H46Bubba
Well-Known Member
To a pilot, getting your ratings and hours are like reaching a certain age in life(could possibly go hand in hand for some of the younger members). Your solo is like taking your parents car out around the block by yourself while only holding a learners permit. You get your private, now your able to take the family car out on Friday night. Everyone pays their dues, except the PFT'ers. The industry is not as it was 10-15 years ago. It has it's ups and downs. We all want the industry to stabilize after the 9/11 downturn. Pilot's are getting hired with less time and for wages lower than their predescesors. All these low time pilots are not just from the academies, their comming from the FBO's that you all trained at also. The airlines need pilots and subject them to their standards, so they must feel that these pilots are qualified to sit in the right seat. No matter how long you've flying our how many hour have been logged, a pilot is always a student, always learning something newand we also learn from each other. My grandfather has been flying since the 50's and he always learns something new, wheather it's a new procedure or new technology. We are pilots. We have invested time, effort and money to do what we love to do. You start of as an FO for a reason; so as to gain experience and knowledge so that once you move to the captains seat you, you can pass that knowledge on to new FO's. All the while as captain you continue to learn and grow.