I have a question for all airline pilots

[Huck]

You need to be so so so aware of the people you meet and how you treat them.

My first full-tme flying job was in 1991 on a BE-18 taildragger. It was owned by a vintage airplane lover who operated it as his corporate airplane.

Fast forward 11 years and jump from Birmingham to Memphis. I am introduced to a senior Fedex management pilot, who agrees to sponsor me at FDX. I give him my resume.

Guess what - he was old friends with the BE-18 owner in Birmingham. After I left he gave him a call to check on me. Thank God I had left on good terms.

The moral - aviation is indeed a small community, and you need all the good references you can get. (Yes, I got the job.)

 

[capt. megadeth]

I did a name search on faa.gov and his name didn't show up as licensed....wonder what happened to the fellow.

 

[HA25]

I did a name search on faa.gov and his name didn't show up as licensed....wonder what happened to the fellow.

We'll maybe he's taking the military route.. ROTC or something, and at 19 he'd still be young to be getting winged.. If indeed his childhood "dream" like with most of us was to fly, he's not going to give up on it, even with the 9/11 downturn..

 

[Benhuntn]

I think it would help if you work at Burger King or Wal Mart first then you will learn to appreciate how good you have it as an airline pilot.

 

[HA25]

I think it would help if you work at Burger King or Wal Mart first then you will learn to appreciate how good you have it as an airline pilot.

yeah, except those jobs don't require thousands of hours of training and experience, licenses, ratings, medicals, check rides, selection boards, etc, etc..

Aim high, wasn't that the USAF's motto? I think we can expect nothing less from a professional pilot workforce.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

There is no more important thing said in this thread then going to college for something else and learning to fly on the side. Aviation will put you in a middle class to upper middle class position when you exit the regionals. You need a degree in something that can maintain that type of lifestyle, i.e. engineering, law, nursing, computer science, etc; if you lose that job. Please support your local airport flight schools over the big pilot mills, they are a very special part of aviation. Also, don't just take a job because it is easy to get, your efforts are certainly worth more than what the regionals are offering. Taking less now, may not always equate to more later...ask any airline pilot here.

 

[pilotnbr1]

For starters I'd be a little more carefull posting your full name and high school on a public internet forum with some of these clowns... To make this career work you have to love it but don't ever do it for less than you are worth and the second part is being at the right place at the right time! Good luck!!

 

[HA25]

Please support your local airport flight schools over the big pilot mills, they are a very special part of aviation.

VERY proud to say that 90% of my training was done at such a place, and the quality of the CFI's was a lot better than the 500hr guys you get at the mills..

 

[bubbers44]

Nick is now 19 years old and probably forgot he posted here 5 years ago. Good advice from everybody who responded though and I agree with most of it. Keeping costs down and taking advantage of every break you get is the answer because entry level jobs won't pay off 75K flight training loans. Embry Riddle doesn't impress anyone, I went there. You can do more for your money at a local airport. Progress through better jobs as fast as you can. I went from an Aeronca Champ and J3 to a B757 and B767 by taking any job that would put me into a higher hiring market. Good luck to all who have chosen this career. Believe me, it is worth it. Now retired and very happy.

 

[LJDRVR]

Man,

I was reading this thread and thinking, holy crap! Did FI finally fix itself? Nothing but helpful, well-written posts?

Then I looked at the date.

I do remember this place in 1998 when Mark was still alive. I had just got my first job flying jets. Years later, this board is a mess and I'm at a Legacy carrier. Who'd have thunk?