My experience in leaving aviation
- Thread starter Rocky
- Start date
fly22
Well-Known Member
Come to OZ. Guys are making 200-250k doing what you are doing. Its stupid money man. You usually have a FIFO roster of 3 weeks on 2 weeks off.
Where is OZ? Is that somewhere over the rainbow??
kmksteepturn05
New Member
Incredible and hats off. After getting my B.S.I.E at 33 and working in the field making a good starting salary of 45k the desire to fly was overwhelming, not just to fly but do it as a career. I saw/had the opportunity and ran with it. Packed up moved to Florida and went through 0 hrs. to my CFi/II in 7 mos, which I really dont recommend beacuse I was burnt. Thinking the same as you, that I really didnt want to flight instruct but was inevitable for getting the hours. Set off got my first job as a CFI and 8 mos later on a landing the student slams hard right rudder making it difficult to land resulting in substantial damage, and luckily no injuries. F$%#. There it goes, my career and record right? Well they would have kept me on but found a closer school to where I lived to work for.
Two years in with that school the 172 RG was having gear connection issues with the horn and squat switches. Goes to maintenance comes back, ok gear working fine, but the horn would still come on no matter what and above the normal 12". Ok I have to get this guy done, moreover he is down my neck " I have to get this done". Ok, but we are leaving the gear down the entire flight. We are doing maneuvers but the climb rate sucked 50'/min ugh! alright retract the gear. After finishing manuevers we did about 4 landings cycling the gear ok, then coming back to base performing a short field, we extended the gear, saw the green but the horn, like I said would go off no matter what, and upon landing the nose gear did not extend and lock. Bam another ding on my record F$%6.
All I want to be perfect in my life is my Aviation record. So I continued to Instruct accruing nearly 3000 hrs 140 multi, with what I stated above, and oh yea a 2004 DWAI it is seeming very bleek to acquire my dream aviation job. I am getting out of instructing, full time that is, I really do enjoy it, but for pilots who want to do the work, and mainly proffesional seeking ones, I will continue on the side.
Therefore I will be heading to flight express to give them all I have and see what will become of it. What is dissapointing is we as pilots spend 60 to 100k on training and get paid rocks and dirt. Therefore if nothing comes of my next endeavor, I will need to look elsewhere as you did to get the money we/I deserve from our extensive training especially if there were 4 more years spent getting a Bachelors especially a technical science degree, we should be priceless.
Anyway, good job, very impressive the road you took, the decisions you made, especially with a family in tow. Also wish I had a better mentor, mentor period, and made better decisions from the start to better guide me through my possibly ending aviation career.
Aggrivated
Two years in with that school the 172 RG was having gear connection issues with the horn and squat switches. Goes to maintenance comes back, ok gear working fine, but the horn would still come on no matter what and above the normal 12". Ok I have to get this guy done, moreover he is down my neck " I have to get this done". Ok, but we are leaving the gear down the entire flight. We are doing maneuvers but the climb rate sucked 50'/min ugh! alright retract the gear. After finishing manuevers we did about 4 landings cycling the gear ok, then coming back to base performing a short field, we extended the gear, saw the green but the horn, like I said would go off no matter what, and upon landing the nose gear did not extend and lock. Bam another ding on my record F$%6.
All I want to be perfect in my life is my Aviation record. So I continued to Instruct accruing nearly 3000 hrs 140 multi, with what I stated above, and oh yea a 2004 DWAI it is seeming very bleek to acquire my dream aviation job. I am getting out of instructing, full time that is, I really do enjoy it, but for pilots who want to do the work, and mainly proffesional seeking ones, I will continue on the side.
Therefore I will be heading to flight express to give them all I have and see what will become of it. What is dissapointing is we as pilots spend 60 to 100k on training and get paid rocks and dirt. Therefore if nothing comes of my next endeavor, I will need to look elsewhere as you did to get the money we/I deserve from our extensive training especially if there were 4 more years spent getting a Bachelors especially a technical science degree, we should be priceless.
Anyway, good job, very impressive the road you took, the decisions you made, especially with a family in tow. Also wish I had a better mentor, mentor period, and made better decisions from the start to better guide me through my possibly ending aviation career.
Aggrivated
buzzin77
Well-Known Member
@Rocky,
great post, a really good read. You have a really interesting story. Good luck to you in Midland. My ex gf was from there and one of my best friends worked on a rig there...now he is in school at my alma mater, Texas State (San Marcos). Sorry to hear you are out of aviation but it sounds like you are doing well nonetheless!
great post, a really good read. You have a really interesting story. Good luck to you in Midland. My ex gf was from there and one of my best friends worked on a rig there...now he is in school at my alma mater, Texas State (San Marcos). Sorry to hear you are out of aviation but it sounds like you are doing well nonetheless!
msw
Well-Known Member
Save a few bucks over the course of the next 2 - 3 years, let your pay nudge up towards the six figures that you mentioned you can make in your present occupation; go buy yourself (or with a partner) your own little Cessna or Cherokee or inexpensive tail-dragger....... then you can fly you (and your family) all you want, without taking a pay cut.
I thought about that too, but I really hate my job, even though it pays nice. So I'm not planning on doing it long term, just until I can afford to "fly for food" or until I win the lottery, whichever comes first!
There's definitely a lot of money flowing down here.
You bet!I really hope I have better luck than you and although I never plan on having a family, I really appreciate you writing that. Thanks a lot.
Great post. We were at AirNet at the same time. I was the Lear captain in Boston until the shakeup. I lasted 6 months in Dallas as a copilot and then was headed back to the Van before I left. Everything has pretty much worked out for me in the end but you're right on bout missing that place.
granlistillo
Well-Known Member
The world famous TIM. You are lucky couple of his guys had an aileron malfunction and ended up dead.
Yep, Tim. Last I heard he sold his business and moved to Bermuda. How nice. I hadn't heard of the guys that had an accident though, what year was that?
Jonathanf4
Well-Known Member
Awesome Post Rocky. Good luck with whatever you decide.
granlistillo
Well-Known Member
Mid 2000s... There is a NTSB report on it, at Flagler beach. I had a very short dealing with him, He was a racist scofflaw. He screwed over a couple buddies of mine both who just went to the airlines. I think he is running from the government.
That was my guess when I heard he moved to Bermuda.
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