A300Capt
Freight Dawg
Don't know you or your current lifestyle other than what’s been posted on this website...thats my loss. You come across as a very intelligent and articulate person with well thought out reasoning. Unfortunately, your reasoning, in this case, is somewhat flawed. Why? Because you seem to believe if you were suddenly hired by a major then all/most of your QOL issues would be instantly solved and thats simply not true. I hear from friends all the time how abysmal their schedules are and these are folks with decades at their current airline! Can’t imagine what new hires are going through.
I’ve been where you currently are flying 100+ hours/month minus the work and fatigue rules with very little time off. I had one month where I flew 128 hours and we operated under FAR135. It was in a loud turboprop with zero automation or creature comforts a larger jet provides. I did it making $25k/yr as a Capt. Yep, it was 40 yrs ago but still less than what you and most Regional Capt’s are currently making today with cost adjustments. I knew absolutely nobody in aviation and sat quietly (sometimes loudly) complaining as I watched countless pilots at my small commuter airline quickly move up the ladder to the majors with less experience than me. I literally thought I had gone as far as I ever was gonna go in aviation and I was near my breaking point. I had had enough and knew I couldn't do this much longer.
Wasn’t long after that I was sitting on the jumpseat of a USAir DC-9 heading to see my folks and contemplating my life choices and plans that weren’t panning out the way I thought they should. After embarrassingly complaining to the USAir Capt about my woes he finally turned and asked if I wanted some advice? He said he wished he had a dollar for everyone he had met along the way that simply gave up. Lost the drive and passion and left the industry just before the industry turned around. It’s a weird industry as it ebbs and flows throughout the years. He told me not to give up and if it were meant to be it'll happen. He said other things but that was the jist of it. He said to just keep plugging away and quit comparing my road in life to other’s.
I couldn’t even get a major to so much as acknowledge they had even received my resume and cover letter. These were pre-Internet days and I spent hours typing each resume/cover letter out and putting it in an envelope with a stamp. Heaven forbid you made a mistake while you typed cause whiteout wasn’t gonna cut it. Some required money to “process” your resume. Airlines were fewer to choose from and most were inundated with military guys with heavy jet time. I was a 25 yr old civilian GA trained pilot flying a relatively small turboprop with ZERO pure jet time. Yep…it was bleak and I had almost resigned myself to the fact I was just going to be a commuter airline pilot until I retired Things were much different back then (yea, yea..I know…ok Boomer, right?).
I finally received an invite to interview at American Airlines in 1987. I show up and there were 25-30 applicants on day 1. I was the only non-military dude there and looked 15 at 25 yrs old. I felt out of place and defeated before it even started and I was scared to death. While my time (for my age) exceeded the military guys and my instrument skills were as sharp as they would ever be flying 100/hrs a month in the NE, I'm sure the my demeanor and body language told a different story. I didn't make it through the first day before being shown the door. I was literally crushed and set an all time low that was a very dark time for me. Not only did I blow my chance at American but in my mind I thought they would let everyone else know and I’d be •listed by every other airline now. Information was not forth coming or easily attained (again, pre-Internet days) and I had no idea why I failed on day one….just bye-bye!
Just when I thought there was absolutely no more hope I get a call out of the blue from UPS to interview for their new airline. Weird thing is I had just read an article in an AeroSpace magazine at the library about UPS being the launch customer for the B757F and I thought how cool it would be to fly that some day. Other than that I knew nothing about the company. Showing up completely unprepared (there were no prep courses back then or online airline gouges) for a 3 day interview process was daunting to say the least. It was my first time in a full motion sim and first time ever trying to fly any jet, let alone a B727 sim. I guess luck and timing along with the planets aligning and they probably feeling sorry for me finally all came together and without any more boring details, the rest as they say…is history!
I will say that the schedules (nothing but red-eyes), or the lack thereof, no union protection and very low pay (Capt’s on all fleets making $65K/ yr and was told by management that we would NEVER be paid more than $100K/yr) had many of us looking for other jobs within the first year. I had interviews set up at TWA and Braniff. We all know what happened to them and American furloughed soon after. So I guess it was another “Thank God for unanswered prayers…” events.
My point is….don't give up because you just never know when things will change and what you have experience up to this point will make you a better and stronger person that will allow you to help someone else future.
Anyway, like I said….I’m impressed with how well spoken you are and hoping you reach your ultimate goal very soon. Just keep grinding one day at a time….
I’ve been where you currently are flying 100+ hours/month minus the work and fatigue rules with very little time off. I had one month where I flew 128 hours and we operated under FAR135. It was in a loud turboprop with zero automation or creature comforts a larger jet provides. I did it making $25k/yr as a Capt. Yep, it was 40 yrs ago but still less than what you and most Regional Capt’s are currently making today with cost adjustments. I knew absolutely nobody in aviation and sat quietly (sometimes loudly) complaining as I watched countless pilots at my small commuter airline quickly move up the ladder to the majors with less experience than me. I literally thought I had gone as far as I ever was gonna go in aviation and I was near my breaking point. I had had enough and knew I couldn't do this much longer.
Wasn’t long after that I was sitting on the jumpseat of a USAir DC-9 heading to see my folks and contemplating my life choices and plans that weren’t panning out the way I thought they should. After embarrassingly complaining to the USAir Capt about my woes he finally turned and asked if I wanted some advice? He said he wished he had a dollar for everyone he had met along the way that simply gave up. Lost the drive and passion and left the industry just before the industry turned around. It’s a weird industry as it ebbs and flows throughout the years. He told me not to give up and if it were meant to be it'll happen. He said other things but that was the jist of it. He said to just keep plugging away and quit comparing my road in life to other’s.
I couldn’t even get a major to so much as acknowledge they had even received my resume and cover letter. These were pre-Internet days and I spent hours typing each resume/cover letter out and putting it in an envelope with a stamp. Heaven forbid you made a mistake while you typed cause whiteout wasn’t gonna cut it. Some required money to “process” your resume. Airlines were fewer to choose from and most were inundated with military guys with heavy jet time. I was a 25 yr old civilian GA trained pilot flying a relatively small turboprop with ZERO pure jet time. Yep…it was bleak and I had almost resigned myself to the fact I was just going to be a commuter airline pilot until I retired Things were much different back then (yea, yea..I know…ok Boomer, right?).
I finally received an invite to interview at American Airlines in 1987. I show up and there were 25-30 applicants on day 1. I was the only non-military dude there and looked 15 at 25 yrs old. I felt out of place and defeated before it even started and I was scared to death. While my time (for my age) exceeded the military guys and my instrument skills were as sharp as they would ever be flying 100/hrs a month in the NE, I'm sure the my demeanor and body language told a different story. I didn't make it through the first day before being shown the door. I was literally crushed and set an all time low that was a very dark time for me. Not only did I blow my chance at American but in my mind I thought they would let everyone else know and I’d be •listed by every other airline now. Information was not forth coming or easily attained (again, pre-Internet days) and I had no idea why I failed on day one….just bye-bye!
Just when I thought there was absolutely no more hope I get a call out of the blue from UPS to interview for their new airline. Weird thing is I had just read an article in an AeroSpace magazine at the library about UPS being the launch customer for the B757F and I thought how cool it would be to fly that some day. Other than that I knew nothing about the company. Showing up completely unprepared (there were no prep courses back then or online airline gouges) for a 3 day interview process was daunting to say the least. It was my first time in a full motion sim and first time ever trying to fly any jet, let alone a B727 sim. I guess luck and timing along with the planets aligning and they probably feeling sorry for me finally all came together and without any more boring details, the rest as they say…is history!
I will say that the schedules (nothing but red-eyes), or the lack thereof, no union protection and very low pay (Capt’s on all fleets making $65K/ yr and was told by management that we would NEVER be paid more than $100K/yr) had many of us looking for other jobs within the first year. I had interviews set up at TWA and Braniff. We all know what happened to them and American furloughed soon after. So I guess it was another “Thank God for unanswered prayers…” events.
My point is….don't give up because you just never know when things will change and what you have experience up to this point will make you a better and stronger person that will allow you to help someone else future.
Anyway, like I said….I’m impressed with how well spoken you are and hoping you reach your ultimate goal very soon. Just keep grinding one day at a time….