what was your lucky break?

PlaneCrazy

PlaneCrazy

Well-Known Member
So here I am, a newly minted commercial pilot....OK, OK save me the what were/are you thinking advice....and am just curious how some of you got your start into the industry after reaching this level. Was it a lucky break? who you knew? Maybe the unforgivable act of PFJ/PFT? Please share!
 
My story starts with a woman, most good stories do.

I met a girl two months before my CFI checkride. The kind of girl the Pouges could write a full album about.

Anyway, she was just in town for an internship and was moving to NC for a job. I took my checkride the day she left. I passed, booked a plane ticket that night and met up with her in Indy, and drove the rest of the way with her. I moved her in to her new house and on the way to the airport for my flight home, we stopped by the local airport with my wet temporary CFI certificate in hand and asked for a job.
I was hired and he said "come back as soon as you can get packed".

I gave my two weeks notice to work back home and two weeks later I was in my loaded car heading out to my first flying job.

What an adventure.
----

On a serious note, you first job is less about a lucky breaks and more about, "they need a qualified pilot and I'm a qualified pilot".
 
Just about every flying gig I've gotten is because of people I've known who have "put in a good word". I've learned two things from this. One is to help others along the way when I can since other people did it for me. Second is to be nice to EVERYONE i've met along the way, even if I didn't particularly like them. Aviation is really a small community, and you'll be amazed how you run into the same people over and over again.
 
PlaneCrazy said:
So here I am, a newly minted commercial pilot....OK, OK save me the what were/are you thinking advice....and am just curious how some of you got your start into the industry after reaching this level. Was it a lucky break? who you knew? Maybe the unforgivable act of PFJ/PFT? Please share!
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My furlough.










But for real I'd say getting my resume walked in at Amflight. That job opened up more doors than I could possibly imagine.

And why did that happen? Jetcareers. All told, I'd say the networking I've done through this website was THE SINGLE THING that provided me with any sense of a career.
 
Nothing but "who you know" stories for me. It all started with my parents choosing to have a family doctor who happens to be a pilot, who introduced me to a prominent aviation businessman in my hometown, who in turn hired me as a flight instructor, which is where I met a corporate jet pilot, who hired me to fly a Learjet 2 years later, who then left and put me in charge. With only one full time pilot (me), I have to use contract pilots to fly the trips. My next job will likely come from some connections that I've made through one of the contract pilots with whom I have been flying. There are some other jobs and people in between, but thats basically how I got to where I am right now. I can't neglect to mention how Lloyd here hooked me up at Flight Express when they were hiring VFR line pilots.
 
First lucky career break:
Walking in with a resume to drop off at a flight school just as another CFI was quitting. Hired on the spot. Crappy economy, no one hiring, yadda yadda yadda.

Second lucky career break:
Giving a check out in a 152 to what turned out to be a UPS 747 captain who was great friends with a CEO of a regional airline that was about to start hiring and was looking for recommendations. Again, crappy economy, no one hiring, yadda yadda yadda.

Third lucky career break:
Jumpseating down to Orlando, the captain had just browsed my website earlier that week and was an MD-88 line check airman for Delta and he thought I'd be a good match.

I've only scored one job in a semi-robust economy. There are some fantastic opportunities out there when times are tough, you've just got to position yourself and keep your head up.
 
Doug Taylor said:
First lucky career break:
Walking in with a resume to drop off at a flight school just as another CFI was quitting. Hired on the spot. Crappy economy, no one hiring, yadda yadda yadda.

Second lucky career break:
Giving a check out in a 152 to what turned out to be a UPS 747 captain who was great friends with a CEO of a regional airline that was about to start hiring and was looking for recommendations. Again, crappy economy, no one hiring, yadda yadda yadda.

Third lucky career break:
Jumpseating down to Orlando, the captain had just browsed my website earlier that week and was an MD-88 line check airman for Delta and he thought I'd be a good match.

I've only scored one job in a semi-robust economy. There are some fantastic opportunities out there when times are tough, you've just got to position yourself and keep your head up.
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Dougs right, I just got my first big break about a week ago and for every "sorry we're not hiring, but please do send in a resume" I just kept telling myself the next one will be the one...and eventually it was. Staying positive is the key.
 
Last summer i got my multi instrument rating at around 160 hours TT. The aviation degree program that i currently attend had 50 people signed up. This was a lot considering there were only 5 full time CFI's at the flight school. The owner asked me and three other guys to bust our asses over the summer to get our CFI's for the fall (end of august). I flew cross country after cross country day after day (I was running out of places to go). I got my MEC and then took a trip to Oshkosh in a DA-40, which, by the way, was awesome! Failed my initial MEI ride (you can look up my moaning in previous posts) but then passed it two days later. Then the economy went into the toilet and of the 50 kids who were enrolled, only 10 got loans. I was like, great, all that work and i'm not gonna get hired. I kept at it though and got my SEC and CFI. A couple of weeks went by and the owner had not asked me to start working yet so i thought he just did not need me any more. Any way i called him up one day and said "So when can I start?",
He replied, "Oh you wanted a job?"

I thought he was totally serious, but he was joking. Had me come in that day and do an intro flight.

Not the best story, I know, but if you can take anything from it, it's this. Just because some one says they have a job for you does not mean squat until you have the paycheck in hand. Even then it's not always certain. Me and another guy, from the four who were asked to get their CFI's over the summer, where the only two who got hired. The other two did not.

Any way i'm very thankful for the job I did get. I absolutely love it. Bozeman is awesome. I love flight instructing. There is a great sense of accomplishment when you teach people how to fly. My wife loves it because i get to come home every night. Plus i get to fly brand new airplanes.

I would say get your CFII as soon as possible. I've had to pass on a number of people who wanted to do an IPC. Now i'm working on it and let me tell you i forgot a lot. Plus as when my students pass their private, i have to hand them over to a new instructor who has their CFII.

Congratulations on your achievement. It's a great feeling to get payed (albeit not much) to fly rather than forking over the cash to fly.

-Matt
 
Douglas said:
My story starts with a woman, most good stories do.
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Or with, "There I was...low and slow,fog so thick you could walk on it..."


But my story, too, starts with a woman. "Fly? Are you stupid? Just take the job my mother has and forget flying."

I'll always have the memories of the good times we had together.
 
PlaneCrazy said:
So here I am, a newly minted commercial pilot....OK, OK save me the what were/are you thinking advice....and am just curious how some of you got your start into the industry after reaching this level. Was it a lucky break? who you knew? Maybe the unforgivable act of PFJ/PFT? Please share!
Click to expand...

After getting my commercial, I started working the desk at a busy FL flight school while I worked on my CFI. Got to know the students and CFIs, so when I got my CFI a few weeks later I was able to slide right in. I flew as much as possible, hanging out at the school at least 7 days/wk (at first), 12 hrs/day. It took a couple of months, but I built up my schedule and went down to 6 days/wk. I networked like crazy, and got a part 135 job as a king air sic at 800 hrs. I had about 5 hrs of multi, and that job really pumped up the multi time for me (I was still instructing when I wasn't flying charter). Later with that same company, I got a good amount of single pilot PIC time in the Chieftain. All of that lead to the corporate job I have now, which has been very good particularly considering this economy.

Some of my friends think I was pretty lucky, and maybe I was to some extent. But I worked for it and pushed for every single bit of it. Lucky breaks usually come to those who are on the constant lookout for it, and seize it when they see it. It hardly ever just comes to you, especially in aviation.
 
I called up a banner tow place and asked if they were hiring, I got a job.

I got my CFI, then asked a flight school if they needed another CFI, they said yes.

I applied at a cargo operator, they interviewed me and gave me a job.

It's been almost too easy thusfar.
 
1) Got a deskish job at a school in Austin from a fellow JCer. I "worked" a lot, but most of the time I was just shooting the with anyone I could find at the airport or listening in on other students' lessons. It worked perfectly with my school schedule, I got a sick discount on the planes, and before I knew it I was a CFI. There's no way I would be a CFI without this job...
1a) Said JC member was a prior Air Force enlistee. He got me thinking seriously about the military.
1b) Following a night flight after said job, I saw - I don't know - a million T-38s takeoff from KAUS, one after the other, with full afterburners. I decided I really wanted to do that.

2) 07Dec2008 - Pearl Harbor Day. My Birthday. Sponsored by 419th FW to attend UPT. Waiting on dates...hopefully any day now.
 
PlaneCrazy said:
So here I am, a newly minted commercial pilot....OK, OK save me the what were/are you thinking advice....and am just curious how some of you got your start into the industry after reaching this level. Was it a lucky break? who you knew? Maybe the unforgivable act of PFJ/PFT? Please share!
Click to expand...


See: Chechako

ok I'll elaborate. I brainstormed the idea of becoming a ramper for the company to slowly create contacts. I emailed a bunch of guys on websites asking what they thought. most were pessamistic(a trend I later found out most pilots have), telling me its a waste of my time. So I try and try and try, don't give up and finally get a ramping job in PSP, two hours from home. Did the drive 4 days a week and CFI'd at the same time. One day, after coming home, I get this IM from Chechako, saying he will be flying into PSP, and to have a In n Out double double french fries and Coke waiting for him(lol, exagerating here a bit), so he flies in and I meet him. Really nice guy, long story short, he was a hiring captain at my current company, and I had an interview a month later.

Long story even shorter, got hired, and was in the beginning of a hiring wave of 1800+ pilots over a span of 3-4 years.
 
averyrm said:
I called up a banner tow place and asked if they were hiring, I got a job.

I got my CFI, then asked a flight school if they needed another CFI, they said yes.

I applied at a cargo operator, they interviewed me and gave me a job.

It's been almost too easy thusfar.
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Sounds like my story, Got my CFI, went to work for the flight school i learned at.

Got tired of that got hired at my hometown FBO instructing/SIC on a CE-500.

That started dring up, was half asleep on the couch one day and some guy in a 210 comes in and tells me they need cargo pilots, send the owner an email and 2 weeks later i get hired as VFR only with about 800 hours.

Did that till i had about 1500 hours, and i lost my route. A week later i got an email for the Van job im currently at.

Ive been very lucky with my jobs, kinda fallen into all of them; although, it might come back and bite me in the arse considering my low ME time, but who knows, maybe another gig will fall like mana from aviation heaven.
 
lucky break...not yet but oh, it's so close and at my finger tips and should take place this year sometime. I saved up some fireworks just for that day :D. It is all about networking and being persistent.
 
Dork...Hell No. You knew what you wanted and went about getting. Well Done, I'd say.:rawk:
 
Which one? lol

I don't think I ever made a step in my career without the assistance of someone else.

I got my first post-college flight instructing job by calling the guy who gave me my CFII/MEI just up the road. He happened to have an opening.

I heard about my first cargo job from a friend of my father's. I called and interviewed over the phone. Never met my boss until my Part 135 checkride!

In the mid 90s I had shiny-jet syndrome. I wanted to fly some "mainline" metal and my favorite airplane had always been the DC9. A friend of mine had gone to AirTran Airways shortly after the Valujet merger. He recommended I work to get an interview there. SO... on a day off I nonreved to Orlando, hopped in a cab and went to their headquarters. I dropped off a resume and never got past the receptionist. I'm not one to give up easily so after that I sent them a resume every week for about 3 months. On the envelope for each resume I drew a comic strip -- the misadventures of a pilot trying to get an interview at AirTran. I painstakingly colored each frame of the comic strip with colored pencil... and every week sent another one off. At the same time, I found a bakery that sold giant fortune cookies. I sent them my resume and had them stuff it into said giant fortune cookie and ship it to the pilot recruiter at AirTran. A month or two later I had the job. (sadly it lasted less than six months before I was furloughed).

My latest big-break was at my current company. I was flying with a crew of slam-clickers and had an unfortunate 36 hour overnight in an undesirable city (where I now live). Bored in the hotel I decided to spend some money and rent a car. I drove around and stumbled across a small airport with a bunch of corporate jets on the ramp. There were some guys talking by the fence so I went to ask them about the airplanes on the ramp. Turns out they were owned by this corporation. They offered to give me a tour. While I was impressed with what I saw, I didn't really give a whole lot of thought to working here. When I got home I went on that OTHER aviation message-board and asked around. Sure enough there was a pilot there from this company. He happened to be one of the guys I met by the fence. A few months later when they started interviewing he called and asked me if i'd be interested. I sent a resume and the rest is history.

But I agree with those that say that networking is everything. Thanks to the wonderful network of professional aviators i've been able to develop throughout various segments of the industry, i've never been out of work for more than 3 months in any of the many furloughs i've endured. Giving a little bit back is the one of the only reasons I participate on this website.
 
mrivc211 said:
If your interested, here are the links....in order...lol...wow I was a dork.

http://forums.jetcareers.com/genera...skywest-interview-today-but-not-fly-them.html

then

http://forums.jetcareers.com/general-topics/5851-hired.html

then

http://forums.jetcareers.com/general-topics/8187-skywest-newest-first-officer.html

wow, I feel like an old geezer.
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I just read about your interview with SkyWest. Damn.

Did they give you anything to study for the technical portion or the sim(pilot duties and responsibilites)?

Sounds incredibly stressful, but I am sure it was extremely rewarding to get through it all. I cant wait!!
 
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