Airline flying- worth it?

jawright said:
Yep. I decided to put off doing my CFI's this summer so I could go teach quads at Boston Crusaders. It's pretty uncanny how many people on here are also percussionists (or musicians of some type). You should skip Xmen and come to BAC auditions (shut up jtrain) this weekend.

ALSO...You know Cara Wildman?? What about Jeff Willis??
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Haha, yep, I know them both! Very cool people. And I probably don't even have to ask if you know Adrian V, lol.

I actually would much rather march Boston Crusaders than Crossmen, but I can't really afford to go out to Boston every month. Since the Crossmen just moved to San Antonio, it's pretty convienient.
 
tizzizzailslf04 said:
Haha, yep, I know them both! Very cool people. And I probably don't even have to ask if you know Adrian V, lol.

I actually would much rather march Boston Crusaders than Crossmen, but I can't really afford to go out to Boston every month. Since the Crossmen just moved to San Antonio, it's pretty convienient.
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Wow, small world. Jeff, Omar Carmenates (BAC caption head) and I all marched Magic together back in the day (back when they were actually good) and later went to UCF together.

When Jeff became caption head for Teal he hired me to teach quads there and he brought Cara to be in the pit.

I haven't met Adrian in person yet, just via email and myspace.

Actually, BAC camps are all in Tampa, FL. There's only one audition camp in Boston. I too would encourage you to steer clear of Hoppy. I hayt him as well.
 
Well looks like I inspired this thread so let me give you my 2 cents.

Its very hard going through college and getting flight training. I for one, do not go out and party with my friends. Why? because 20 bucks here, 20 bucks there adds up real fast. I pretty much stopped enjoying most of my college life so I can save money to pay part of college and ratings. For the past month Ive been working 40-43hrs a week and going to school in the evening. I use the weekends for sleeping 11-12hrs at a time and doing hw....does not leave time for socializing. I am even considering taking up a full time lead position at my bank with a lot of responsibility. Its very hard making good money at 18 but not using any of it.

Sad thing is my friends that are in marketing/management will make more money then me most of our lives.

I jumped in this with both feet, I am 100% committed now.
 
NW004 said:
Flying is defenetly a cool career, make sure you really want to do it though, because it would be a real big time waste, and lots of money wasted.
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When you're 18 it may seem "cool" but once you have some financial obligations, "cool" doesnt pay the bills.

Just food for thought.
 
That is not necessarily true. I have friends who are in marketing/management, but they do not make more than many regional captains I know. I think regional captains should make much more than them, but I think when you look at regional airline salary ranges, it really is no different that what 90%+ of Americans see in their careers.

PGT said:
Sad thing is my friends that are in marketing/management will make more money then me most of our lives.
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ChrisH said:
I have friends who are in marketing/management, but they do not make more than many regional captains I know. I think regional captains should make much more than them, but I think when you look at regional airline salary ranges, it really is no different that what 90%+ of Americans see in their careers.
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Senior captain's pay is not too bad at many regionals, for sure. The guys I work with live pretty comfortably. Still, for the amount of education, training, experience, and responsibility they have, they're not making all that much.

Think about it this way: the people I graduated college with who went into investment banking (this was in the early 2000's) were averaging $80,000-120,000 a year starting out, similar to a more senior regional captain. From a purely monetary standpoint, let's guess that they were in charge of investing a couple million dollars a month (could be way off, just kind of guessing). A captain is directly responsible for the safe operation multiple flights a day with a multi multi-million dollar airplane and dozens of people's lives. The responsibility level between the two isn't even close.
 
Airline flying was not for me. I spent 3 1/2 years with commuter and 1 1/2 with Major out of CLT. I used to LOVE to fly until i got to the airlines. Then it sucked the fun out. Worried about bids/pay/union/. Flying with grumpy guys who complain about everything from the food to the FA's.

I went to college for teaching but wanted to have a run at this. After the airlines i went into corporate. Back to enjoying flying. 300-400 hours a year. International/ Nice Hotels/ Great Equipment. Lots of time off to spend with family.

If i were staring all over in my career I would have gone corporate from the start. The other option that i'm big on is Upsco. Being based at SDF i hear a lot of happy ups pilots. I'm just not a night person. Get in get your time, get out with enough of a life left to enjoy it.

:-) tailwinds.
 
I have a dysfunctional relationship with professional aviation.

It's interesting, I enjoy it, but as I got older, life became "a lot more" than flying for the airlines.

I'd say about 20% of my average work day directly deals with flying airplanes. It's consumed by customer service, working on OPS issues and finding some way to keep myself occupied when in cruise flight.

Airline flying and recreational flying are more than "night and day", they're like two different languages entirely. Don't look at hopping around the patch in a 152 and think "Dude! I can do this and make a lot of money!" because it's inherently different.

If I had a chance, would I do it all over again? Yup, I think so! But I think I would have been in less of a rush because I missed out on a lot of important life events/opportunities because I had a laser-like focus on my career while neglecting family.

I'd personally suggest reading ALL of the perspectives articles, ALL of the "A Day in the Life" scribblings and doing your best to paint a picture if that lifestyle is compatible with the lifestyle you want to live and expose your family to.

The answer may be a resounding "Yes!" or the answer may be a "Hell No". Both are valid answers, feel no guilt for feeling either.
 
At 17 a person says it doesn't matter how much I have to work how little I get paid, what I have to do that I really don't want to do (like join the military, or relocate to a place I don't want to go)...... as long as I get to be a pilot. Deep down however there is an expectation a big payoff awaits 10,20, or 30 years down the road. Don't be upset if the reward you expected never materializes; Or 30 years from now, the moment you reach for it, somehow it's yanked away right before your eyes.

Many on these boards who have gone before gave you fair warning of the potential pitfalls and the fact that the brass ring is a long shot even if you do everything right.

Consider two possible futures:

(1) Rock Star Cosmetic Dentist fitting porcelain veneers making well over 700K per year and a brand new Eclipse twin jet on order to replace your Cirrus SR 22 G2 Signature Edition. http://www.eclipseaviation.com/eclipse_500/gallery/images.html

or

(2) Rock Star Pilot trying to scratch together enough money to keep an old worn out used beater C-150 in in the air (but hey you got to fly for a living). http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/rutan_4142___article.html/victorville_dick.html

Be honest with yourself.

Good luck.
 
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