No Jobs For The Young Pilots

Roger Roger said:
Ha. I'm in the opposite boat. I have passengers in the Cherokee ask me how old I am and how long I've been flying because I look so young, in spite of the Alaska Pilot Beard (tm). I can't wait to see what happens when I shave it this summer...
Click to expand...

When I was flying the Bitchjet, I was often asked whether I was old enough to be a pilot. Luckily, we didn't have epaulletes, and the pax presumably didn't know who sat in what seat, because a lot of my F/Os apparently looked older than me, judging by little tipoffs like the pax calling the other guy "Captain" and asking him whether...wait for it...

I was old enough to be a pilot. Of course the problem is it's not the age, it's the mileage. I feel like I need a frame up restoration. Luckily for me, that job (amongst others) has given me some nice gray hairs. I think I'm finally ready to go to a Legacy.
 
Boris Badenov said:
When I was flying the Bitchjet, I was often asked whether I was old enough to be a pilot. Luckily, we didn't have epaulletes, and the pax presumably didn't know who sat in what seat, because a lot of my F/Os apparently looked older than me, judging by little tipoffs like the pax calling the other guy "Captain" and asking him whether...wait for it...

I was old enough to be a pilot. Of course the problem is it's not the age, it's the mileage. I feel like I need a frame up restoration.
Click to expand...

I get that a lot. Except for doing mustache March. A lot of the rampers and gate agents would talk to me instead of the captain.

It was just the passengers with kids who were like "hurry! Get off before he touches you!"
 
I actually look pretty young. Well, except for the gray hair. I'll probably be fully gray by the time I'm 35, so maybe I can pull off the George Clooney vibe. Chicks dig George Clooney, right?
 
Boris Badenov said:
As jrh said, you won't catch too many old guys at the bar regaling the crowd with tales of shooting the ILS in to O'Hare in VFR conditions for the 98th time that month. Not that there's anything wrong with that (in fact I've reached the age where it sounds pretty good). But at your age you should be dreaming of flying DC-6s full of guns to Biafran rebels or Arctic Explorers into a river bank or Russian Hookers in to Siberian mining town or...well you get the idea.

Operating Aviation Appliances will ALWAYS be there when you're finally old and boring like me. Well, us.
Click to expand...
How did you get my book transcript?? That is private, and not allowed to be published until parties involved are dead or I'm retired...;)
 
My driver asked me how old I am. I told him 27. He looked surprised. He was thinking I looked 40. Kinda depressed me for the day. The stress of the career (not exactly the job) is making me old. I even developed a knee problem. Ive never had knee problems.
 
dbrault17 said:
My driver asked me how old I am. I told him 27. He looked surprised. He was thinking I looked 40. Kinda depressed me for the day. The stress of the career (not exactly the job) is making me old. I even developed a knee problem. Ive never had knee problems.
Click to expand...

You and Ed Helms! :)
 
Cessna310 said:
I'm 18 and a newly licensed commerical pilot. ( Single and Multi, 400/50TT). I'm still in high school and I'm working on my CFI.

What are my options as far as the airlines? With that new bill, it's going to be impossible for me to touch a airline jet until 5 years...Is there ANYWAY around this? Does anyone see this bill getting repealed?

After high school I'm going to take some online college courses, and get a 4 year degree.
Click to expand...

My advice, get your degree, and go to a regional before the law comes into effect. If you are planning to do the online degree thing, you can still take online classes and fly at a regional. Plenty of guys have done that. Even people here, like ATN_Pilot, skipped college and got hired at a regional at age 19 and then a major (Airtran now SWA) at 24 yrs of age. And no matter what people say, this IS a seniority based system. It'll be in your best interest to get to where you want as fast as possible. It just is what it is. Case in point, pilots hired at Pinnacle just 10 months before I were able to upgrade and keep their seats as the economy tanked, and are now at Fedex. I was still right seat in the RJ collecting time that Fedex or SWA don't care about. I since moved on to another major currently on the Bus now. In retrospect, if I could do it over, I would have gone to a crappy operation like Colgan or Great Lakes, where attrition (movement) is high. Get in, learn, get your time, and get out. Not to mention, you're more likely to fare well in an integration the earlier you are hired..... just ask any Colgan pilot.

Good luck! I honestly don't think you'll have much luck finding lots of work as a CFI, unless you go to big schools. Most local FBOs these days are either going out of business or instructors are part time because no one is entering this field anymore. Keep your head up, fly safe, and consider all options. Friend of mine just started at Silver Airways, and is looking at the left seat soon. Pay increase, turine PIC time for the resume, and a good entry-level aircraft.

Good luck!
 
This kid serious?

Back in the day, you instructed for 1500 hours, and flew frieght, cancelled checks and cow piss for another 2500 hours before someone would even look at you. Getting hired in the last years with 1500/300 was the low, and most guys had way more time than that trying to use the relief tube in the clapped out Navajo they were flying.

Further back in the day, civilian trained pilots NEVER got their shot at a "major". A local service carrier, like Ozark or North Central was as far as you got.

So cry me a river, sonny, while you get off my lawn.

Richman
 
Richman said:
This kid serious?

Back in the day, you instructed for 1500 hours, and flew frieght, cancelled checks and cow piss for another 2500 hours before someone would even look at you. Getting hired in the last years with 1500/300 was the low, and most guys had way more time than that trying to use the relief tube in the clapped out Navajo they were flying.

Further back in the day, civilian trained pilots NEVER got their shot at a "major". A local service carrier, like Ozark or North Central was as far as you got.

So cry me a river, sonny, while you get off my lawn.

Richman
Click to expand...

Don't forget sitting at the panel for 10-15 years as a FE before getting a window seat with the majors.
 
Richman said:
This kid serious?

Back in the day, you instructed for 1500 hours, and flew frieght, cancelled checks and cow piss for another 2500 hours before someone would even look at you. Getting hired in the last years with 1500/300 was the low, and most guys had way more time than that trying to use the relief tube in the clapped out Navajo they were flying.

Further back in the day, civilian trained pilots NEVER got their shot at a "major". A local service carrier, like Ozark or North Central was as far as you got.

So cry me a river, sonny, while you get off my lawn.

Richman
Click to expand...

Was a beat up Cherokee 6 (plus a nice one, for cargo), to a beat up Lance, to a beat up Chieftain, to a beat up Caravan, for me. Cool thing is, there were some classics in there: One Cherokee 6, N49SF, was painted up in San Francisco 49ers colors. And one Chieftain, 160SW, had been an original Skywest Airlines pax bird in the 1970s, and was doing cargo work then (and probably now still).
 
Although, to be fair, back in "those" days, airlines were actually hiring. Today, not a single legacy airline is hiring. No one is really entering this field anymore. While CFI jobs were plentiful in the past, not so much today. Also, in "those" days, you could rent a C152 for $40 and an instructor for 20. Today, it's over $100 for the airplane and $40+ for the instructor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top