T
Traumahawk
I'll be the devil's advocate here....don't hate me too much for it.
But whether or not it is a hiring boom in all of the airline side of aviation, it is always competitive. And not to say ANY of us are incapable of making bad choices and mistakes along the way....but when you are sitting in that room with a DUI and DL fraud under your belt, and there is another 15 people in line right outside the door who may have worked as hard or harder and managed to keep themselves clean along the roads we all travel, why would they pick you? Should they? Without regret for the past few years, which have been some of the best in my life, I still would need a d*mn good reason why there would be one less seat taken by someone who did indeed participate in activities many of us passed on. I know I did. And for good reason.......for this reason. Though for many of us it may have been for moral reasons, I'll be the first to admit I'm not joining friends at bars and clubs with a fakee, or driving after drinking(even a BIT) because I am scared more than anything that the effort and time and sacrafice taken, and family support recieved up to this point will be foolishly lost if I participate in such immature activities, or make such poor decisions.
You may have it figured out right now. I don't doubt you are as clean as a bell. The phase may be over. But when the smoke clears you got nailed for the risks, and others didn't. Plain and simple. Walkiing up to you I probably wouldn't be able to tell for a second you have a record. Hell we might be friends. But checkrides are busted and passed by a matter of feet and degrees. 1 bad decision. 1 unfortunate occurence. A few extra seconds of fixation. Theres a thin line between you and us, real thin. Might be finding a ride home at the last second, or knowing the bouncer at a club, but it's there. And it counts.
If I had two applications in front of me, personally I don't care how many hours you have or how well you interview, I know that I'll have a candidate walk through that door the next day with the same or better quals and a clean record. After all, pilot shortages are a myth, that goes the same for 'clean' pilots.
Now, corporate might be a different story. Often it's all about who you know, I know a couple chicks who are daughters of corporate big wigs and they are sitting right seat in turbofan equip despite the fact they can't fly a kite. If you're a good person and CAN fly a kite, you've got a shot.
Good Luck.......
T-hawk
But whether or not it is a hiring boom in all of the airline side of aviation, it is always competitive. And not to say ANY of us are incapable of making bad choices and mistakes along the way....but when you are sitting in that room with a DUI and DL fraud under your belt, and there is another 15 people in line right outside the door who may have worked as hard or harder and managed to keep themselves clean along the roads we all travel, why would they pick you? Should they? Without regret for the past few years, which have been some of the best in my life, I still would need a d*mn good reason why there would be one less seat taken by someone who did indeed participate in activities many of us passed on. I know I did. And for good reason.......for this reason. Though for many of us it may have been for moral reasons, I'll be the first to admit I'm not joining friends at bars and clubs with a fakee, or driving after drinking(even a BIT) because I am scared more than anything that the effort and time and sacrafice taken, and family support recieved up to this point will be foolishly lost if I participate in such immature activities, or make such poor decisions.
You may have it figured out right now. I don't doubt you are as clean as a bell. The phase may be over. But when the smoke clears you got nailed for the risks, and others didn't. Plain and simple. Walkiing up to you I probably wouldn't be able to tell for a second you have a record. Hell we might be friends. But checkrides are busted and passed by a matter of feet and degrees. 1 bad decision. 1 unfortunate occurence. A few extra seconds of fixation. Theres a thin line between you and us, real thin. Might be finding a ride home at the last second, or knowing the bouncer at a club, but it's there. And it counts.
If I had two applications in front of me, personally I don't care how many hours you have or how well you interview, I know that I'll have a candidate walk through that door the next day with the same or better quals and a clean record. After all, pilot shortages are a myth, that goes the same for 'clean' pilots.
Now, corporate might be a different story. Often it's all about who you know, I know a couple chicks who are daughters of corporate big wigs and they are sitting right seat in turbofan equip despite the fact they can't fly a kite. If you're a good person and CAN fly a kite, you've got a shot.
Good Luck.......
T-hawk
