up with these schedules to begin with. Why isn't congess fixing this? Hell, they are fixing every other problem we have.
Bottom line... If you want out then start looking for a new job. Just don't quit your current job though until you have found that new job. Nobody but you and your family can make that decision though. Good luck!
 
Doug Taylor said:
I'm going to be completely frank with you, this may sound a little cold, but well, we're an advice-based website so here comes.

Like I've explained over the years time and time again it's "ebb and flow". I have good weeks and I also have bad weeks and will continue to do so until I either permanently bust my medical or reach age-70 retirement.

Personally, there's nothing else I'd rather do at this point in my life than fly airplanes across the ocean. Will that change? Maybe, I don't know, but it certainly beats any other alternatives.

Does flying complete me? NOPE.

Did I expect it to complete me? Initially YES, but as I matured (both cronologically and career-wise), I realized that only I can complete myself and that was very liberating.

It seems like what you're talking about are the pressures of commuting (well, stop commuting) and the pressures of being low on the seniority list that were incurred after you left Colgan for a lateral move to another regional (remember my endless speeches about lateral moves?)

Personally, I'd get off the internet, buy a six pack of beer, sit in the backyard for a bit and figure out my 12-month, 5-year and 15-year goals and ascertain if what you're doing today is consistent with meeting those objectives.

Call a friend, and if you don't have anyone that can empathize with your situation, hell, call me (PM me for the number) I'll grab a beer and we'll shoot the shiznit for a bit and help you make figure some stuff out. That's a real offer.
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Very true. That's why I do a bunch of different things......mil flying, LEO, firefighting; so I'll never get bored with any one thing.
 
Airdale said:
Not whining, just looking for some other folks who have left the airlines but still working in aviation...how hard was it to do?

Whats stopping me from quitting is another job. I just can't quit and sit at home on the couch. Looking for some career ideas...
Click to expand...

Did you check out the links I provided? Those guys do great work for prior military.
 
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