2nd Career

R

regulate

Well-Known Member
Where to start? I have always had an interest in aviation and weather for as long as I can remember. My career path took me into Law Enforcement, and I will be retiring in about 15 months after a 30 year career. I will be 53 years young. I have an excellent retirement plan (in California, yes, the state is going broke), but my bride of 23 years says that I need to get another job (not for the money so much, but to keep me busy). I have been looking into flight dispatching as something that I believe I would have a knack for, but I cannot help but be discouraged in that it does not look like there are many, if any, opportunities in the Los Angeles/Inland Empire area. Seems like most of the dispatching opportunities are in the central and eastern time zones, and I am not interested at this point in relocating since my wife has about 10 more years to go in her career. I have risen to a high level position in my current career.

I think this "2nd Career" would be a good fit for me. I am detail oriented, analytical by nature, with strong multitasking skills and work well under pressure.

I realize I would need to obtain FAA certification. The only company I have been able to find I believe that dispatches from this area is Ameriflight. So my question to the experts here is.....am I outta luck? Can you advise me how much opportunity is in the Los Angeles basin/Inland Empire area if any? Is there such thing as a contractor type employee arrangement that does this type of work? Is there any such thing as a "part-time" flight dispatcher? Any other similar types of jobs in aviation that I may find interesting where one could work at the actual airport? My home base is KONT.

I know, lots of questions. Replies appreciated.

Thank you.
 
Next to no opportunities in Southern California, I'm afraid. Some ground handling companies do hire licensed dispatchers to do their paperwork for foreign carriers out of LAX, but there are no actual Part 121 dispatch offices in the region that I know of. (Ameriflight is a Part 135 cargo carrier, but you are correct that they hire dispatchers and have an office in Burbank.) In the San Francisco area, Virgin America has its dispatch office in Burlingame. Farther east, Allegiant has its dispatch office in Las Vegas. However, neither of those companies would be likely to hire someone with no experience. Farther east still, in Phoenix, Mesa has its dispatch office and they do hire people without experience, but I wouldn't really recommend working for them. I guess what I'm trying to say is...if you want to get a job in aircraft dispatch, plan to move. There are many things that this field has to recommend it, but getting to choose where you want to live isn't one of them - you have to go to where the job is, and your first offer could be all the way across the country. I have never heard of a part-time or contractor type dispatch position. If you are looking for a job at the airport that is interesting, I would try to get into airport operations/gate management - you might see if Southwest is hiring, as they have big operations both in Burbank and LAX - they may fly to ONT also, I'm not sure. Or, JetBlue has a pretty big hub in SNA. You might have to start out working on the ramp though. Airport management is another interesting field but I've heard it's hard to get into.
 
Sun Air jets is a charter company in Camarillo CA, but again they more then likely will not hire anyone without some experiance although I don't know a whole lot about them and not to many ppl seem to even know about them period.
 
Is commuting an option for you? Its rough sometimes but I have been doing for the last year.
 
I would love to ATC, but I believe you have to be 30 or younger to start. Mandated retirement is 56. The numbers do not compute.
 
Yes, a couple of us live in one state and jumpseat to our head quarters in another to work our shifts and stay at crash pads with the commuting pilots. Quite a few of the airlines have HQ's in the worst places in my opinion. A big factor needed to be considered is your shift schedule. Most work 4 days on 3 days off, some work 5 on 2 off, I work 4 on 4 off so its worth it to me. I must say though, I am 24 and its starting to wear me out..... Maybe its time to pack up lol
 
Also, not sure if there our any 135 operators that have folks out that way.

There is also the "want to be" start up California Pacific out of Carlsbad.


With your LE experience, you should be able to get into Public Safety at some airports

http://careercenter.aaae.org/jobs/#/detail/4401302



Here was a listing on AAAE.org for a postion at LAX


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[TD="class: bti-clearnoborder, align: left"] About Boyden Global Executive Search

Founded in 1946, Boyden pioneered the executive search industry. Boyden is the oldest and one of the largest privately owned search firms in the world, with more than 65 offices in over 40 countries. In the world of executive search, Boyden is distinguished by the expertise of our consultants, the resources of our global firm, our commitment to our clients, and our culture of professionalism and integrity. For further information about Boyden, visit www.boyden.com .

View all our jobs

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[TD="class: bti-clearnoborder, align: left"]Our client, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), is seeking an outstanding individual for the role of Deputy Executive Director, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security.
Reporting to the Executive Director, the position provides policy direction, leadership and management oversight for all law enforcement and security functions for LAWA’s three airports. The position is responsible for directing the development and implementation of consistent police, traffic, and security training and standards, as well as emergency operations including homeland security, anti-terrorism measures, and disaster planning and responses.
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Additional Salary Information: With this position comes a very competitive compensation and benefits program.
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[TD="class: bti-clearnoborder, align: left"]Applicants must have a minimum of five (5) years experience as a senior commanding officer in a large law enforcement safety and security operation, preferably at the Chief or Assistant Chief level, or similar leadership experience at a large airport or in a State or Federal agency. Professional training in anti-terrorism and a Supervisory or Middle Management Peace Office Standard and Training Certificate of Completion is highly desired.
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The one thing about aviation is you have to be flexible and understand what your long term goals are because 99% chance you will be moving/commuting to accept a job. I did it for 4 years. There was one week I logged 8500 miles jumpseating, not because I wanted to trust me (long story).

When Frontier was in Denver, we had someone that commuted from Vegas on a daily basis.

It is doable but as stated before it gets old quickly, the nice thing when I was doing it, I knew most of the TSA agents and all of the gate agents so it made it a little easier to get through. Also met several of the regular paying passengers that seemed to travel for a living.

Best of Luck
 
izanti said:
Yes, a couple of us live in one state and jumpseat to our head quarters in another to work our shifts and stay at crash pads with the commuting pilots. Quite a few of the airlines have HQ's in the worst places in my opinion. A big factor needed to be considered is your shift schedule. Most work 4 days on 3 days off, some work 5 on 2 off, I work 4 on 4 off so its worth it to me. I must say though, I am 24 and its starting to wear me out..... Maybe its time to pack up lol
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I'm afraid for me driving local would be my only choice. I have 3 kids living at home (1 in high school, 2 in college) plus wife works full time, getting divorced would be way too expensive! :)
 
Aren't UPS and FedEx at ONT? Probably not an entry level job, but it would be pretty to start part time working the sort then moving into something, perhaps with some tuition reimbursement along the way.

Agree with trying to leverage your LEO experience in an airport environment as well, maybe a corporate security type at an airport?
 
TallFlyer said:
Aren't UPS and FedEx at ONT? Probably not an entry level job, but it would be pretty to start part time working the sort then moving into something, perhaps with some tuition reimbursement along the way.

Agree with trying to leverage your LEO experience in an airport environment as well, maybe a corporate security type at an airport?
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FEDEX and UPS dx are in ONT??
 
cdndx said:
FEDEX and UPS dx are in ONT??
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I think he meant that FedEx and UPS would be a good place to get your foot in the door at their operations in ONT with the thought of moving to their flight operations at their respective HQs, a statement to which I would somewhat disagree. Not sure how it is at FedEx, but from what I understand UPS requires dispatch experience.
 
To my knowledge Purple and Brown both have some tuition reimbursement programs for employees. If he wanted to work the sort while looking for opportunities there, while pursuing some educational opportunities that he may be able to have paid for, while working in aviation it could end up being a good deal all the way round. Honestly I wish I had done the same thing when I first came to ANC.
 
I already hate myself for saying this, but have you considered TSA?

The up side is it wouldn't conflict with your retirement and you would be vested in a second retirement after not too many years (although I'm unclear of the details).
 
Kev said:
I think he meant that FedEx and UPS would be a good place to get your foot in the door at their operations in ONT with the thought of moving to their flight operations at their respective HQs, a statement to which I would somewhat disagree. Not sure how it is at FedEx, but from what I understand UPS requires dispatch experience.
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FX does too. I have an ADX but no experience in dispatch. Thought about trying to get out of MX and try DX if I was to even get there it would be a 30k bust in pay at least. Our DX has issues with MX so might not be an easy transition if it were even possible. Just crave a change..
 
UPS will require actual dispatch experience to get hired as and actual dispatcher. UPS will not require any actual dispatch experience to get hired into a management dispatch position to make less money than an actual dispatcher. As bizarre as it sounds that is the truth. The recent trend has been to send a supervisor to school to get a ticket and then put them in charge. The tuition reimbursement program has been gutted to the point where it might pay for most of a community college degree.
 
izanti said:
Yes, a couple of us live in one state and jumpseat to our head quarters in another to work our shifts and stay at crash pads with the commuting pilots. Quite a few of the airlines have HQ's in the worst places in my opinion. A big factor needed to be considered is your shift schedule. Most work 4 days on 3 days off, some work 5 on 2 off, I work 4 on 4 off so its worth it to me. I must say though, I am 24 and its starting to wear me out..... Maybe its time to pack up lol
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Is this common? For a dispatcher to live in one state and commute to another to work? Do they pay for that?
 
Commuting, IMHO, is a huge impetus to a good quality of life. It is chocked full of hidden costs and loss of days off, and dispatchers very seldomly will negotiate a commuting clause into a contract since most live in base.
 
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