Under 21...?

Diamnd15

Well-Known Member
Hey all, well by doing a little bit of math with my logbook, it looks like I am going to be able to get to that golden 1000 hours before the time i’m 21. I’m 18 and will be for about the next 6 months and I just passed the 300 hour mark. With my cfi, a part-time flying job, another job and night school I pretty much have a tight schedule. Flying just about 60 hours a month I should be able to get there in or about a year. So basically who would I be able to get on with the hours, just not the age. I would love to fly cargo, even the regional’s, but what ever it is, its got to be somewhere on the western us. Thanks…
 
All I will say is, don't burn yourself out. Enjoy the ride.

You need 1200 TT to fly freight (or any Part 135). Screw the regionals. Do you really want to get yourself into that mess?
 
Indeed, "building time" is some of the best flying you'll do throughout your career.

It's funny because when I was younger I wanted to fly jets with all this wiz bang BS in them, and now that I have little pieces of wiz bang BS (Garmin 1000 cockpits, GNS 430's in a lot of planes, etc. etc.) it's almost too easy. Get me back to the days when I did my instrument rating and I had two VOR recievers and my finger on a map as my moving map.
 
if your going to start limiting yourself geographically, you might end up finding it diffcult to find that first jobl - esp with the amount of competition there is out there.

but like ESF said, don't burn yourself out....have some fun while your at it. your only young once and it goes quickly!!
 
True that. When I applied for Skyway, I didn't know where the hell Wisconsin was and when I got hired by SouthernJet Innanashnul, I thought I was going to be able to live a full life without ever having to go to the south.
 
The guy I roomed with during training came from the freight world, ACC. He hated it and had some pretty crazy stories of being abused by the company and dispatch. He says the flying at a regional as opposed to his former freight company is like the difference between night and day (literally and figuratively).

Just wanted to give another perspective on the whole freight vs. regional debate...
 
Hey man are you skipping out on university? I hope not. I've been instructing since i was 18 as well, and im not finishing my 2nd year in university, and im still 19. I have 800hrs, as much as i want to drop out and fly... it's the long term goal that is keeping me in it... I'm still instructing while at university, on weekends and days during the week when my students want me to come out... it is doable to do both, but not much of a social life this way.
 
GaTechKid said:
The guy I roomed with during training came from the freight world, ACC. He hated it and had some pretty crazy stories of being abused by the company and dispatch. He says the flying at a regional as opposed to his former freight company is like the difference between night and day (literally and figuratively).

Just wanted to give another perspective on the whole freight vs. regional debate...
Yeah, well, that's his side of the story. There's a lot of prima donnas that can't hack it. You're telling me that dispatch doesn't try to screw you regional pilots??? Please... That dispatch's job, no matter what type of flying! :)

ACC is, as far as I know, a pretty good company to be at.

I would walk away from flying in an instant before I went to any regional, so it goes both ways.
 
I'd say that there are pilots that are too cautious to be flying 135 with no radar, ap, etc... :) - However, our dispatch never complains when we want more fuel because it's $0.10 cheaper at the destination, never pressures us to fly through any weather we don't want to, and never calls us repeatedly during our rest period to let us know we were flying to an airport we already knew about, unlike what I was told about Air Cargo Carriers. Besides, dispatch doesn't screw us. Scheduling tries to, but it's not intentional.
 
im not skipping out on school, actually ive been busting my butt off and hopefully by the end of summer i should be done with my a.s. degree, then hopefully to major in biotech. but thanks for all the input, i would really like to just try and wait out and get a slot at skywest because that would be my number one choice, even as a life long career, but i guess ill just enjoy the ride like you all said and try to stay young
 
Diamnd15 said:
im not skipping out on school, actually ive been busting my butt off and hopefully by the end of summer i should be done with my a.s. degree, then hopefully to major in biotech. but thanks for all the input, i would really like to just try and wait out and get a slot at skywest because that would be my number one choice, even as a life long career, but i guess ill just enjoy the ride like you all said and try to stay young

CFI, 300 hrs., an A.S. degree (almost), and you're only 18? Dude, that's freaking awesome, but I don't know how you plan on staying young. Sounds like you passed that up a long time ago. I guess if that's what you want, go for it; it's awesome, but as for staying young, take a break man! ;)
 
well thats what my girlfriend want me to do, but itll be very hard to do...i do feel like i am a lot more mature and act a little bit older than my 18 year old friends, but this is what i wanna do. i want to only have one part time job flying, and cfi on the side and just go to school and finish my degree and hopefully by the time i turn 21 i can get on with skywest, and maybe one day after that get a "guarnteed" interview at united when i meet the mins since ill have been working there for a while now, almost too long. and a big thanks for the nice post
 
well your in luck. Ameriflight is one of the largest freight companies out there and they're all over the west coast. They even have turbine equipment with quick upgrades and jumpseat. Sounds like it might be a good option for you. We got a couple of guys on here who fly for 'em.
 
Diamnd15 said:
well thats what my girlfriend want me to do, but itll be very hard to do...i do feel like i am a lot more mature and act a little bit older than my 18 year old friends, but this is what i wanna do. i want to only have one part time job flying, and cfi on the side and just go to school and finish my degree and hopefully by the time i turn 21 i can get on with skywest, and maybe one day after that get a "guarnteed" interview at united when i meet the mins since ill have been working there for a while now, almost too long. and a big thanks for the nice post

That's pretty amazing. I can't imagine that much load at once ... PLUS a girlfriend. I think I would have a nervous breakdown.
 
well its all going pretty well right now, just got to have a schedule and keep to it, i think i would like amflight, just not the midnight hours of flying but i cant complain or be picky so ill take what ever i can get
 
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