What's the strategy now?

matt152 said:
:crazy: Yeah, your plan B is to live with your parents at 22.
Click to expand...

It's cool. I'm 26 and thats still my plan B! And I already did a year at home at 24 from 2007-2008. Whats not to love? Especially if you're not there very much. The bed is made, laundry is done, food is in the fridge. They don't really like it when you cook at 2am drunk, but if you make enough food, they're ok with it. ;)

To the OP: don't fret. You're actually in a fairly decent position. As everyone has said, the industry will turn around. Find the first CFI/banner towing/powerline patrol/traffic watch gig you can get. Get your TT up as high as you can, and by the time they start hiring you should at least have the mins. to apply. It's been said that regional airlines would rather hire someone who hasn't been trained by a different airline if they have qualified applicants. That way, they can mold said individual into whatever kind of pilot they want, as opposed to the furloughed airline guy with 4000tt and a slurry of bad habits picked up along the way. I don't know if there is any truth to all of this, but it never hurts to try.

I feel like I was in your same boat in 2006 when I graduated from college. The hiring boom hadn't quite affected flight schools yet, as only the guys with 1200+TT were getting picked off. I e-mailed all the CFI jobs I could find (and I still hadn't instructed my first student). I ended up getting a CFI job a few months later, september '06, (near my home town of all places) and where several of my friends went to college! I moved in with a friend of mine who had a house with an extra room and flew my butt off. By March of 2007 the minimums had been steadily dropping for applying at the regionals. By April, Trans-States was taking guys from Purdue with 250 hours and a wet multi-ticket. I knew it was time to apply. I got hired by 3 regional airlines with 600TT. I chose one and havn't looked back. I'm furloughed from XJT (may 2007 hire), currently flying caravans (the airplane is fun as hell!), but believe it or not, the jet job got me to 135 mins. so I could get the furlough job! That's backwards from the way it used to be, but I'm paying my dues now. In the end, the moral is; much like the scout motto: Always be prepared.

I wouldn't change any of it.
 
Like others said, things will change at some point. when they do, you want to be ready. My plan? Tread water as long a I can to keep building hours and be as marketable as possible. I love flight instructing, but it is ALOT of work hours; double the hours I worked for a 6 figure job. Sooner or later it will pay off. Just gotta keep positive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top