Airline pilot means no control over your life!

[Wankel7]

I hear there is a big shortage of nurses....

Starting pay is like 50k

 

[Snakum]

FN and Labbats ... ROFLMMFAO again! You guys are all on a roll this week. :laugh:

I hear there is a big shortage of nurses

Yes, but an even bigger shortage of school slots. When it looked like I was never going to fly again ($$$) I applied to three different nursing programs two years in a row because I wanted to work in Infomatics (Medical IT). Over 3000 applicants each for 75 or less slots at every community college within driving distance. Essentially, you will never get a school slot unless you atre already an LPN, EMT, or CNA.

I shoulda' went to law school. The ambulance-chasers are the only guys thriving.

Minhberg

 

[TIGV]

Awwww, does baby want his wittle binky?

Want some cheese with that w(h)ine?

Somebody call the police...he's obviously being held hostage and forced to work a job he hates...

Here's a news flash: QUIT. Go get a nice civil service job and punch a clock for the next 25 years and take your federal holidays and weekends off.

Since I can't knock the crap out of you from behind my computer, do me a favor and put $20 worth of quarters in a sock and hit yourself in the face with it. It'll make me feel better, and might knock some sense into you.

Hmmm well at least " you got you a m o f o job ! " hopefully it's still there when you hit retirement.

I agree with the thread consensus, make it work or get out, me ? Currently trying my hardest to get out.

 

[wrxpilot]

Yes I am jealous of my friend who is a school teacher. He makes as much money as me, lives in a small town and he is home every night with his kids. He doesn't miss any of his kids games.

That sure must be one heck of a school teaching job. My Mom's been doing it for a long time, it doesn't pay well. QOL? Trying dealing with incompetent admin, whiny spoiled children, disrespectful adolescents, unaccountable parents, etc. There are problems in every job, and almost nothing pays that well these days. Pretty much everybody has to work a second job to get ahead... I'm not talking about pion jobs here either. Accountants, Engineers, CPAs, etc. The only promising field right now is health care. I should've gone into Pharmacy school, as engineering doesn't pay well at all, lol!

 

[mayday1]

There are problems in every job, and almost nothing pays that well these days. Pretty much everybody has to work a second job to get ahead... I'm not talking about pion jobs here either. Accountants, Engineers, CPAs, etc. The only promising field right now is health care. I should've gone into Pharmacy school, as engineering doesn't pay well at all, lol!

all depends on what your education and experience are... starting out, I would agree, in most areas you start at the bottom and have to pay your dues; no college degree, you're at a major disadvantage and will likely hit a ceiling pretty quick; but, there are plenty of jobs/industries outside of healthcare that can provide a good buck... business, real estate, technology, etc.

 

[SkyWestCRJPilot]

I'm a 5 year CRJ captain at a similar airline but my situation is opposite. When I was an FO I noticed the captains that hated thier jobs were the ones who were junior, took the upgrade right away, commuted to their domicile, and had a miserable quality of life. It's all about give and take. I delayed upgrade for 8 months and went to the turboprop to our most junior base but I was lucky and convinced my wife and daughter to move with me. I don't ever want to commute (done that already). Then after my seat lock was up I transitioned back to the CRJ but again to the most junior base and my wife and two kids now moved with me. We rent a tiny apartment in expensive Chicago. We'd like to own a home sometime soon. But in exchange I have a great quality of life. I commute via the "L" in Chicago and I fly locals and I'm home every night. I get most weekends off and since I live in the domicile it's easy to pick up a couple of locals to bring my monthly credit up to 100 hours every month. Just like the engineers say about building an airplane, it's all a compromise of one thing or another. I've compromised having a house right now by not commuting but I have a great quality of life.

 

[pilotyip]

Skywest sounds like a smart guy who has figured it out, Congrats you will have great time in this career.

 

[FN FAL]

Skywest sounds like a smart guy who has figured it out, Congrats you will have great time in this career.

Exactly. You have to find the best sum of all the things that are good and try to eliminate the things that are bad. Whatever works!

 

[Skyline]

Control

He is right !!! The regionals especially treat you more like a prisoner. Some people like being kicked around I guess. Even school teachers can take a day off now and then to have a doctors appt. The regional I worked for wouldn't give me the day off to be best man at a friends wedding with three months notice. They realize that they have a captive group who doesnt want to rock the boat for fear of loosing a dream job that they probably will not get anyway.

I feel that only young unattached people can make a life out of a regionals schedule.

I was told by a United jumpseater that they hired women while they were very young (regardless of experience) because they did a study and realized that most women quit around 28 to 32 to have children. Therefore if they wanted to maintain a high percentage of women pilots then they had better hire them while they were still very young in order to get a few years out of them.

I flew with a gal once who just had her first child. She was trying to make it flying anyway. At every leg she would pull out the picture of her newborn and sob while waiting for the paperwork. Then on taxi out she would mount the picture on her yoke clip only occasionally sobbing until departure and finally then she would put the picture away. She quit a month later.

Skyline

 

[Skyline]

Skywest

Skywest,

Yea, but do your wife and kids live in a ghetto? I did something similar and was not comfortable with leaving them alone in the city while I flew off thousands of miles away and helpless if there was a problem. We have small children an occasionally she would get sick or need help and there are few who could come since we were always moving for the job and didn't know many in a strange city. It was a sad, scared, lonely and crummy life for them. I was great however.
Now we live back at our small home town. The schools are great my wife and kids are very happy. We can afford a good place to live and I am home every night. We camp, fish and have friends and family over most weekends. QOL can't be better.

Skyline

 

[pilotyip]

Skyline he sounds happy, is there something wrong with that? And if you are happy that is great for you. You can both be happy together, except it sounds you can not accept his happiness because it not what you would accept as happiness. The longer you stay some place the more control you over your life.

 

[BluDevAv8r]

Well, actually today I don't think too many want to due to the state of the industry. I wouldn't.

Any way here is the deal:

I have been with one of the larger regional airlines for over 5 years. I upgraded to Capt. ASAP because of the PIC time and $$ (what little there is of the $$).

It blows me away how little control over my life. I was on reserve for almost 2 years which of course I had no control over my schedule, worked all holidays. The company always decides my schedule and it is hard to move days off.

Now I can hold a line, but it is one of those lines where scheduling decides what days I work and what days I have off. This month they did not honor my one request for a certain 2 days off and then they packed it full. A few times this month I am basically gone for 5 days.

And to top it off there is little open time trips to pick from and if there was my schedule is so packed with 4 days I can't move any around.

The airlines don't care about families. This is why I won't be around for too long. So if you new pilots are thinking about an airline career take this into consideration.

It is not that great out here because when you upgrade or switch jobs your control over your life goes down the toilet, and it goes down for many years.

The sad thing is a lot more women are getting into this business. I don't know what your schools are telling you but if a family is important to you or you don't want to be 30+ years old to have kids, you might want to do something else.

I love to fly but I don't like the airlines! This is what it is really like out here and I know it is hard to accept this when you are training and this is all you want to do.

The airlines could be a good place but with this constant battle between management, the union and the pilots the airlines will probably never change.

Good luck to all, we need it.

That's odd...I'm a 6th year Captain at my airline and have a great quality of life. I live in my domicile, have weekends off, don't show before 1pm, get the vacation weeks I want, and fly with great people. I guess it is all about perspective, choices, and expectations.

-Neal

 

[FN FAL]

Skywest,

Yea, but do your wife and kids live in a ghetto? I did something similar and was not comfortable with leaving them alone in the city while I flew off thousands of miles away and helpless if there was a problem.

What's the matter cuz, don't 911 make house calls in the hood?

Living out in the country aint any better, it could take hours for the volunteer firefighters to sober up enough to be able to help you out, now that .08 is the law of the land.

In addition, if it's armed assistance from the Sheriff's office that you need, think about this one...my buddy is a deputy with a county and he tells me that one hour response times are common, because they often only have two deputies handling the night shift.

 

[RichardRambone]

Im an up and comer and Im trying hard to stay away from the airlines. All I hear is you guys trashing them. Maybe 1 in 10 likes being an airline pilot. I got plans for my career and they are to avoid the airlines right now. Next step is to get some twin piston times flying freight and then hopefully a cushy gig somewheres.

 

[F16fixer]

Questions

Hey everybody,

I thought this would be a good time to ask a few job hunting questions.

I live in MN and due to the fact that my wife is still in law school for another year and a half I really don't want to make a long term move yet. How can a person find out if a job is a one leg commute or two? I would fly out of MSP to where ever. I know these questions are kind of green, but I don't want to waste my time applying for a bunch of jobs that won't be suited for my situation. I think I have used up 6 or 7 lives flying single engine freight, so it's time to start looking for that coveted regional job. American eagle is based out of chicago, but do the new hires ever get that? I always thought they had to go to PR first.

One last question. Is it really a bad time right now nation wide to try and become a regional pilot, or is that the feeling this board always gives off.

 

[AA717driver]

Rambone--It's all what you want out of life. Yeah, the $200k a year jobs are pretty much gone for the airlines (unless UPS and FEX hire you) so you just have to decide if you are willing to settle for the pay at AirTran, JB, SWA or wherever.

Other than my very brief flirtation with the really good pay after AA bought TWA, I never made more than $125k in my career (and that was just for a couple of years). I was happy, though.

Money isn't everything. If you HAVE to have the $1M house and boats and a garage full of Mercedes' go be a sports agent or something. But don't rule out the airlines just because of a bunch of us sit around complaining about how "it ain't what it used to be". Good luck.TC

 

[RichardRambone]

Agreed. Money is defenitely not one of my priorities right now. I want to have a fun job in preferably a nice location. Other than that my pay isn't a big issue. Its just that I never hear any positives from you airlines guys. I could apply for an FO job and perhaps land it but Im gonna wait until I reach my 135 mins so that a lot more options will open up. If I heard more positives I'd consider the job but for now Im just gonna keep building time.

 

[pilotmiketx]

Its just that I never hear any positives from you airlines guys.

Go read the NetJets board. Makes Delta seem like Valhalla.

 

[Goose Egg]

I want to have a fun job in preferably a nice location. Other than that my pay isn't a big issue.

Agree 100%. Why is this so hard for some people to understand?

-Goose

 

[NTXPilot]

AA717,
I would very much "settle" for the pay at SWA. Seems great to me. Keep in mind I'm not at the airlines yet, but the maximum potential earning in the career (or even close to it) is still very good. Lookin around at some jobs now and there aren't a lot that even get close to those figures.

NTx