The Lucrative Aviation Industry

[9GClub]

Ok, so anybody who's been around aviation for any length of time or who has gleaned anything from the discussions in these forums knows that it's easy to make a small fortune in aviation.... you simply start out with a larg-- yeah yeah ha ha ha.

So what's the best way to supplement your income outside of flying? There was a thread on this about a year ago, but I'm interested in bumping the topic and hearing what y'all think.

My dad frequently quips that people "never get rich by working for someone else"-- so is starting your own business (outside of aviation) the way to go? What theories do you guys have on actually surviving financially in this day and age? Cynicism of course welcomed but not preferred.

 

[mcjohn]

I work in a 5 star hotel as a bellman (usually, I just begged to be layed off.) All the other bellmen have kids and are in there 30's, 40's, and 50's. Some are under paid workers like teachers etc... They average $100 - $200 in cash tips a day on top of $5 an hour working very flexible schedules for about 20-30 hours a week. You should see the look on rich/snooty tourist's faces if I ever tell them I'm a 'commercial' pilot. They think I'm a freakin terrorist or something. One guy asked me "Do you ever get in those big 747 simulators?" I said "No sir, I instruct in a C152 most of the time, if I were to fly that into the side of a building it would barely make a dent."

 

[pilotyip]

Too many negative vibes. Bad karma. This is still a great career, where else can a high school grad plan on making $100K/yr by the time he is in his mid 30's working 17 days a month? Only on a pilot board would $100K/yr be referred to as a poverty wage.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Man, it's getting so I can almost hear pilotyip's response in my head, before I even read it.

Don't tell my AME that I'm hearing voices, though.

 

[pilotyip]

Yes it has been a fantastic adventure and I am still living the dream. I would change very little. I am truely lucky.

 

[GogglesPisano]

If he weren't so persistent I'd swear he was longest-lived flame-baiter in flightinfo history.

I've got to hand it to you pilotyip, you believe what your selling.

 

[avbug]

I know a lot of pilots in their mid thirties who qualify for food stamps on pilot wages, after fifteen years or more on the job.

I was one of them, once.

Certainly a living can be made in aviation, but just as easily one can go broke and stay broke living one's "dream."

I think one might be well outside one's bounds by suggesting that a high school graduate can "plan" on making six figures in his thirties, based on a careerin avaition.

 

[smellthejeta]

Too many negative vibes. Bad karma. This is still a great career, where else can a high school grad plan on making $100K/yr by the time he is in his mid 30's working 17 days a month? Only on a pilot board would $100K/yr be referred to as a poverty wage.

Kit Darby,

The only place in aviation I know where a high school grad can plan on making $100k/yr in his mid 30's is in ATC. When I worked for ACA, only the very senior captains were making $100k -- and they weren't in their mid thirties.

Some of my old roommates have been furloughed from various regionals three or four times. You can only "plan" for that $100k if you never get furloughed.. and you better plan for a furlough, because if you don't, you're in for a surprise.

 

[smellthejeta]

I am truely lucky.

I think that says it all. Not a little luck, not no luck, TURELY LUCKY.

 

[pilotyip]

SmelltheJP, they took the wrong route, should have come into the on-demand business would be a DC-9 Captain flying scheduled passenger making a $100K by their mid-30's