India is DESPERATE!!!

[Lear70]

What kind of pay and benefits do these airlines offer? Do they offer domiciles outside of India? Equipment? Upgrades?

Pretty much crap for anyone with any real experience.

If you are low-time, it might be a good option. Otherwise, not so much.

Go over to www.pprune.com and do a search. There's pages and pages on all the different companies hiring over there right now.

Choose carefully, however. Once into ex-pat flying, it's very hard to get back stateside into anything equivalent, and the contracts over there are seldom long-term, except for the notable Cathay-type operators.

 

[pilotyip]

Notice no college degree, he got a head start on those who went to college, maybe that is why he has the career track he posted.

 

[Mach8Forest]

This is getting out of hand. how do we work for nothing. I do not have a college degree and managed to work for a 121 regional for 65-70 g's as a capt. on a dash 8. Then i went to a fractional and upgraded in 1 year and make 91 g's and now after 10 years in aviation ( about the time it takes to finish medical school and residency) i got hired at SW, still no degree. I get to look forward to 15 days off everymonth and a kick a$$ compensation package. If i had stayed at the fractional i would have 14 days off every month and 2 blocks of 3 weeks off for vacation every year. don't tell me this industry sucks. Just don't get stuck at a commuter because you are lazy and everything works out. I could not have asked for a better career track.

Good for you! Thats not the landscape across this industry. Look beyond your picket fence cowboy!
Mach8

 

[Beetle007]

It is easy to have good luck for 10 years. But, its a lot harder to have good luck for 30-45 years (i.e., the length of an airline career). This career is like a mine field and few make it unscathed to the other side without a major career event (i.e., loss of medical, long furlough, bankruptcy, liquidation, etc) . Although there are some that will make it and will think they must have deserved their divine career path.

Now that legacies are paying much less than SWA and have profitable international route networks, it will be a tough industry for any LCC to compete.

 

[nimtz]

Notice no college degree, he got a head start on those who went to college, maybe that is why he has the career track he posted.

For one example of a guy 'getting ahead' by skipping the four year, I'll give you 20 who are at best languishing at some regional cause they don't have one. Besides not having the four year in place for a back-up in this industry, especially in light of this last downturn, is just plain idiotic...

 

[pilotyip]

As I have said before I have nothing against a college degree, but it is not necessary to succeed in this business. The fallback value of a degree is greatly over rated. I have a BS and a Master's in Management, but at age 53, I was making $250/wk loading cargo. The value of an unused degree is highly over rated. 53-year-old unemployed airline pilots are not eagerly greeted in any industry that I know of, even of having a couple degrees. Of course, I did not apply for many of the "College degree preferred jobs" such as apt manager, telephone direct sales, and plumbing floor manager at Home Depot, etc. If you get a college degree you have to use, the knowledge gained in college to develop a career or the degree is useless. After getting a degree, flying an airplane is not a knowledge expanding experience; it is skill development experience. Anyone care to chime in and share their experiences on entering the non-aviation job market after being out of college 20-30 years?

 

[nimtz]

As I have said before I have nothing against a college degree, but it is not necessary to succeed in this business. The fallback value of a degree is greatly over rated. I have a BS and a Master's in Management, but at age 53, I was making $250/wk loading cargo. The value of an unused degree is highly over rated. 53-year-old unemployed airline pilots are not eagerly greeted in any industry that I know of, even of having a couple degrees. Of course, I did not apply for many of the "College degree preferred jobs" such as apt manager, telephone direct sales, and plumbing floor manager at Home Depot, etc. If you get a college degree you have to use, the knowledge gained in college to develop a career or the degree is useless. After getting a degree, flying an airplane is not a knowledge expanding experience; it is skill development experience. Anyone care to chime in and share their experiences on entering the non-aviation job market after being out of college 20-30 years?

The bottom line is on paper most hiring managers are going to respect the individual with a 4 year degree. Without one you gonna have to make up quite a lot in life experience and charisma if you get called in for an interview. I have numerous friends that have made career changes completely unrelated to their degree and found employers far more receptive then high school friends who never finished there BA.

I'm not going to get into the semantics of why a college education is vital and important in today's world. The statistics take care of that just fine. Recommending anyone go into this business full speed ahead even if it means forsaking a degree is extraordinarily poor advice.

 

[Lear70]

Where's the dead horse emoticon when you need it?

 

[Dharmesh1231]

atp cliff...where did you get that news from....I was in India in Aug....cool place to be. It is pretty accurate...I didn't know that they needed that many pilots in 3 yrs though. I have an A320 type, but only 1000hrs TT. Trying to get a bus flying gig there...I saw a whole buch of Indian kids here at a San Diego flight school...they will be getting their commercial pilot Lic....and even before the ink dries on it they will have jobs flying right seat on a big jet....unbelievable....what's the airline industry coming to....

 

[ableone]

Does it look like you will be able to get a 320 gig or not? How were you recieved?

 

[mrvmo]

Actually, the Indian airline industry kinda sounds a lot like ours here in the USA back in the 60's when guys where getting hired into jets at majors with just a commercial..............supply and demand.

 

[Mach8Forest]

Actually, the Indian airline industry kinda sounds a lot like ours here in the USA back in the 60's when guys where getting hired into jets at majors with just a commercial..............supply and demand.

Believe it or not TWA hired guys with zero time back then.
Mach8

 

[CAL EWR B737]

Pretty much crap for anyone with any real experience.

If you are low-time, it might be a good option. Otherwise, not so much.

Go over to www.pprune.com and do a search. There's pages and pages on all the different companies hiring over there right now.

Choose carefully, however. Once into ex-pat flying, it's very hard to get back stateside into anything equivalent, and the contracts over there are seldom long-term, except for the notable Cathay-type operators.

Your information is bad. We have lost 15 possibly as many as 70 777 captains who were hired by Jet Airways as 777-300 captains. Pay is 240K can be based anywhere in Europe with positive space passes to and from with good time off etc.

Possible US bases soon.

 

[bravodude]

You, sir, are VERY, VERY lucky, and I don't think you realize HOW lucky you are.

I also did the same things you did, although I also have the 4-year degree, but in reverse order, and just last year got hired on at AirTran after 15 years in aviation (not including training, that's just working after college).

Most years I averaged about $50,000. NOT an impressive salary in ANY professional industry.

Maybe you should look around and realize MOST of us don't get the golden road as you have, despite how hard we try to get ahead. Yes, I said golden road.

You chose certain employment options when others might not have. NO ONE knows how they're going to work out, but you do your research and make your best bet and HOPE it's the right thing. In some cases, it works beautifully. In other cases, it doesn't.

I'm not saying you didn't work hard to get where you are, but LUCK is more at work here than anything else.

So good for you. But to tell other people they're not trying hard enough is assumptive and arrogant.

i never said people don't try hard enough and i certainly don't consider myself lucky. i sepnt 3 years as a cfi makeing nothing, i flew jumpers for 5 bucks a load and the first regional i worked for paid 14,000 a year. so don't tell me im arogant. it took 13 uears to get to where i am at and it is only because i knew what i wanted. i knew i needed pic jet when i was at pdt and all the rgionals were getting rj's, i was just smart enough not by a car, house, boat etc and shack up with a FA while at a regional. I am no diff. then anybody here. evrybody complains about low pay crappy working conditions etc. at the regionals, the regionals are there for one thing and one thing only to give you experiance to move on. when i was at pdt we tried to fight, i picked up no ot, did nothing extra and it still didn't help so i realized what role the regional airline plays and just delat with it. Its not that hard trust me. everyone i started with got a job ata major, legacy, whatever you wan't to call it. If you wan't it baddly it will happen. if you complain about it you will get noware nothing.

 

[Dharmesh1231]

Does it look like you will be able to get a 320 gig or not? How were you recieved?

Hopefully I'll be able to get a bus flying gig there....I was received well...they like to see people with experience as most of the Indian kids only have 250 hrs and a wet comm lic and as soon as they are put into the sim on the 320/73, they can't pass training....coz it's too complex for them...from a C-152 to a 73...where do you work right now...I see you have a bus type.