The Glory Days Are Over

FlyingNole said:
Good..See ya...One less guy competing for my job.
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Hey man, I wish you the best on your interviews. I hope you do well and you get offered the job. All I know is that for me, collective barganing agreements, duty rigs, commuting, crashpads, furloughs, etc... don't seem as appealing to me. About four years ago I was speaking with an airline pilot and he told me, "Man it is just another job." I thought he was in insane. Four years later, they are words that are never more true.

Best of luck to you and all of you persuing the airline dream, but be cautious...
 
To quote Dennis Miller here, "I don't want to get off on a rant here but..." has anyone seen the state of how airlines and these pilot unions work nowadays?

First and foremost, I am not an airline pilot, never claimed to be one. But on the regional level of airline flying it seems to me that no two airline pilot groups like each other. This group HATES that group, this airline undercuts another airline for flying, "alter-ego" airlines popping up to get mainline feeder route contracts. What is up with that?

Then, you take the issues that the mainline carriers have with their own regional feeders. They are operating this jet, which is hindering the growth of my carrier, which means I don't climb the seniorty chain. So if I don't upgrade, I can't make more money. Or which is more of a testment to the way it used to be, XYZ airline get paid xxx dollars to fly this airplane, why can't I? If we don't get this much more, we will walk...

But if I am wrong, and I hope I am... some of you all that are there can correct me...
 
seagull said:
If you love flying then it really doesn't matter anyway, as you'll pursue it either way and nothing here will change that. For those that are/were in this for some other reason, they may choose to not pursue it, which is only good for those that love it.
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Well said. I think too many people get into this career for "other" reasons. When things don't turn out how they hoped (no major job by age 23 making $150,000 a year as the ad promised), they get frustrated and leave. Then, they turn around to trash the industry since they didn't get immediate gratification of their "other" goals.

There are many of us here that love this job, and still view it as an exciting, challenging profession. It isn't for everybody though.
 
FlyChicaga said:
Well said. I think too many people get into this career for "other" reasons. When things don't turn out how they hoped (no major job by age 23 making $150,000 a year as the ad promised), they get frustrated and leave. Then, they turn around to trash the industry since they didn't get immediate gratification of their "other" goals.

There are many of us here that love this job, and still view it as an exciting, challenging profession. It isn't for everybody though.
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:yeahthat:
I think alot of people believe the ads not just for aviation, but for IT as well. Spend $10,000 and get a $60,000 job. Had a teacher tell a neice that out of high school she could make $80,000 a year doing PowerPoint presentations. I actually spoke to the teacher and she got very upset with me calling her on it in front of her students (I was asked there to talk about Engineering). I asked who the company was, because even with 20+ years in Engineering, I was applying for the job!
 
n57flyguy said:
2 points for corporate.

Yes Capt Obvious.
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Unless you have some excellent connections to major corporations like Costco, Wal Mart, or Coke, corporate is as unstable, if not more unstable, than the airlines. When the economy or certain business sectors go sour, guess whats the first thing to go..

If you guessed the flight dept. You WIN!
 
meritflyer said:
Unless you have some excellent connections to major corporations like Costco, Wal Mart, or Coke, corporate is as unstable, if not more unstable, than the airlines. When the economy or certain business sectors go sour, guess whats the first thing to go..

If you guessed the flight dept. You WIN!
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Or in the case of someone I know who was chief pilot and safety manager for a company. Owner had to get rid of plane (barron) or chief pilot and fly themselves. Guess who won :(
 
Times change and so has the industry. Money was never the reason I was drawn to aviation. I can't explain what it is about a pax jet soaring above at FL350 that got my heart racing but it still does today. I'm just following a dream and praying that I make the right choices for my career. I've been employed in various fields and there wasn't a single job I was happy with because everytime an airline flew overhead my eyes were skyward wishing I was in that front seat.
Well I'm pretty close now, just a few more months of instructing. I don't like the way the industry looks, but at this point I'm along for ride. I can't think of anything else to go back to. I've hated every job I've had, but when I get up in the air I'm happy. Even flying the Seminole is a blast and I just love being up there. I'd love to make a bundle of money flying around a jet too, but I'm not going to give up on a childhood dream just because of a few dollar signs.
 
Airdale said:
Times change and so has the industry. Money was never the reason I was drawn to aviation. I can't explain what it is about a pax jet soaring above at FL350 that got my heart racing but it still does today. I'm just following a dream and praying that I make the right choices for my career. I've been employed in various fields and there wasn't a single job I was happy with because everytime an airline flew overhead my eyes were skyward wishing I was in that front seat.
Well I'm pretty close now, just a few more months of instructing. I don't like the way the industry looks, but at this point I'm along for ride. I can't think of anything else to go back to. I've hated every job I've had, but when I get up in the air I'm happy. Even flying the Seminole is a blast and I just love being up there. I'd love to make a bundle of money flying around a jet too, but I'm not going to give up on a childhood dream just because of a few dollar signs.
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Ditto.
 
I shot Barry Schiff the link to this thread and asked him to get involved. We'll see if he shows up. :)
 
Well, here was Barry's reply to me:

I did take a look at the thread of communications and found it interesting. I would not, however, want to get involved in the discussion. I simply don't have the time.

Many thanks for taking the time to let me know about the thread.

Best wishes,

-- Barry
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Oh well, I tried. :)
 
FlyingNole said:
Time? The man is retired....

Barry, if you're reading this, I love your articles. :)
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He is retired from the airlines. If I am not mistaken he flies a corporate GV and with his writing he probably stays pretty busy. I know he quit writing his article monthly for Avweb because he didn't have the time any more.

I like his articles too. He's flown about every plane out there.
 
Sounds like people like this are only in it for the money! You basically got two options 1) Suck it up 2) Quit , if you ask me, i rather go for 1. Plus everyone knows that nowdays you dont get rich flying for an airline, so what?, most people become millionaries in part time jobs.
 
From "Millionaire Next Door:"

Owned Business: 72%
Chief Execuitive Officer: 18%
"Windfall" (includes lottery, settlement, etc.): 3%
Inherited 2%
Other 5%

Don't know what "Other" is!
 
BCTAv8r said:
I think you meant that most millionaires got there from part-time jobs?
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Yes sorry about that, like McDonalds will make you a millionare. I meant things like Stock Market, Real State, most of these things are only done part time while they kept other jobs.
 
Airdale said:
Times change and so has the industry. Money was never the reason I was drawn to aviation. I can't explain what it is about a pax jet soaring above at FL350 that got my heart racing but it still does today. I'm just following a dream and praying that I make the right choices for my career. I've been employed in various fields and there wasn't a single job I was happy with because everytime an airline flew overhead my eyes were skyward wishing I was in that front seat............
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I'm right there w/ ya on that one! I always told myself "I know I can do that...."
 
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