Perspective for those starting out...

[KnowledgeSeeker]

Here's another twist to all of you who are building hours/starting out...

With the way this industry goes up and down, which senario would you rather be in?

1. You worked on all your ratings and clawed your way up to 1500hrs during a tough time in aviation with few jobs. Then just when you were talking about how impossible this industry is it turns around and you get a job with the company of your choice.

or

2. While your working on your ratings and during the time you are building your first bit of experience aviation is booming. Then just when you get enough hours to be marketable the industry colapses. Now your stuck at the low level with no airline experience.

Just thought that might be something to think about for some...

 

[greyhound]

Both can be good and bad situations.

If you have 1500 hrs. you could always find something non-airline related. Even if the industry is what it is today (slow hiring/layoffs etc..) at 1500 hours today, you can still find something else to do that involves flying I would think.

If you get all your ratings in the "BOOM" period, then the hiring slows, it can be tougher to build hours,especially if you have not instructed or held a job to build flight time. But it allows you extra time to finish that degree, or build up your hours. This is what I am doing meanwhile things pick up again. I think of it as a chance to catch up.

 

[KnowledgeSeeker]

Yes, I think you see my perspective. I see a lot of negative attitude on this forum and wanted to put a positive spin on getting into aviation right now.

 

[labbats]

Thanks for the post. I was getting a bit down lately about the state of affairs, but the new perspective was a welcome change!

 

[bobbysamd]

Timing is everything

2. While your working on your ratings and during the time you are building your first bit of experience aviation is booming. Then just when you get enough hours to be marketable the industry colapses. Now your stuck at the low level with no airline experience.

That was me. I decided to change careers in late 1987. There was a hiring boom at that time. Kit Darby was tooting his pilot shortage horn. I only needed my multi ratings. I finished my multi and started sending resumes. I sent resumes to the commuters and freight, and got nowhere. I finally got an interview for an instructing job at ERAU. I took my MEI practical the day before I traveled to my interview, which was great timing. I trotted out my brand-new MEI temporary and was hired.

It took me a year and a half at Riddle to build enough multi to garner an interview, which was at WestAir/United Express in August of 1990. My interview was on a Tuesday; two days before, Mr. Hussein invaded Kuwait. A recession had started. I remember the day of my interview all the buzz about hiring stopping. I was not hired, at WestAir or the others at which I interviewed. One interview was with Comair, and it was the day after the U.S. went after Saddam the first time. My building enough multi time to qualify for the commuters, which coincided with Saddam's antics and the recession, not to mention the Eastern and Pan Am shutdowns, was not good timing.

In the meantime, I got better instructing jobs and built up the quals you see at the left. My quals eventually exceeded the mins of the day several times over. Those were generally 1500 total-500 multi and an ATP. I had no more commuter interviews after March of 1991, though I continued to apply and update for the next three years.

I am convinced that building my time to 1500 hours and beyond and being willing to continue instructing kept me employed in aviation during the early nineties while so many better-qualified and more experienced pilots could not find jobs. So, I guess that building my hours at the point I did was good timing.

While I believe that other factors contributed to me not being hired at the commuters, I am convinced that had I made my decision to change careers a year earlier I would have been hired. So, without question, timing is everything in this business.

 

[greyhound]

Bobbysamd is right again..

Timing "IS" everything.

When hiring picks-up again, you want to try to be the first to get on. That way you can build a "cushion" beneath you in case a few years down the road the lay-offs begin all over again.

Right now, it is a golden opportunity to better your qualifications and prepare for the future.

I think their is an even more critical scenario: What if now you have been at a regional for let's say 7 to 10 years. When the majors re-call everyone, and they begin to take people from outside, do you just walk away from a rather comfortable situation?(RJ captain w/ 10 years seniority)

I would imagine that even if your life-long dream was to fly for a major, you would think about it for a while depending on your age and family situation. In those 7 to 10 years, people get married, buy houses, have children etc...
so just because you are let's say a CFI, or hauling boxes,that doesn't mean the thousands of pilots in front of you building 121 time flying RJ's are going to take your chances of flying for a Major.

Many will not make the jump. It's not that easy, at least it wouldn't be for me to just start all over again.

So if you think others will bar you from reaching your goal to fly for a major, don't worry, even if they have 7000 hrs flying an Rj, (which also means they have been at a regional for a while now)
they still might not get in your way because It's not that easy to just start all over.

Keep flying and see what happens.

 

[fLYbUDDY]

you could always quit the flying thing and become a stressed out air traffic controller!

 

[BoDEAN]

ATC with flying on the side =)