Majors Pilot Job sat

[check six]

I'll make this short and to the point:

Do you major airline guys like your job.......
1. Is the flying still fun?
2. Pay decent?
3. Enough time off?

I am a mid career engineer making good money, but have flown 135 Learjets. I have 2500 TT and 500 SIC jet.

Getting sick of all the politics that corporate america requires to make the big bucks.

Seems like the good part of flying profession is that as long as you pass your checkrides, you keep your job.

I am about ready to jump back in and start flying again.

Please advise........Check Six

 

[ngsp]

http://thetruthabouttheprofession.weebly.com/


read this website. if you are still interested, then God help you.

 

[Friend]

DONT DO IT!!!!!!! you are warned. You will have no quality of life, your pay will be less than what you are getting paid now. No weekends off, no holidays, if you have kids you will never see them, you will be on reserve forever. It will suck if you have to commute to just sit on reserve. I have a friend at CAL and he divorced and he is only gettings 9 days off, he gets 11 but commuting he loses and extra 2 days. HE lives in a crash pad, shares with other pilots. He tells me he is never home and he can expect to be on reserve for 4 years. But hey, its up to you.

 

[BoilerUP]

You're not going to go from a non-flying job to a major airline with 2500/500, especially without currency and recency of experience. You'd have to make some pretty big sacrifices in QOL and income in the near-mid term in order to be qualified for a job with a national or legacy airline.

If you are a PE in any in-demand field with a reasonable amount of experience, it really shouldn't be that difficult to make $80-100k plus bonus. Additionally, your experience and expertise (and earning potential) is substantially more portable than any airline job.

 

[dicko]

I'll make this short and to the point:

Do you major airline guys like your job.......

1. Is the flying still fun? Yes, for the most part. When it's not, it's boring
2. Pay decent? Yes, but i want more.
3. Enough time off? Yes, but I want more.

Caught me on a good day. Remember that the grass is always greener than this freaky looking smiley face

 

[pilotyip]

I'll make this short and to the point:

Do you major airline guys like your job.......
1. Is the flying still fun?
2. Pay decent?
3. Enough time off?

I am a mid career engineer making good money, but have flown 135 Learjets. I have 2500 TT and 500 SIC jet.

Getting sick of all the politics that corporate america requires to make the big bucks.

Seems like the good part of flying profession is that as long as you pass your checkrides, you keep your job.

I am about ready to jump back in and start flying again.

Please advise........Check Six

If you like to fly, you will be pleased with your decision. If you are in it to escape corp politics, forget it they are everywhere including 2 man departments. I got out for 5 years and came back to flying, never looked back.

 

[check six]

Just to add to my initial post..............

I know I need 1000 PIC jet to go to the heavy iron, but my questions are to get an idea for the long term.

I am a senior engineer working in Communications with MSEE making commensurate with that level.

 

[Andy]

Do you major airline guys like your job.......
1. Is the flying still fun?
2. Pay decent?
3. Enough time off?

1. Don't know; it's been more than 2 years since I flew for United.
2. Not when you're on furlough. I've been furloughed 7 of the last 11 years.
3. Plenty of time off when you're furloughed.

Let me hit you with a few questions:
1 Do you have decent savings and no debt?
2 How old are you?
3 Have you been away from home on a regular basis in any job you've had?
4 Do you have a nonflying backup plan to earn money?

If the age limit doesn't change again from 65 to something higher, it could be a very good time to get hired at the airlines. And of course it'd help if we don't slip into another great depression.
If you're under 35, you might have a decent chance for a good career. Once the age 65 retirements resume, there should be decent movement.

 

[dojetdriver]

Seems like the good part of flying profession is that as long as you pass your checkrides, you keep your job.

Well, sorta. But like other guys, I've passed ALL my checkrides, and was still out of a job via furlough. As boiler said, your skill set now has portability if you lose your job, and airline job doesn't

1 Do you have decent savings and no debt?
2 How old are you?
3 Have you been away from home on a regular basis in any job you've had?

A good friend of mine from college ended up going the engineer route. Mid thirties he decided he wanted he was tired of the cubicle/office politics, etc etc etc. Decides he wants to fly and went through the steps and got hired at a regional. After about a year and half, the 3 things I picked from Andy's post drove him to quit and go back to engineering. Regional FO pay sucked, his age was at a point where he couldn't deal with some issues like commuting crashpads, never spend time away from home and realized he HATED the lifestyle

 

[GuppyWN]

I'll make this short and to the point:

Do you major airline guys like your job.......
1. Is the flying still fun?
2. Pay decent?
3. Enough time off?

I am a mid career engineer making good money, but have flown 135 Learjets. I have 2500 TT and 500 SIC jet.

Getting sick of all the politics that corporate america requires to make the big bucks.

Seems like the good part of flying profession is that as long as you pass your checkrides, you keep your job.

I am about ready to jump back in and start flying again.

Please advise........Check Six

I've been doing this for 20 years. Southwest is the best ********************ing job in the world. Seniority is everything and I have enough to make my life flexible and happy but being on the bottom today is going to be a long row to hoe.

Gup

 

[Tweaker]

Andy nailed it, as usual.

Do you major airline guys like your job.......
1. Is the flying still fun?

Yes, the maneuvering of the controls is. Axe me after I get A320 type in a few months.

2. Pay decent?

It is horse sh!t. I work at a barely functioning legacy after 2.5 bankrupcies. I have made a larger annual salary at age 37 exactly 1 time than all my college chums did @ their first job. I make my own things and am very frugal except when it comes to firearms purchases and all things automotive. I work overtime and had help from family to weather the not infrequent financial calamities that this industry provides since 2001. I make do, but I dress like a hobo on days off, wearing clothes until I can be seen through them or wife refuses to accompany me out of doors (when I care). I have no retirement savings or any other assets other than ammunition and homebrew stockpiles.

3. Enough time off?

Industry lowest as well. I live in base and don't bish about that. I choose jobs based on pilot bases and have been lucky in that mine were never closed. Most are not that lucky.


Getting sick of all the politics that corporate america requires to make the big bucks.

You will be very dissapoint in this regard. Considering how little direct contact you have with other crewmembers and facetime with management, it is like friggin Melrose Place. Tiny salary, tiny genitalia, gargantuan ego + a career in continuous death throws/turmoil does not make for a Bookface or Google workplace atmosphere. It seems more similar to my readings about POW camps, but with less display of human compassion or spirit of togetherness.

Seems like the good part of flying profession is that as long as you pass your checkrides, you keep your job.

If only! Do you have great big...tracts of land or any personal character at all? Be prepared to share the former and be challenged to retain the latter.

Do I wish I did something else? Not really. I had poor vision so no .mil. My poor vision continued by entering into employment at US Airways since entering Part 121. That I seriously regret.

 

[Tweaker]

Guppy won the lottery. It is ok to dream, but when your mileage varies, if you are unable to be satisfied, you will be a miserable bastige. But hey, you won't be alone!

JOIN US! The Ornsteins of the industry are looking for a few souls to devour!

 

[charlie2]

Andy nailed it, as usual.

Do you major airline guys like your job.......
1. Is the flying still fun?

Yes, the maneuvering of the controls is. Axe me after I get A320 type in a few months.

2. Pay decent?

It is horse sh!t. I work at a barely functioning legacy after 2.5 bankrupcies. I have made a larger annual salary at age 37 exactly 1 time than all my college chums did @ their first job. I make my own things and am very frugal except when it comes to firearms purchases and all things automotive. I work overtime and had help from family to weather the not infrequent financial calamities that this industry provides since 2001. I make do, but I dress like a hobo on days off, wearing clothes until I can be seen through them or wife refuses to accompany me out of doors (when I care). I have no retirement savings or any other assets other than ammunition and homebrew stockpiles.

3. Enough time off?

Industry lowest as well. I live in base and don't bish about that. I choose jobs based on pilot bases and have been lucky in that mine were never closed. Most are not that lucky.


Getting sick of all the politics that corporate america requires to make the big bucks.

You will be very dissapoint in this regard. Considering how little direct contact you have with other crewmembers and facetime with management, it is like friggin Melrose Place. Tiny salary, tiny genitalia, gargantuan ego + a career in continuous death throws/turmoil does not make for a Bookface or Google workplace atmosphere. It seems more similar to my readings about POW camps, but with less display of human compassion or spirit of togetherness.

Seems like the good part of flying profession is that as long as you pass your checkrides, you keep your job.

If only! Do you have great big...tracts of land or any personal character at all? Be prepared to share the former and be challenged to retain the latter.

Do I wish I did something else? Not really. I had poor vision so no .mil. My poor vision continued by entering into employment at US Airways since entering Part 121. That I seriously regret.

Tweaker are you my twin>

 

[grog_sit_reserv]

I worked outside of aviation before getting into 135 and 121. It has its problems. It certainly isn't what it used to be, but I have never once regretted the move.

A lot of guys here forgot what it was like to work in the real world, or maybe they never did, but I guarantee you one thing: If you want to do it, and you don't; you will regret it the rest of your life.

I made the leap that your contemplating, it sucked while I was at the regionals, and through a merger I ended up at US Airways, but even the worst day here far surpasses my old executive level job in tech.

Go for it. Prepare for the financial hit you'll take as best you can and don't settle for a Captain slot at the regionals get yourself to the majors.

To (mis)quote Braveheart:

Aye, fly and you may not have the career your dreams. Stay an MSEE and you'll live and make decent money -- at least a while. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell your corporate manager I quit! Keep your lousy job! That they may take our livelihood, but they'll never take our freedom!!!

Good luck.

 

[General Lee]

Check six,

A lot depends on when you get hired, at the beginning or end of a hiring wave. If you are lucky to get hired early, you can get through reserve quicker on a narrowbody, and try to get a better QOL sooner. But, at a Major there is always the lure of a widebody seat flying INTL routes. You can get those fairly quick, but your QOL may suffer for 3-5 years, being at the bottom of the list, doing shortcall stints that can keep you in a crashpad for days at a time in a place like NYC, far from your home possibly. The key at a Major would be "get into a plane your seniority affords (narrowbody FO) and stay there until you can be a decent line holder on a widebody."

If you can live in base too, that would make life a heck of a lot easier. You can ask around where newhires usually go at the different Majors, and then up and move for a few years to that junior base. The MRS may not like that though. If you already live in NYC or LA, that might really help.

Pay has gotten better for the junior guys at some Majors. (DL for example) First year pay is not bad ( a bit over $50 an hour), and within 3 or 4 years you can make close to $100K, but then after that the jumps seem to slow down, only giving a few extra bucks per hour each extra year, unless you do go up to a larger aircraft.

Again, if you can get hired in the beginning of a hiring wave, your life will improve faster, you will avoid reserve, and maybe get to widebody FO as a line holder sooner, and then Captain eventually as retirements increase for all Majors in the next 5 years or so. Good luck.



Bye Bye---General Lee