BTG
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Pilot looking for direction
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Well there are two ways.
1) Get your rich dad to give you 40K and go to http://www.flightsafetyacademy.com/main/index.php where you can get a job with ASA.
2) Get your dad who works for Delta to pull strings and get you a job.
If you can't do either then you are screwed. If you had planned ahead you would have been born rich.
1) Get your rich dad to give you 40K and go to http://www.flightsafetyacademy.com/main/index.php where you can get a job with ASA.
2) Get your dad who works for Delta to pull strings and get you a job.
If you can't do either then you are screwed. If you had planned ahead you would have been born rich.
Direction
I don't think that's really the response that you were looking for.
The first step in starting a career in aviation is getting all of your certificates and ratings. After your commercial/multi-engine go ahead and get your CFI (and CFII/MEI if possible--best way to build multi-time and actual instrument) and then get out there and INSTRUCT your tail off until you get the Part 135 mins and then alot more opportunities will open up. Just know that you won't get rich anytime soon and make sure that you are doing this for the love of flying and not for money--eventually it will come. After several years being miserable flying a desk I told myself that as long as I could fly airplanes and pay the bills then I would be happy. Those who get into this business for money or glory don't last very long.
Good luck.
--Of course all this is moot if your Father runs the HR dept at Delta Airlines....
I don't think that's really the response that you were looking for.
The first step in starting a career in aviation is getting all of your certificates and ratings. After your commercial/multi-engine go ahead and get your CFI (and CFII/MEI if possible--best way to build multi-time and actual instrument) and then get out there and INSTRUCT your tail off until you get the Part 135 mins and then alot more opportunities will open up. Just know that you won't get rich anytime soon and make sure that you are doing this for the love of flying and not for money--eventually it will come. After several years being miserable flying a desk I told myself that as long as I could fly airplanes and pay the bills then I would be happy. Those who get into this business for money or glory don't last very long.
Good luck.
--Of course all this is moot if your Father runs the HR dept at Delta Airlines....
Data
Well-known member
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- 2,731
Like most of you here, I love to fly! Money is not the reason that I'm interested in this life.
Get ready for the torrant of hate mail, this is the reason regional and major airline pilots hate you! It won't take long for the reality of this profession to set it. Yes, we all love to fly but unbridaled enthusiam is what give the airlines their reason to pay the low end like s h i t. In the end, it is about the money. Hell, I would argue that it's about the money after about a 1000 hours.
To answer your post, how do you get to 1000 plus hours?
Easy, get your CFI ratings and instruct. You're a lot less likely to kill yourself (and others) because you will have a student that will be trying to do that to you every day. If you decide not to instruct, fly 135 because you will kill yourself unless you paid attention and tried killing your instructor a time or two.
IF you make it through your 135 job, without killing yourself, CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed your padawon training and you may now look for a PAYING job in an airplane which, no doubt, you love to fly.
Good luck.
Oh yeah, NO, there are no jobs for low time multi pilots, they've all been taken by pilots with slightly more time than you.
Get ready for the torrant of hate mail, this is the reason regional and major airline pilots hate you! It won't take long for the reality of this profession to set it. Yes, we all love to fly but unbridaled enthusiam is what give the airlines their reason to pay the low end like s h i t. In the end, it is about the money. Hell, I would argue that it's about the money after about a 1000 hours.
To answer your post, how do you get to 1000 plus hours?
Easy, get your CFI ratings and instruct. You're a lot less likely to kill yourself (and others) because you will have a student that will be trying to do that to you every day. If you decide not to instruct, fly 135 because you will kill yourself unless you paid attention and tried killing your instructor a time or two.
IF you make it through your 135 job, without killing yourself, CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed your padawon training and you may now look for a PAYING job in an airplane which, no doubt, you love to fly.
Good luck.
Oh yeah, NO, there are no jobs for low time multi pilots, they've all been taken by pilots with slightly more time than you.
Yes they do--banner towing, pipeline/powerline patrol but it is a fact that your options are limited if you don't want to instruct. Instructing will teach YOU just as much as you teach your students--plus having your MEI ticket is the best way to build some multi-PIC unless you know someone. In today's aviation job environment you'll have a hard time if you rule out too many options...
Well, since Foobar brought up academies....
MAPD - Mesa Airlines Pilot Development - and their PACE program will take you on with 300 hours +ME. Read up on the board about people's various thoughts about MAPD, and more importantly about working conditions at Mesa, however.
Regional Airlines Academy (www.raajobs.com) will take you with 700 + 100 ME. Right now their graduates are going to Colgan. However, RAA = $10K, Colgan = $18K PFT, and a lot of bad rumblings about Colgan on the board too.
Otherwise? The tried-and-true methods, my son. Instruct, fly cargo, banner towing, pipeline patrol, beg/borrow/steal any time you can.
Good luck.
MAPD - Mesa Airlines Pilot Development - and their PACE program will take you on with 300 hours +ME. Read up on the board about people's various thoughts about MAPD, and more importantly about working conditions at Mesa, however.
Regional Airlines Academy (www.raajobs.com) will take you with 700 + 100 ME. Right now their graduates are going to Colgan. However, RAA = $10K, Colgan = $18K PFT, and a lot of bad rumblings about Colgan on the board too.
Otherwise? The tried-and-true methods, my son. Instruct, fly cargo, banner towing, pipeline patrol, beg/borrow/steal any time you can.
Good luck.
GogglesPisano
Pawn, in game of life
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Skull-One
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Re: Re: Pilot looking for direction
I second that.
There are multi-engine jobs out there, but you have to have a lot of time to be insurable. Hanging around FBOs is one way to network and find those jobs. Orlando Executive in Florida is an example of such a place. ME jobs everywhere flying Dukes, Barons, Aztecs, etc.. It's hit and miss though. You'll have to freelance yourself so you'll be busy as hell some days, bored to tears others.
Go get an MBA and wind up as a CEO at an airline. Then you'll practically *OWN* the airplanes.
I second that.
There are multi-engine jobs out there, but you have to have a lot of time to be insurable. Hanging around FBOs is one way to network and find those jobs. Orlando Executive in Florida is an example of such a place. ME jobs everywhere flying Dukes, Barons, Aztecs, etc.. It's hit and miss though. You'll have to freelance yourself so you'll be busy as hell some days, bored to tears others.
Go get an MBA and wind up as a CEO at an airline. Then you'll practically *OWN* the airplanes.
A MBA isn't a bad idea, HOWEVER, if you are absolutely set on aviation, then treat your training just as if you were getting an MBA... (Study as if if aviation were your job, particularly if you plan on it being your occupation one day) Seek out people with more experience, more ratings, and especially more knowlege and make them your best friends. . (figuratively speaking)
I highly recommend going to a formal school for your additional ratings (just like you would for the MBA), which should include a CFI... unless your pockets are very deep... (Banner towing, pipeline, and carrying parachutists are VFR jobs, typically in single engine A/C). They may pay the bills for now, and build up total flight time, but do very little for instrument skills and overall knowlege. I once flew with a CFI candidate who had exclusively flown skydivers, and he couldn't do a steep turn to save his life. The desire to drop the nose as he started the turn was so ingrained that he never could overcome it. I imagine the same is true in terms of his knowlege of the FARs. (Not to be obnoxious, but what is going to make you stand out at an interview? There are ten other guys standing there with the same suit, and the same red tie. Any advantage, no matter how small, is significant in this regime.)
Once you do get a decent flying job, and you will if you are willing to sacrifice, probably for a number of years, then DON'T STOP STUDYING! Know the Regs, your airplane, and your Company's procedures. These are the things that will save you at your next interview, or more importantly, from a violation, or worse.
Finally, once you're at that point you should consider where you would like to end up ultimately (preferably half a dozen choices), and send out resumes/applications tirelessly. It's going to look much better if you were updating your application with a company even during the "bad times", than waiting for eveyone to jump on the bandwagon when that company posts a new-hire class two years from now. Regardless, good luck.
I highly recommend going to a formal school for your additional ratings (just like you would for the MBA), which should include a CFI... unless your pockets are very deep... (Banner towing, pipeline, and carrying parachutists are VFR jobs, typically in single engine A/C). They may pay the bills for now, and build up total flight time, but do very little for instrument skills and overall knowlege. I once flew with a CFI candidate who had exclusively flown skydivers, and he couldn't do a steep turn to save his life. The desire to drop the nose as he started the turn was so ingrained that he never could overcome it. I imagine the same is true in terms of his knowlege of the FARs. (Not to be obnoxious, but what is going to make you stand out at an interview? There are ten other guys standing there with the same suit, and the same red tie. Any advantage, no matter how small, is significant in this regime.)
Once you do get a decent flying job, and you will if you are willing to sacrifice, probably for a number of years, then DON'T STOP STUDYING! Know the Regs, your airplane, and your Company's procedures. These are the things that will save you at your next interview, or more importantly, from a violation, or worse.
Finally, once you're at that point you should consider where you would like to end up ultimately (preferably half a dozen choices), and send out resumes/applications tirelessly. It's going to look much better if you were updating your application with a company even during the "bad times", than waiting for eveyone to jump on the bandwagon when that company posts a new-hire class two years from now. Regardless, good luck.
DorkProp
Dork No More!
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 271
And don't listen too much to the cynical opinions here. The airlines can be discouraging sometimes. But as I've heard others say before, "It's a great job but a lousy business." If you really like flying and want to do it for a living, go for it. I grow weary of company politics and abuse from the crew schedulers, and get cynical at other times, but I still enjoy my job enough to say that I'm glad I made this career choice.
Get your CFI.
Get your CFI.
General Lee
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2002
- Posts
- 20,442
That DATA guy is hillarious. I loved his responses. This whole industry really runs on cycles. If you are in the beginning of an "up" cycle, chances are you will be fine. If you are on the "down" side of a cycle, your dreams may have to wait a while. If you are still in school, I would suggest getting some sort of degree that you could fall back on---like accounting or something boring like that----that always has openings regardless of the economy or cycle. Also, I suggest marrying a rich girl---becasue remember---it is just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as a poor one. Hang out near expensive or an exclusive golf course, and try to talk to the rich members. Ask if they have daughters, and then try to ask them out---and get them pregnant on the first date. That should help supplement your low pay at the regionals. Then, enjoy the BE-1900 for the rest of your life---hand flying down to minimums in blowing snow for $16.50 an hour is fun---when your daddy-in-law is a rich lawyer giving your wife bucks on the side. You will be the only BE-1900 FO with a new BMW in the parking lot.
Bye Bye--General Lee
Bye Bye--General Lee
If I was you, I wouldn't spent one more penny in aviation and after getting my bachelors would join the Air Force. You need a 3.2 GPA., and after 8 years you go with some solid experience and you have a great better chance to get a good job in the future. In the majors half of the pilots have military background, specially the senior ones.
If you been in the Air Force it will look very good on your major interview. (Most probably the chief pilot or who ever is in front of you has been in the Air Force, National Guard or something like it).
So, if you have a Bachelors, you got good grades, and you are young enough look into the military. I already miss my shot!
They even pay you good money since the first day!
Good luck,
Scube.
ps: I think the marines require a 3.0 GPA and Air National Guard similar. Look into it.
If you been in the Air Force it will look very good on your major interview. (Most probably the chief pilot or who ever is in front of you has been in the Air Force, National Guard or something like it).
So, if you have a Bachelors, you got good grades, and you are young enough look into the military. I already miss my shot!
They even pay you good money since the first day!
Good luck,
Scube.
ps: I think the marines require a 3.0 GPA and Air National Guard similar. Look into it.
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