Air Inc. shuts down

[moocowtex]

IMO, a "pilot shortage" is when airlines don't have enough applicants to fill positions. I've never seen that in the 8 years I've been paying attention.

Nor have I in the 20 years I've been paying attention. It's a safe bet neither of us will live to see it get that bad. I guess I'm just saying in the late 80's, had you told all the flight instructors sitting around with ATP's and several thousand hours that one day you could sit in the right seat of a jet with 1000/200, they would have thought you were nuts!

 

[kellwolf]

Nor have I in the 20 years I've been paying attention. It's a safe bet neither of us will live to see it get that bad. I guess I'm just saying in the late 80's, had you told all the flight instructors sitting around with ATP's and several thousand hours that one day you could sit in the right seat of a jet with 1000/200, they would have thought you were nuts!

Oh, no doubt about that. Times have changed, but hardly a "shortage." If you had told me when I got hired in 06 that that there would be guys getting hired for the same job in a year with a FIFTH of my flight time, I woulda laughed, too.

 

[MikeD]

Back in the day (89/90 timeframe), the job market was so lousy that if you were a ERAU CFI, you were somebody. If you were one of the chosen ones who moved from CFIing to get on with Mesa and get in the right seat of the 1900C that serviced PRC, you were akin to a chosen one!

Thats how bad things were.....Doug remembers.

 

[Stone Cold]

Back in the day (89/90 timeframe), the job market was so lousy that if you were a ERAU CFI, you were somebody. If you were one of the chosen ones who moved from CFIing to get on with Mesa and get in the right seat of the 1900C that serviced PRC, you were akin to a chosen one!

Thats how bad things were.....Doug remembers.

Wow, you're old!!!















Just kidding...I'm part of the group also. Left the "real" campus in '94. I remember how bad it was. PFT was the name of the game, for the most part, back then. It sucked.

 

[derg]

Back in the day (89/90 timeframe), the job market was so lousy that if you were a ERAU CFI, you were somebody. If you were one of the chosen ones who moved from CFIing to get on with Mesa and get in the right seat of the 1900C that serviced PRC, you were akin to a chosen one!

Thats how bad things were.....Doug remembers.

Hell yes. I remember when Larry Risely came to speak at the DLC on campus and the place was FULL.

 

[falconvalley]

Listen closely, children...

Back in the day, there was no such thing as "the internets!"

Aspiring pilots had nowhere to turn for information on airline hiring.

It was possible, through much heavy lifting and effort, to compile a list of airline addresses and H. R. (it was generally called "personnel" back then) contacts, but it wasn't easy and it could be expensive and very time-consuming.

There was no easy way to know what flight-hour minimums were required.

There was no easy way to know what, exactly, each company was looking for.

There was no easy way to know what airlines were out there, except for the "Majors."

Nobody, but nobody, had a computer. You wrote a letter to an airline asking for an application, and two or three weeks later when it came you rented or borrowed an IBM selectric typewriter and "carefully" filled it in.

Then you sent it off and hoped for the best...

If you were lucky and could talk to other aspiring airline pilots, someone might have told you about FAPA - Future Aviation Professionals of America.

FAPA consolidated all of the information - addresses, contacts, flight-time requirements, hiring trends and "do's & don'ts" into one document.

FAPA was a godsend!


Was it a ripoff? Maybe - after all, the data they gave was publically available if you had the time and know-how to look for it.

All I know is that I owe my start in this business to the info which they provided me.

I can't speak to the subsequent iterations, Air, Inc. etc.

I just know that FAPA was well worth the money to me at the time...



Kevin

:yeahthat:

It's ironic that we're talking about the closing of a pay-for-play internet job board on the best aviation networking/mentoring site around!

When I was a brand new commercial pilot, I hadn't a clue how to find a job on the internet, so I opened the phone book and poked my head into every cockpit I could when I was fueling.

 

[MikeD]

Hell yes. I remember when Larry Risely came to speak at the DLC on campus and the place was FULL.

Can't remember the old head of the flight dept's name, but he gave the welcoming address to us in the DLC back then, opening with "Hello, did you know that a 747-400 international captain for United Airlines makes over $350,000 a year? That can be you with an education from Embry-Riddle. Welcome....."

 

[Itchy]

Grandpa! Grandpa! Tells us the story of how you and Grandma met on the train!



It looks like APC has taken over the exact role of FAPA.

I lol'd.