Thinking of becoming a pilot?

[ QUOTE ]

This career does have it's ups and downs. Don't let the downs get you too down but don't let the highs blind you to the reality of the situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, what if a person (we'll call him "Boyd"...
grin.gif
) gets into this industry, and feel that the downs aren't that low - and yet they really do feel that the highs are super high??

I'm no stranger to the realities of the world. I know that no career is all smiles. To some folks, though, there isn't much horror to be found!

I went 57 days once without seeing running water. I ate nothing but MRE's, dehydrated bread (they really do make that...) and the occasional chocolate bar. I carried a machine gun everywhere I went.

This field may not be as ". . .good as it once was...", but it's not as bad as it could be! Some folks aren't blind to the lows - they've just seen much lower!!
 
[ QUOTE ]

Similar to people screaming 'happy happy joy joy' when they're flying a 50-seat jet for $20k/year. Granted it's a lot sweeter than flying a 30-pax turboprop for less, but the $20k/year 50-seat jet job used to be a Northwest DC-9-15 job that paid appreciably more.

Upside? You've got a job.

Downside? You're doing a job that paid way more and had far better benefits at a period of time.



[/ QUOTE ]

2 questions...

1-Are pilots looked down upon for flying for a regional?

2- As I read in one of the threads, ESF was offered an interview with a regional but he turned it down because of low pay, and didn't want to be part of an airline that paid so low. Is it true? And if so, isn't working for his current company defeating the purpose?
confused.gif
 
I'm asking the same question that MTSU asked.
tongue.gif


Hey MTSU my record is 37 days without a real shower back in the desert what's yours?
cwm27.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hey MTSU my record is 37 days without a real shower back in the desert what's yours?
cwm27.gif


[/ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]

57 with no shower!!! Baby wipes work wonder!!!
grin.gif


There was a beer tent, though - go figure...
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Similar to people screaming 'happy happy joy joy' when they're flying a 50-seat jet for $20k/year. Granted it's a lot sweeter than flying a 30-pax turboprop for less, but the $20k/year 50-seat jet job used to be a Northwest DC-9-15 job that paid appreciably more.

Upside? You've got a job.

Downside? You're doing a job that paid way more and had far better benefits at a period of time.



[/ QUOTE ]

2 questions...

1-Are pilots looked down upon for flying for a regional?

2- As I read in one of the threads, ESF was offered an interview with a regional but he turned it down because of low pay, and didn't want to be part of an airline that paid so low. Is it true? And if so, isn't working for his current company defeating the purpose?
confused.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, All Regional pilots are looked down on. Just go to the majors right out of flightschool and demand $50/hr to start out with.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hey MTSU my record is 37 days without a real shower back in the desert what's yours?
cwm27.gif


[/ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]

57 with no shower!!! Baby wipes work wonder!!!
grin.gif


There was a beer tent, though - go figure...
grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Beer tent
shocked.gif


So mine out number yours
grin.gif


Baby wips are good but after a few days you start smelling kinda bittersweet funky
insane.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]


Yeah, All Regional pilots are looked down on. Just go to the majors right out of flightschool and demand $50/hr to start out with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you serious? I don't get it
confused.gif
 
I wonder...before signing on, would "Boyd" have benefitted from encountering a hard-nosed, reality-bitten post called "Thinking of Becoming a Soldier?" (maybe even an anguished description of lugging an M-60 around with MRE constipation...lol)

ClimbTo350, it's just about balanced information -- informed consent, if you will...no surprises. Glossy ads and dreams of grandeur NEED to be balanced out. Besides, the glass really isn't always even a quarter full for many people, and I don't see any harm in venting. Even if it actually changes someone's mind ("destroys their dream"), is that REALLY a bad thing? If they're THAT easily swayed, then they really should probably stay out. If they're not easily swayed, then at least they'll have a better idea of the potential downside. Either way, I think it's a net gain. Transparency, information, and full disclosure are worth the cost of a little negative mojo (to me).
 
[ QUOTE ]
I wonder...before signing on, would "Boyd" have benefitted from encountering a hard-nosed, reality-bitten post called "Thinking of Becoming a Soldier?" (maybe even an anguished description of lugging an M-60 around with MRE constipation...lol)

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, no, Boyd doesn't really exist...just an imaginary figure...
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Being bitter and negative will only attract more bitter and negative things.

And no I'm not naieve, I'm well aware of the risks of getting into this career. But instead of looking at it that way, look at why you got into it. If you really lost the passion for flying, then get out of it ASAP.


[/ QUOTE ]


An aspiring pilot with a strong personality and a tenacious desire to fly and make it in the aviation industry will read the post as a brief snapshot of the potential downside, accept the reality that there is some moderate (occasional severe) turbulence ahead, and mentally prepare for the ride.

If you are the type who complains about how a post "ruins your dreams" in aviation, then you probably won't make it anyway. If it informs you or inspires you in some way, then you have a shot.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I went 57 days once without seeing running water. I ate nothing but MRE's, dehydrated bread (they really do make that...) and the occasional chocolate bar. I carried a machine gun everywhere I went.

This field may not be as ". . .good as it once was...", but it's not as bad as it could be! Some folks aren't blind to the lows - they've just seen much lower!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Boy besides the character building part you do have a "perspective" that not many can match.

Back in the gravy days I would fly with guys who pissed and moaned about the job. Invariably, when I enquired into their background I found they had very few if any (what I would call) real jobs in their life. I'm talking about "12 hour days, getting so dirty you have to leave your clothes in the garage, dragging butt jobs.

It makes a difference in how you view a lot of things. I wish I could get my boys on a real old-fashioned hay crew for just one summer. You appreciate any job after that.
smile.gif


Dave
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I went 57 days once without seeing running water. I ate nothing but MRE's, dehydrated bread (they really do make that...) and the occasional chocolate bar. I carried a machine gun everywhere I went.

This field may not be as ". . .good as it once was...", but it's not as bad as it could be! Some folks aren't blind to the lows - they've just seen much lower!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Boy besides the character building part you do have a "perspective" that not many can match.

Back in the gravy days I would fly with guys who pissed and moaned about the job. Invariably, when I enquired into their background I found they had very few if any (what I would call) real jobs in their life. I'm talking about "12 hour days, getting so dirty you have to leave your clothes in the garage, dragging butt jobs.

It makes a difference in how you view a lot of things.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's definately the truth! I also think that the sweetness of "the dream. . ." is proportional to the difficulty of the road traveled. I have alot of friends that had it pretty easy with their flight training and education. They seem to get frustrated quicker than most. Then you have others....folks that bust their butt to pay for their flight training, pay for school, and then leave a "perfectly good job. . ." to fly airplanes.

They don't complain as much!!
grin.gif


I know, I ". . .haven't flown any 15 hour duty days" or anything like that. I have, however, slept in the snow and wished I had a car or truck to sleep in! I've fough over who gets to sleep UNDER to Hummer to stay out of the rain. Lights cut off? I've had mine cut off more than a few times.

this has been a rough road - but I've seen worse!!
 
I think part of ESFs frustration is that there are too many aspiring pilots who whether it be because they are disillusioned from pilots the already know or if they buy into these glassy ads they see in magazines, too many people don't know the real side of many entry level flying jobs.

From experience I can tell you it takes a real gut check to work day in and day out earning a meager wage and looking ahead and seeing no real change for the next few years. It's hard for me to look at regional salaries and realize that I may be making less than I already do working as a CFI. I am sure this isn't exclusive to aviation jobs, many occupations for one reason or another require several years of low pay to earn the experience necessary to advance.

I dont see any problem with what ESF wrote, I think we need more open honest remarks like his to help balance the abundance of aviation fallacies that aspiring aviators are overstimulated with.

just my 2 cents....
 
[ QUOTE ]
I wish I could get my boys on a real old-fashioned hay crew for just one summer. You appreciate any job after that.
smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

When I was in High School in the early 1990s the industry was terrible, (agruably worse than it is now). People told me to stay away from aviation. I told them "thank's for the input, but this is what I really want to do"

I went to school, at 3 I went to the airport and washed planes, at 7 I went to the golf driving range/bating cages and shoveled baseballs into a hopper. On the weekends I mowed some lawns and ocasionaly loaded crop dusters, and in the fall I threw hay bales.

It took three years to pay for my PPL, but I did it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I wish I could get my boys on a real old-fashioned hay crew for just one summer. You appreciate any job after that.
smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

When I was in High School in the early 1990s the industry was terrible, (agruably worse than it is now). People told me to stay away from aviation. I told them "thank's for the input, but this is what I really want to do"

I went to school, at 3 I went to the airport and washed planes, at 7 I went to the golf driving range/bating cages and shoveled baseballs into a hopper. On the weekends I mowed some lawns and ocasionaly loaded crop dusters, and in the fall I threw hay bales.

It took three years to pay for my PPL, but I did it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very well done. Yeah it sounds like a typical summer in the rural area where I grew up. We never felt it was too hard, and still found some time for hard playing too. That's when a "cold one" really means something!

Dave
 
ya thats incredible... The thing is you dont even have to go that extreme to see things clearly. I think the problem is people didnt really know all this going into it.

Thats why this site is so incredible. When I first started researching a month or so ago. I thought Pan Am was the school. The money was great even for CFI's according to salary.com!!!!!!!(What a joke). And in 10years I would work 1 week a month and make 300+K

Now I know the reality. The thing is that pilots have 1 thing other careers dont...

Hope...
I might be wrong so please correct me if I am.
If you get your ratings and a degree and manage to stick it out and build the time you will eventually get to fly a big plane for big dough. Paying dues is not fun but at least you know you will have a return on your investment some day. Trust me I know alllll about paying dues...

The other issue is that reality checks work both ways. 6 figure corporate jobs arent just handed out either. As far as the whole "this much work and investment I could have been a ____ doctor". Do you really believe that? It takes a special person to do certain jobs. Me and every other alpha male "think" if life had different circumstances we would have joined the armed forces for a period. Then you read MTSU's post about 57 days in Iraq... No way I would die after 5.7 hours.

Its been said a dozen times the grass is always greener. There are a zillion guys that would kill for my job too.

In the end you have to live life like its the only one you got. Its about experiences and memories. I been telling my family for years I would rather have 60 Sammy Davis Jr. years then 100 Ken Star years...

Look at it this way if this site was "Hi Im Doug and make 10mil a year importing bamboo" I dont think anyone would want to read it except Mr. Miagi.
grin.gif
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Now I know the reality. The thing is that pilots have 1 thing other careers dont...

Hope...
I might be wrong so please correct me if I am.
If you get your ratings and a degree and manage to stick it out and build the time you will eventually get to fly a big plane for big dough. Paying dues is not fun but at least you know you will have a return on your investment some day.

[/ QUOTE ]If anything I'd say that predictability is one thing that this profession lacks. You may never know if your dues will pay off, and for some they never do. There are many people that never do "eventually get to fly a plane for big dough."
[ QUOTE ]
Trust me I know alllll about paying dues...

[/ QUOTE ]Maybe in one profession, but dues are collected differently in different professions. I don't think anyone can really know until they have experienced it first hand.
 
wait... I dont understand. If you have the credentials and spent a few years building time why cant you get a good paying job?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top