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Questioning this profession...

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Freight Dog

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 26, 2001
Posts
2,232
Now that we had a number of airlines cease operations, furloughs happening again, all in light of having lost pay, retirement, work rules... how many pilots left or are seriously thinking about leaving this industry?

Take for example our group who lost their jobs in recent shutdowns (Aloha, ATA, Champion etc.), what are our choices in this country? Regionals? I mean, how many of us who had good-paying jobs can truly afford regionals all over again without ending up either totally depleting our savings, or worse, going bankrupt?

Is it worth uprooting your family to pursue that flying career in China, India or the Middle East?

What about those pilots who were furloughed after 9/11 only to get furloughed again recently?

I mean... all these furloughs and sacrifices would have been worth it if there was a reward at the end. In light of all the wage-cutting, bankruptcies, loss of retirement, non-existent work rules, is this profession really worth further sacrifice?

I'm starting to question it... I'm really curious about what others think.
 
There is no way I would move overseas to fly.

The lines to get into this industry are so long because they don't know the industry has changed. They haven't experienced it first hand so they still think there is the great pay off at some point.

There is no great pay off. Just 10-12 nights months a month in a hotel room away from your family. What is that worth?

The salaries are stagnant, if not getting worse, while other profession's compensation are climbing.
 
Here's another thing that I'm contending with...

My son wants to be a pilot too. How do I justify spending 100k or so on his education/flight training only for him to make 20-30k a year for quite a while?

Is it worth it?

I also read somewhere that the number of new student certificates dropped off significantly after 9/11...

Is this industry likely going to change? Who knows...
 
Now that we had a number of airlines cease operations, furloughs happening again, all in light of having lost pay, retirement, work rules... how many pilots left or are seriously thinking about leaving this industry?

Take for example our group who lost their jobs in recent shutdowns (Aloha, ATA, Champion etc.), what are our choices in this country? Regionals? I mean, how many of us who had good-paying jobs can truly afford regionals all over again without ending up either totally depleting our savings, or worse, going bankrupt?

Is it worth uprooting your family to pursue that flying career in China, India or the Middle East?

What about those pilots who were furloughed after 9/11 only to get furloughed again recently?

I mean... all these furloughs and sacrifices would have been worth it if there was a reward at the end. In light of all the wage-cutting, bankruptcies, loss of retirement, non-existent work rules, is this profession really worth further sacrifice?

I'm starting to question it... I'm really curious about what others think.


Instead of questioning it..... why not ask yourself what we are going to do about it...


No one cares about Pilots except pilots... and many pilots seem to be self defeating...

Until we collectively take ownership of our careers we will continue to get screwed... by gov't, corporations and unions.


Problem is when you start talking to pilots about fixing the poblems and coming up with solutions... all of a sudden its too hard, too much work, too political, controversial, etc....


As Lombardi said...

Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
 
Rez... absolutely right, but let's get back to reality... how do we as pilots put food on the table in this country?
 
Here's another thing that I'm contending with...

My son wants to be a pilot too. How do I justify spending 100k or so on his education/flight training only for him to make 20-30k a year for quite a while?

Is it worth it?
.


Have him got to community college then switch to a state university. Get your or renew your CFI. Teach him. Buy a C-172 till he gets his CFI-I, then sell it.

Go to ATP for his MEI and ATP.


Look at it this way.... who do you want flying jets in the US? Your son or some third world pilot.

Flying jets is OUR JOB. IT IS OUR Career.

This is the way it should be in the USA.

US registered jets, owned by US companies and most importantly FLOWN by US citizens and residents.


We need to decide what we want not only as pilots but also as Americans. Do we want the critical economy supported by the airline industry to flown by foreign pilots, south Americans, Chinese, Africans and Asians? Do we want our companies owned by multinational conglomerates?


Sorry to get political... but the future of our profession is here. We can choose to bury Nov. 4th or protect it.


If you want your son to being able to choose to be a US professional airline pilot, then we need to protect and defend the profession.


thoughts?
 
Rez... absolutely right, but let's get back to reality... how do we as pilots put food on the table in this country?


You have no clue. I do. (meaning I will just repeat what I've learned...) But you don't want to hear it.....

So what do you really value?
 
Remember now is not a good time for the rest of the industries in this country too.
Everyone is cutting back, or holding the line to see how deep this really goes.
 
Here's another thing that I'm contending with...

My son wants to be a pilot too. How do I justify spending 100k or so on his education/flight training only for him to make 20-30k a year for quite a while?

Is it worth it?

I also read somewhere that the number of new student certificates dropped off significantly after 9/11...

Is this industry likely going to change? Who knows...


Steer him towards the military and let uncle sam pick up the tab for college and flight training.
 
Rez... the only way for a furloughed/experienced U.S. pilot to make a reasonable living being a pilot in this country without going bankrupt is to leave this country and go overseas. Do you see anything wrong with that picture? I do.

Want to fix things? Start from within... start with getting rid of the seniority-based payscales. You can have seniority for schedules/vacation/equipment. But where is the sense in having a 10,000 hour pilot who lost his job in his carrier going belly up having to leave the country to make similar living?? Why not here? Why should that pilot have to go all the way back to making $23/hour just to stay in this country? You can thank ALPA for that.

Yes, I'd love to have my son fly me some day in this country. I really would. But would I want him to be in this f**ked up career field the way it is?? I don't know...

You say... change! How? Think you can change decades of f**ked up thinking in our career life? Doubt that. You don't need to go further than the recent mergers to see that. But hey... if there's any meaningful effort to do so, I'll be happy to support it.

Do you honestly think our industry in this country could get any worse? Really... with the drain of pilots leaving this country to go overseas or leaving the industry because of our f**ked up ways?

I would absolutely, positively welcome foreign ownership, cabotage and all that fun stuff under stipulation provided everything is reciprocated, and their airlines open doors to hiring Americans with our licenses. Things really can't get any more f**ked up than they already are here...
 

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