Another Professional opportunity

[pilotyip]

Thank You sleepy

Exactly, as I have saying, you can make it without a degree, and pursuit of flight time should be your first concern if you are going to be a professional pilot. The college degree can come as you are building time. Whats wrong with shinning shoes, we used to spend hours doing it in AOCS.

 

[aeronautic1]

GED

I have a GED, no college degree, am 47 years old (started late in aviation) and have racked up 2500 hours total time with over 1000 hours SIC (since 2000) in five models of Lears, three models of Citations and 3 models of Hawkers. Currently in HS25.

Simply put : it is not what you know, but who you know. Networking is the thing, man. I just got out of a hotel shuttle bus and had a nice conversation with a soon to be Independence Air (ACA) crew and our discussion was exactly what this string is about. 1000 hours SIC in turbojets is very marketable... in both commercial and corporate aviation venues.

And while a degree is a nice piece of wallpaper, if the choice is a, say ERAU grad, and a guy with turbojet experience, the kerosine guy has a leg up.

There are plenty of opportunities out there. You just have to make the effort to get face to face, with just about everybody you can. The phone will not ring unless you pick it up first.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

could not be more wrong...

The "kerosine" guy will have the leg up at the rat$hit 135 charter job who wants nothing but a current 8710 so they dont have to spend any money on you....good gigs are looking for a well qualified guy - they dont care about time in type, etc...everyone goes to school full contract at FSI anyways...its not an issue.

Qualified: matches corporate culture, can fit in on the road, safety minded with clean records (liability), EDUCATED, experienced, trainable, reliable.

All that 8710 does for you is allow you to jump from one 135 job to the next. Im not knocking it, it may pay the bills...but we are talking about CAREER goals here right?

Anyways, you can 14 million hours Jet PIC/SIC but without a degree you a SEVERELY limiting yourself in many arenas.

But, of course, the choice is up to the individual.

 

[aeronautic1]

8410

My 8410 is for Citation. My current Hawker job is corpoate part 91. As far as educamated, I have had plenty of offers from the regionals (e.g. AMR, COEX, NWAL, AIRWIS). And seriously considering moving into RJs. Just because I decided to go military after high school instead of college should not be discounted. Just a different kind of "education." I am optomisitc about my future in aviation. It is better to be proactive rather than a protagonist.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

WHOA!

Im sorry, I didn't realize we were talking about getting a regional airline job here...

$hit, in that case I wouldn't waste the time or money at college either.

Good Luck!

 

[pilotyip]

seeing the light

Exactly, as I have been saying, you are coming around. The corp world in a job not fit for a college grad, as per this thread, might be the place to start building your resume. Not everyone can or wants to be a corporate pilot as a career. And while building time at that regional job and going to college on-line, the pilot will be building the prefect resume for the majors. If they ever start hiring again. Different strokes for different folks. After we got our commission, we did not shine shoes anymore we bought plastic ones.

 

[English]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

 

[Bandit60]

Some of these guys talk about using corporate flying as a stepping stone for the airlines. I think they will be shooting themselves in the foot. Who is to say that the airlines are going to be the way to go in the future. Their pay is going to go down and there pensions are going to be gone as well. So I would be careful in burning bridges in this industry. A good corporate flight department usually gets its personal by others that refer them.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

dammm pilotyip, you a persistant if anything!!!

 

[Stearmandriver]

Re: 8410

As far as educamated, I have had plenty of offers from the regionals (e.g. AMR, COEX, NWAL, AIRWIS). And seriously considering moving into RJs.

It is true that places like Eagle, Xjet, Pinnacle, Air Whiskey etc. don't require degrees. It is also true that these are not the places anyone "plans" to make a career. It's true that some end up there, and even do ok for themselves, but very few people say, "I want to be an airline pilot and spend my whole career flying an RJ for eagle" when they start flight training. Even fewer say it after they've worked there a few years. ;-) Seriously, most majors want the degree. Heck, even at Xjet we give serious preference to degrees, and man, you don't want to make a career here! While places like SWA, Jet Blue, Airtran etc. might not "require" it, they certainly like to see it. You want to remember that, especially once US Air folds, you can't hope to be anywhere near the highest time guy applying for a 121 job in the near future. The extra thousand hours of jet SIC you got instead of a degree won't mean much when you're interviewing against 15,000+hr guys with 10 types in Boeings and Airbuses. 'Course, it's hard to say how much help a degree would be in this case, but it's at least one more box to check on an app.

Now, a more important question would be: you have a job you claim to love flying a good airplane... and you want to "move into RJ's" WHY? This is at best a lateral move equipment-wise, and probably a huge pay and QOL cut. Don't do it, man!

It is better to be proactive rather than a protagonist.

??? I don't get it. I always understood a protagonist to be the leading character in a drama. Dictionary.com offers that definition, as well as this one: "A leading or principal figure.
The leader of a cause; a champion. " Neither of these strike me as bad things to be??

Joe

 

[aeronautic1]

What was I thinking???

You are absolutely right. I do ENJOY flying the Squawker and the money is right, by corporate standards. Plus the owner genuinely likes the crew. Nah, I think I'll stay here for a while. We started with a baron, then Ce550 now HS25. Could be a Falcon 50 in the future. Or even a G. Thanks for straigtening that out.

 

[Hose A. Jiminez]

Re: 8410

Just a different kind of "education." ...
It is better to be proactive rather than a protagonist.

obviously that "different kind of education" did not include any english courses.

 

[ruhroa]

The Tangent

When I posted this thread i was venting about a company who wants a copilot who has 500 jet preferably a type and is going to get to be a administrative assistant and a driver when not flying............. the only flame I saw was about doing anything for jet time........... somehow the thread took on a new life about formal education........... so here is my 2 cents................. in the begining of a career when you are starting in part 135 charter or freight it seems that it is the total time the jet time etc..... that will get you in the door as those jobs are entry level .....lets get the most experienced ....cheapest pilots we can attitude. I believe as the pool of qualified (as in total hours) pilots get up to the more respectable higher paying echelons of corporate flying it becomes a discriminator that is hard to get around (formal education ) ......if two folks have compatable hours then the discriminator will be who has the formal education..........

 

[pilotyip]

TJ PIC

TJ PIC will get you the job; the degree gets you the interview. You can get a degree while flying full time, working toward that job that finally gets you the TJ PIC. You can not work toward TJ PIC while attending a 4-yr. school full time. Two candidates 27 years old interview, one went to EAU full time on campus, he now has 2500 hours, 1000, MEL 1000 PIC in SEL, the other candidate starting flying out of HS, got his first 135 job at age 19, his first jet job at 21, made TJ PIC at 23, he now has 5500TT, 4500MEL, 2500 TJ PIC and a four year degree from EAU done on-line, (actually the second candidate described here did not have a degree, but he was hired by Spirit ahead many many candidates with college degrees who were trying to move from the right seat of an RJ) Now who gets the job. The importance of the degree in pursuing aviation career is misplaced; TP PIC is the ultimate goal that will get you the job. Degree has nothing to do with flying an airplane it only opens doors. So back to the beginning of this thread, if the time leads to your career goal take the job, you will be better off for it.