what was your lucky break?

I guess my lucky break was my internship at xjet, but it wasn't a "who you know" deal, I just interviewed and got it. Without that I wouldn't have made the hiring wave and would probably to this day be a CFI (I did not enjoy being a CFI).
 
cmill said:
get lost on the way to college?
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Wow.

Mine is passing by my airlines HQ on the way from a lesson. I saw a sign for hiring, didnt know what they even did, I had no clue about regional airlines. Got picked up as a scheduler. 1.5 years later I was interviewing for an FO spot. If I hadnt been a former employee there is no way I would have known who to talk to. At the time they werent hiring just anyone, it was pretty much at the beginning of the downturn of the industry, so I got pretty lucky. Currently I dont even meet the minimums that we require.
 
v1valarob said:
Currently I dont even meet the minimums that we require.
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This is why we shouldn't base our apply or not apply on the mins. I bet your words here make some people on here sick to the stomach. Are you a sir? Im dressing in drag on my next interview.
 
splash said:
This is why we shouldn't base our apply or not apply on the mins. I bet your words here make some people on here sick to the stomach. Are you a sir? Im dressing in drag on my next interview.
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Your reply confuses me.

But thats how this industry rolls. This time 2 years ago if you had 300/50 you probably had a shot at a job with my airline. Today you have no shot since we are not hiring, and when we do, competitive will probably be a former 121 airline. You WILL NOT be looked at with less than 1000tt unless you have more than 1 letter of rec.
 
v1valarob said:
Wow.

Mine is passing by my airlines HQ on the way from a lesson. I saw a sign for hiring, didnt know what they even did, I had no clue about regional airlines. Got picked up as a scheduler. 1.5 years later I was interviewing for an FO spot. If I hadnt been a former employee there is no way I would have known who to talk to. At the time they werent hiring just anyone, it was pretty much at the beginning of the downturn of the industry, so I got pretty lucky. Currently I dont even meet the minimums that we require.
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confused ...yeah, I tend to get that often here.

What I am saying is that it is more about who you know and not the mins.
I know, you disagree with that, right? 1000tt and you still don't have the mins? How long have you been there? I'm somewhat confused myself. No biggie though. lets float on.
 
July '09: Walked out of ATP with wet Comm CFI Tickets and went home to Tulsa to instruct at RVS
July-Sept '09: Instructed and hung out at FBO at least 40hrs a week, also worked on the line crew.
Aug '09: Prospective student walk into flight school stating that he wanted to recieve flight instruction, buy a plane and have a safety pilot along for business trips.
Sept '09: Same prospective student gave up on training, bought a Piper Martix and hired me as his corporate pilot.
Dec 31 '09: Boss got tired of long trips in the Matrix and upgraded me to the A/C in avatar.
Today: Feeling blessed to have been in the right place at the right time and loving life.

Lesson: Be professional at ALL times, make yourself known the right way and network your tail off. Opportunity is lurking when you least expect it!!!
 
SoonerAv8r said:
July '09: Walked out of ATP with wet Comm CFI Tickets and went home to Tulsa to instruct at RVS
July-Sept '09: Instructed and hung out at FBO at least 40hrs a week, also worked on the line crew.
Aug '09: Prospective student walk into flight school stating that he wanted to recieve flight instruction, buy a plane and have a safety pilot along for business trips.
Sept '09: Same prospective student gave up on training, bought a Piper Martix and hired me as his corporate pilot.
Dec 31 '09: Boss got tired of long trips in the Matrix and upgraded me to the A/C in avatar.
Today: Feeling blessed to have been in the right place at the right time and loving life.

Lesson: Be professional at ALL times, make yourself known the right way and network your tail off. Opportunity is lurking when you least expect it!!!
Click to expand...
Wow!!! What is the future like?:buck:
 
v1valarob said:
Your reply confuses me.

But thats how this industry rolls. This time 2 years ago if you had 300/50 you probably had a shot at a job with my airline. Today you have no shot since we are not hiring, and when we do, competitive will probably be a former 121 airline. You WILL NOT be looked at with less than 1000tt unless you have more than 1 letter of rec.
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Most guys in my class were furloughs from united, and if you weren't you had around 3500tt and 500+ multi turbine. The 1000tt was a formality. I'm sure years before me the mind were even higher than that. We have it easy compare to the guys of the 90's.
 
Mine came when I was "hired" (so to speak) to work as a field biologist one summer. Having just gotten my private a couple of months earlier, the boss told the CP that there was no sense in me being a pilot and not able to fly the company airplanes if needed. So, got checked out in the Arrow, had Commercial and multi prior to the next summer. Ended up flying there for 8 years.

After that, I landed a job flying a Caravan part 135 when a friend of mine was leaving for greener pastures. Right place, right time. My next 135 job was pure networking while flying the Caravan. Again, right place, right time.

Currently. Looking to get out of 25-30 hours a week, hard IFR, six-pack, not autopilot. Interviewed, got the offer, accepted. Guess that could aslo be a right place, right time sort of deal, but not as much as the others.
 
I guess my lucky break this far was getting the CFI I did for my PPL. I had to beg him to take me on because he had a full student schedule. He hemmed and hawed about it and finally called me back and said he could work with me if I could fly on Fridays during the day.

Told me later that he didn't have room for me, but I sounded so enthusiastic he figured I'd be a good student anyway. I felt VERY lucky to have him. I worship the guy.

The other "lucky breaks" have been career-oriented. I have been extraordinarily lucky in that I have had excellent mentors over the years. There's a Dave Thomas (of Wendy's fame) quote that I've always stuck to: "Instead of waiting for someone to take you under their wing, find a good wing to crawl under."

That has served me well in both my career and my flying.
 
Dunno whether you'd call it "luck" or "timing", but if I hadn't gotten on at FLX, I almost certainly wouldn't have wound up doing this for a living (mixed blessing, I know). In 2005, they were "hiring" everyone with a pulse and 1200 hours (still had to pass training, of course). I hadn't touched an airplane in 2 years, didn't have a II or a multi ticket of any kind, and had never flown anything bigger than a 182. My 135 ride was also my BFR and IPC. Welcome to flying, live and die by the cycles.
 
For me it was taking a few aerobatic training flights and getting my tailwheel endorsement with an independent CFI in Philly a couple years ago. He introduced me to a guy who was looking to sell his Cessna 140 for cheap and I unexpectedly ended up with my own plane.

When I moved to Nebraska that plane gave me an excuse to hang around the airport a lot. At the time nobody in the area was hiring CFIs. Keep in mind, this was even during the hiring boom...says a lot about how much the locals like it here. They have a tendency to settle in for long periods of time with little turnover. I got to know the owner of the flight school because I'd always drop in and say hi whenever I went out to fly my plane. Without the plane, I think I would have come across as a bit odd for stopping by so often.

After about four months of dropping by at random times, the flight school had an opening. I got called and offered a part time position. Part time became full time, hourly pay became salary, and the rest is history.

Now I'm one of those locals who's settled in and doesn't plan to move any time soon.
 
splash said:
confused ...yeah, I tend to get that often here.

What I am saying is that it is more about who you know and not the mins.
I know, you disagree with that, right? 1000tt and you still don't have the mins? How long have you been there? I'm somewhat confused myself. No biggie though. lets float on.
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In about a week Ill break the mins. My class was the last of the low time guys. There were a few guys with my time which hovered around 500tt. We had one guy that had an ATP, and one guy that was a guard guy who had maybe 1500hrs, but had alot of PIC time in a KC135.

I know of a few FOs who were hired with around 300tt in January of last year.
 
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