No Jobs For The Young Pilots

Cherokee_Cruiser said:
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!
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Well...you went to a University didn't you?
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
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.
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Depends on what "those" days you are talking about. In the early 90s when my brother with 1000s of P-3 hours could only get interviews with a few of the bottom regionals and ended up flying a Jetscream? The mid 70s when guys were hired on and ended up flying sideways for 10+ years? Heck, I paid less than Mike did for a 152 back then.
As for the low time hiring bing being a one time thing, same thing went on for a while in the 1960s. For a while low time pilots were being hired by majors.
Flying is a very cyclical business. I wish I knew enough to understand what I was seeing when this past recession hit. I was a 135 cargo CP and saw the flying fall off a cliff. Went from flying as much as we wanted to NO flights for months.
So what DOES this mean for the OP? Read through these threads and there is some good advise. Keep plugging away at your schooling and ratings. Keep a good reputation. You never know who may have the next opportunity for you. Aviation is a small world and often opportunities come that are never advertised.
 
Please tell me I'm not the only one who read the OP's post and thought, "what? Are you serious?" Dude you are in high school and way ahead of me (27yrs, 3yrs of college under my belt and still trying to finish CSEL.) You're good. Seriously...
 
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
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Back in the day, there was also regulation, stability and good pay.
 
jrh said:
Right. Because jobs matter way more than people. :sarcasm:

I'd give the direct opposite advice, to make sure your jobs fit in with the important people in your life. Maybe that's just my personality--I gain much more happiness from friends and family than I do from any job. Nobody lies on their death bed wishing they had fewer relationships so they could've worked more. If you truly, seriously find the right girl for you, don't throw her away over a dumb stepping stone.
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Guess I should have thrown the sarcasm tag in there haha.
 
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
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Wow... not trying to flame. The OP is asking a legitimate question.

I got my Commercial licenses and CFI certificates at an early age as well. I'm still continuing college and flying professionally, and have met many other young pilots like myself and Cessna310. I have enjoyed my time in this career so far, met great people, met not so great people, made good decisions, made bad decisions... I have learned a lot about myself professionally and personally. I really like the current employer I work for, but I still have the goal of working for the majors. The 1500 hr rule has set me back a little bit, but as Screaming_Emu said "Take your time (but don't waste it) and enjoy the ride. If you devote every waking moment to getting into this industry, you will get here and be underwhelmed."

I also recommend going to college while part-time or full-time instructing, whatever you can handle. We are lucky to be in a career that allows us to be pilots, but also receive an education in a different specialization to fall back on. It is important to have something to fall back on, because one never knows when they will need to fall back on it. I truly love this career and cannot see myself doing anything else, but I cannot guarantee you I will never lose my medical due to an unexpected accident (why having something to fall back on is ideal).

Also you only get to be young once, so enjoy and cherish it. I hope this helps man!

There are many paths to success, you make your own ;)

Good luck to you Cessna310!
 
Boris Badenov said:
A good way to get there is to tell a major pilot to shut up and let the real pro college student explain things.
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I am not telling him to shut up at all and did not mean for it to come off that way. I just don't think "So cry me a river, sonny, while you get off my lawn" is a nice statement to an aspiring professional pilot.

Not trying to flame :ooh:
 
Boris Badenov said:
A good way to get there is to respect others.
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I edited it.

This isn't "let's be tool bags and agree with what the major pilots say is it?" We can go to Airline Pilot Central if we want to do that.

It is a forum and others are allowed to speak their mind
 
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