Airline pilot means no control over your life!

[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

 

[Skyline]

Outside of The Airlines

The airlines bite man !!!

I would like a job that pays well and does mostly off airport type of flying. It also needs to pay well and let me have a lot of time off. It also needs to be located in the northwest and I don't like bosses to much. I also would like my magical fairy to make me 10 years younger and to make me president of the world.

Skyline

 

[Occam's Razor]

I also would like my magical fairy to make me 10 years younger and to make me president of the world.

Skyline

The correct title is "Emperor of the World".

The judges will also accept:

"Supreme Tyrant"
"Maximum Leader & Dictator For Life"
"Globus Maximus"

Getting paid to defy gravity makes me feel like I've won the game. Ask a little kid if he rather sit in a cubicle all day and prepare Quarterly Business Estimates...or fly an airplane wearing cool sunglasses.

Then be that kid.

Control? Control is an illusion. Success is the ability to deal with plan "B"!

If you don't have the mindset, though...avoid the airlines. How can you tell if you have the "right stuff"? If you can enjoy the scenery on a detour, you got it!

 

[trybysky]

Plan "B"

Well put Occam's Razor.

 

[NTXPilot]

I also would like my magical fairy to make me 10 years younger and to make me president of the world.

Skyline

C'mon, now that's ridiculous. We all know there are no magical fairies...

 

[Corona]

The correct title is "Emperor of the World".

The judges will also accept:

"Supreme Tyrant"
"Maximum Leader & Dictator For Life"
"Globus Maximus"

Also: "Biggus Dickus", but you have to be in the right frame of mind...

C

 

[Ty Webb]

As Mark Twain observed, "Most folks are as happy as they make their minds up to be". Some people will never be happy, no matter what, and others will be happy as a pig in s#!t with nothing.

I enjoy flying, and I like my job just fine, but all the rest of the crap is getting old, especially the commute. I have been working hard to develop new income streams so that I am not dependent on my airline. When the time comes that I feel it's no longer worth doing, I will walk away from it, and you guys will be welcome to it.

In the meantime, I resolve to try to change the bad parts and enjoy the good parts, and not just spend my time bitc#ing. That gets old fast.

 

[FN FAL]

As Mark Twain observed, "Most folks are as happy as they make their minds up to be". Some people will never be happy, no matter what, and others will be happy as a pig in s#!t with nothing.

I enjoy flying, and I like my job just fine, but all the rest of the crap is getting old, especially the commute. I have been working hard to develop new income streams so that I am not dependent on my airline. When the time comes that I feel it's no longer worth doing, I will walk away from it, and you guys will be welcome to it.

In the meantime, I resolve to try to change the bad parts and enjoy the good parts, and not just spend my time bitc#ing. That gets old fast.

Rodger that!

 

[FlyChicaga]

Getting paid to defy gravity makes me feel like I've won the game. Ask a little kid if he rather sit in a cubicle all day and prepare Quarterly Business Estimates...or fly an airplane wearing cool sunglasses.

Then be that kid.

Perfect.

 

[schoolio]

Also: "Biggus Dickus", but you have to be in the right frame of mind...

C

I'd be scared if a woman ever got that title...

 

[Skyline]

Yea !!!

Plan B or C or D or ECT......


Hey man, why is it that whenever one of my big deal major airline guys calls to console me and my ended flying career I end up consoling them? They are crying about "low pay" and "long hours" then they carry on about "being away from home too much". I'm thinking like "dude you are like flying a brand new 737 and making some real dough bro". They don't care. They want to do their own thing like me. It's just sad man. They need our help yo.

Skyline

 

[Goose Egg]

I would like a job that pays well and does mostly off airport type of flying. It also needs to pay well and let me have a lot of time off. It also needs to be located in the northwest and I don't like bosses to much. I also would like my magical fairy to make me 10 years younger and to make me president of the world.

Good luck with that. I would like a job that pays "enough," and may or may not include "off airport" flying. It doesn't need to pay "well," just "enough," meaning "enough" for a normal house in a normal subdivision, with a couple used cars, a few kids, and a dog. (Don't forget a good gas grill!) Time off isn't a huge concern with me--I don't mind working, but I would like to be home as many nights as I can be. Maybe if I do extremely well I'll be able to buy my own glass ship sometime. If not I'll just join a club that has one--I'm cool either way. This job also needs to be located anywhere in the country, but I would prefer the western states (CA, OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, UT (home state), NV, AZ, NM, CO, and I'd even consider AK, but I wouldn't plan on staying for more than a couple years) in order to be closer to my family and to be closer to what I would consider "real" skiing and "real" mountain biking and "real" wave soaring. Bosses are a fact of life and I don't mind having one at all. I look about 7 years younger than I am, so I guess I've got that one already. And if I were president of the world, this is what I'd do anyway.

Hey man, why is it that whenever one of my big deal major airline guys calls to console me and my ended flying career I end up consoling them?

Maybe they've figured out that airline flying isn't all it's cracked up to be and that there's more to life than chasing a fat paycheck.

-Goose

 

[Skyline]

Mother Goose

Mother Goose,

I hear what you are saying about the airlines, but there is little else. You mentioned that you would like to earn enough dough to have a house, kids, and the rest of the classic middle class life style. Where esle is the average person (not like you) going to find a job in aviation that will do all that? Of the non airline jobs within 100 miles of where I live only one makes it beyond 40K per year and that is for a seasoned lear captain. It takes around 55K to make it (middle class family of 4) in the outburbs and 80K to make it in the suburbs. There just are few aviation jobs that pay anything let alone a real wage. I was offered a job piloting a Kingair but the pay was only $32,500 and I had to spend my down time in the potato shed. Is that your idea of a job outside of the airlines?

Skyline

 

[Goose Egg]

I was offered a job piloting a Kingair but the pay was only $32,500 and I had to spend my down time in the potato shed. Is that your idea of a job outside of the airlines?

Nope. I like that "Mother Goose" thing though.

-Goose

P.S. Check your PMs

 

[Skyline]

Check it out

M Goose,

Look it up man. I think the national average for the majority (like 90%) of professional pilots is like below 33K/year. Why don't you buy a Eclipse 500 microjet and fly your own single pilot IFR charter service. I think that is where the future of the best jobs will be.

Skyline

 

[pilotyip]

Skyline where did you get only 10% of the professional pilots make over $33K/yr. Even in non-sked business we start at $35K/yr

 

[FN FAL]

Skyline where did you get only 10% of the professional pilots make over $33K/yr. Even in non-sked business we start at $35K/yr

He was talkin bout professionals, not air trash like you and me brother. We'd skew his sadistics on pro-pilot pay for sure.

 

[Goose Egg]

Why don't you buy a Eclipse 500 microjet and fly your own single pilot IFR charter service. I think that is where the future of the best jobs will be.

Good point. I've heard that before.

-Goose

 

[Skyline]

National Pilot Earnings

Less than 33K National pilot average wages

It was a statistic that was given to me by the unemployment office. They were using it as a reason for not giving me another type rating. They claimed that aviation was not a growth industry anymore and that I should look at taking a welding class or getting a CDL. I could ask my counselor to tell me where she got that information? It came from a labor and industries web site. I think it take every possible pilot position into consideration, CFI ect.

Skyline

 

[FN FAL]

They were using it as a reason for not giving me another type rating. They claimed that aviation was not a growth industry anymore and that I should look at taking a welding class or getting a CDL.

Skyline

Wow, a bureaucracy making sense for a change. We must be moving into a veritable age of reason, like the one they had in France. And not a moment too soon.

 

[jetfo]

Skyline:
Do you still fly for a living? Do you commute? How did you get that great QOL?
Looking forward to your response. Thanks