Aviation in America

kaleb777

New Member
Hi I’m new to this site. In 2005 I flew B737-200 for an airline is Africa right out of flight school. It was an incredible experience. A year after I started with the airline I was in the B767-200 ground school. Got through that and decided to come to the USA where my wife’s from; for vacation before simulator. To make a long story short the political situation in my country of origin caused me to resign and opt to resettle here without getting the type rating. My conscience would not let me do it after I got it.

I trained in the USA but left before discovering what the conditions for professional aviators were. Aviation seems so different here. New hire first year wages are very insulting especially after the torturous employment process I’ve read from people’s post.

Does anyone have an idea “opinion” where aviation is headed here, what lessons can be learnt from observing aviation out side this country? But one thing is for sure, pilots need to stick together regardless of what airplane you fly. I had a profound respect for my buddies flying an MA-60 turboprop and didn’t mind that we were paid the same. That’s not necessarily what I’m advocating but I hope you get the point. Airlines have to recognize that pilots rank high on the level of importance and should be treated so. This seems to be the case with many of the airlines I came across in Africa. NO AIRLINE IS PERFECT!

The reason I’m not flying outside the country is because we find there is an added benefit of living close to family members when you’re starting a family. Currently I’m a refinery operator making good money not too excited about 12hr swing shift but I can’t complain; About 800tt under my tiny belt 500 in the B732. Perhaps when things look up I may return to my first passion.

Good luck to you all and may we see a speedy recovery in this economy and a reformation of US aviatio
 
Welcome to the forum. Any chance you could share more about your experiences in Africa? I started a thread in the "Jobs Needed" forum regarding low time jobs outside the US and would love to hear input from someone who actually did it.
 
The simple answer is that there's a job market of thousands of people willing to do this job for pennies on the dollar. What are the wages of African pilots, in real terms of purchasing power? If you have 800TT with 500 in the 737 (and thus started flying 737s at 300TT which is unheard of over here), perhaps pilots are seen in higher esteem over there because the supply of people educated enough to fly planes is much lower. Or maybe there's just a lack of people willing to do it in Africa, because let's face it, the life expectancy is reduced significantly by spending too much time on airlines in certain 3rd world countries.
 
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