What's your story?

[Zach15]

Hello to all,

My name is Zach. I am 20 years old and a business student in New Brunswick canada with no flying experience. I have been doing some research on how to make a career out of flying for the past month or so and stumbled apon this page recently. I can't seem to read or learn enough about flight, and you all have been a great source of information for both knowledge and entertainment. So I thank you for that.

I wanted to ask a question to all of you who have made career's out of flying. It will help me figure out the direction I want to take for myself and also just because I enjoy reading it: How did you get started on the road to where you are, and what do you do now?

I think that joining the air force will be my best bet, but I have to finish my degree before I can enter and start pilot training. I am having a very hard time trying to find out how to get started!

Any ways, if you all feel like letting me know your story I would love to hear it. Flying seems like it would be such a dream job, and I am envious to anyone who has made it their career.


Thanks alot. Good to be here.

Zach

 

[USMCAirWinger]

I just got banned for three days due to making an inflammatory post. Duh.

 

[bafanguy]

Hello to all,

My name is Zach. I am 20 years old and a business student in New Brunswick canada with no flying experience. I have been doing some research on how to make a career out of flying for the past month or so and stumbled apon this page recently. I can't seem to read or learn enough about flight, and you all have been a great source of information for both knowledge and entertainment. So I thank you for that.

I wanted to ask a question to all of you who have made career's out of flying. It will help me figure out the direction I want to take for myself and also just because I enjoy reading it: How did you get started on the road to where you are, and what do you do now?

I think that joining the air force will be my best bet, but I have to finish my degree before I can enter and start pilot training. I am having a very hard time trying to find out how to get started!

Any ways, if you all feel like letting me know your story I would love to hear it. Flying seems like it would be such a dream job, and I am envious to anyone who has made it their career.


Thanks alot. Good to be here.

Zach

Zach,

Just disregard some of the nonsense you see posted here. You asked a legitimate question and there's no reason to get anything but a legitimate answer.

The choice of a flying career can lead to a certain degree of "instability" over its course. Perhaps the same can be said for all careers. Reading what people in the field have to say on this forum can give you a bit of a look at the things that affect people who've been, or are now trying to get in, flying as a career. It can be a pretty rocky road, but that's not to tell you to abandon the idea of learning more about what's involved.

The one thing I can say is that a choice of the military as a start toward your career goal would be an excellent choice. Other people may chime in and second that and/or add other ideas. My wife is from New Brunswick and one of the family members entered the military and had excellent results in his career flying for Cathay Pacific and then Air Canada, where he is now.

Read on in this forum, ask questions and you'll get answers from some mature people. Good luck to you.

 

[Flyboyz]

Zach flying is a dream job. However, the previous response was correct about the "instability". I became a pilot at about the time you were born. Flew for a while, got furloughed and went another direction. Although my direction and life purpose changed, I continued to love to fly and in two years ago became recurrent and began to fly on a regular basis for a small charter company.

I love to fly and have a passion for it. If you have that go for it. However, please finish your degree first because you might need something to fall back on if you loose your passion. Which happens. Also the military is an excellent and inexpensive route plus you get to fly some cool stuff.

Remember that every occupation has instability in its own way and just because you like to fly does not mean you have to work at it. You might consider just getting a private, buy a plane, and fly.

Whatever it is I want to remind you to have fun and do not listen to a lot of posters on this board. Their are a lot of angry and negative pilots on here that will want to discourage you.

Good Luck !

 

[Mooneymite]

Zach,

 

[mar]

The long and winding road

I wanted to ask a question to all of you who have made career's out of flying. It will help me figure out the direction I want to take for myself and also just because I enjoy reading it: How did you get started on the road to where you are, and what do you do now?

Hey Zach, I was 15 when I got bitten by the bug and I still haven't found the antidote.

I worked a couple summer jobs to pay for my training and I completed my Private cert. by my senior year in high school.

I went straight to college at 18, studied for four (and half) years and continued to work on my training during my vacations.

When I graduated in 1990 there were no jobs (sound familiar?) so I had to work as a lab tech for two and half years.

Then I had two jobs as a flight instructor, then I moved to Alaska, flying people and things to remote villages and oil fields, then I got a job flying rubber dog crap out of Hong Kong (ok, maybe it's cheap clothing and electronics for all I know).

I learned to fly the summer of 1985. Same year you were born.

It's a long road. Good luck.

 

[HoursHore]

I learned to fly the summer of 1985. Same year you were born.




I think I will commit assisted Suicide now. I feel ANCIENT.

 

[Flic1]

Learn to fly for fun and get into a more stable career field (which will consist of any other industry outside aviation).

I hate to be 'Debbie Downer' but I will no longer encourage anyone to get into any aspect of aviation for a career. I wish someone had pointed me in another direction about 10 years ago.

 

[Stearmanut]

Learn to fly for fun and get into a more stable career field (which will consist of any other industry outside aviation).

I hate to be 'Debbie Downer' but I will no longer encourage anyone to get into any aspect of aviation for a career. I wish someone had pointed me in another direction about 10 years ago.

I second this.....

Zach, thats my son's name too, but he's only a year and a half old.....

Flying in and of itself is a wonderful thing. Flying for a career is totally different. I have been in the airlines for 7 years now, and I would say a few things to you;

1. From the time we close the main cabin door to the time when we open it again, this is a great job!
2. All the rest of the airlines lifestyle, in my humble opinion, is not fun nor exciting to me anymore.
3. If I knew then what I know now (hindsight being 20/20), I would have picked another career and kept flying as a hobby.


With that being said.....should you continue to follow a course toward a career in flying.....

1. Take advantage, as I did, of all the wonderful things in aviation to experience. When you get some time under your belt....try flying a glider, or a balloon. Then experience flying a helicopter, then try some aerobatics. Then maybe an ultralight....There is so much to do in aviation, dont fly a Cessna 172 for 1000 hours and then apply to the airlines....that would be so sad to miss out on all the different facets of aviation.

2. Should you choose to stick with airplanes.....fly as many different types as you can. Fly Cessna's, Pipers, Mooney's, Beech's and tailwheel airplanes...the more airplane types you fly, the better pilot you will ultimately become.

3. Should you aspire to the airlines, GET MULTI-ENGINE TIME!


Flying is great and can be very rewarding, but it can also lead to a very unstable and uncertain future. Have something else in your life. Dont let flying consume you, because if you let it, it will

Good luck, and feel free to drop me a private message if you'd like to chat more!

Stearmanut

 

[FN FAL]

Hello to all,

My name is Zach....

Hi Zach, I only got to visit your country for a few days and I really enjoyed my stay there. Was treated like a guest by all that I met.

Enjoy your love for flying, but proceed with your eyes wide open. Good luck and welcome to flight info.

 

[MTpilot]

My Story.

Started flyin in 99, fought fire in the off season to pay for it, got my CFII 3 years ago, instructed until a few months ago, now right seat in a tanker. Lot's of great opportunities in aviation, best of luck and welcome to the board!

 

[MissKittyKat]

Hi Zach15, and welcome, your question is one that I hope many will join in.

We all have remarkable stories. It started when we where kids and our dad first took us on that BOAC flight in 1969! It started when we used to skip school and go down to Logan Airport and watch planes take off and land daily.

The jets roaring from those 747's! I never wanted to be a pilot, but an astronaught or flight attendant I knew the first wasn't attainable for me!

But had all kinds of pictures of the "man on the moon" in my room. My brother is 42 and and started as an aireal photographer and then started taking flying lessons about 4 years ago. His only accomplishedment is just to learn to fly!

Just start inquiring and try to take some easy flight lessons at a nearby airport. See if you like it first. I think there is a website where you can go on line ( for fake and and try to preflight a Cessna 172) try that!

Have you ever been to Osh Kosh? This is a great festival for anyone inquiring!

If you have been dreaming about planes since you where very young, chances are you may pursue this for fun, pleasure or income.

I started out with interviews at 18 and never got hired for flying until I was 32, I had the pleasure of working even with some male fA's work were aspiring pilots! I started working with the airlines in 1985, but they were always ground positions, BUT i LOVED IT!

I never met more people and great people in my years through aviation! Yes, I even worked for Air Canada out of Logan, parle vous Francais?

Sorry, I don't have any contacts out of Canada, but this is what makes aviation great, and it still is! Network, network, network and ask questions!

If you don't ask, you never will get there!

Best of Luck in your career decisions!
MissKittyKat

 

[Standby 1]

I started out as a flight attendant and decided then and there that if the guys could do it, so could I (there weren't too many female pilots then). I started flying lessons on the side, got my instructor certificates and did that for a couple of years until I was hired flying single pilot freight. The airlines weren't hiring much at that point, so I just hung in there flying freight until the right 121 operation offered me a job and here I am.

Nothing turned out as I imagined it would (in other words, I'll probably never be a 777 captain for a major airline), but that's true for so many of us in this field --- pilot careers are not what they used to be. I'm not sorry I chose this career, even though I counsel others with more options to carefully consider before they head down this road.

I think as long as you're realistic with your expectations, you will be fine. Good luck to you!

 

[joepilot29]

I guess I will give you the struggling CFI point of view. I gave up a good job to get into flying 3 years ago. It seems just trying to get your foot in the door is the hardest part. I am right at the minumum hour requirement for most of the regionals, but trying to find a job is hard right now. I hope it is just the holiday slow down. But I am not going to throw in the towel yet.

I hope the industry will get back on it's feet and pilots can get the respect that they used to have. I just want to get to the point where I can actually b***h about flying too much. But I would not trade rotting away in an office for what I have been through.

Word of advice, don't do your training at any of the "pilot factories" that are out there. Yeah the training might be good and you might get that "guarenteed interview", but it is not worth the $650 loan payment I have to make for the next 20 years of my life. I would have gone the FBO route if I had to do it over again. Being a CFI has actually been a rewarding expierence although I was dreading it from day one.

I wish you luck in your decision.

 

[VNugget]

I made almost the exact same post as you a few years ago as my intro to this board.

After 3 years of reading what these guys have to say, well it seems like if you already have your foot in another industry's door, you should just go down that route, get rich, and buy a Cub and fly the hell out of it. Then sell it and buy a Pitts and fly the hell out of it. Then sell it and buy a Stearman and fly the hell out of it. Then sell it and buy a ... erm, sorry.

Anyway, if you're really determined to make flying your career, then get ready for a life of uncertainty, instability, poverty, and moving often. So you better be damn DEDICATED! At least that's the impression I'm getting. That's what I'm doing, and sometimes I wish I invested in Lotto tickets or something, instead

I also second going the Mom&Pop FBO route instead of the puppy mills. It's cheaper, you're likely to get more experienced instructors, and if you develop a good relationship with the owners, it can pay back zillionfold.

I wish someone'd let me fly their Pitts.

 

[Goose Egg]

I had wanted to be an airline pilot for as long as I could remember. I started working on my private license when I was 17 and a junior in high school (1993). I finished when I was 18, then flew around a bit. When I was 19 I left on a two-year mission for my church, which was great, but didn't involve too much flying. When I got back home, I immediately got a job working as a dispatcher at an FBO. This was great because I got to build up a lot of the time I needed for the commercial as part of my pay--I didn't have to come up with it out of pocket. I then decided to try other majors, namely engineering and accounting. I learned a lot from those studies, but I just wasn't happy so I decided to get back into flying. I got my instrument, commercial, and CFI in about a year and a half, and finished up a BS in Aviation Science and set out looking for a CFI job. It was hard at first--there weren't a lot of jobs around. I moved out east to try and find something, with little avail at first. (In fact I spent my first year out here developing photos at CVS.) I then found my current CFI job, and I'm in my second year here. I've really been enjoying it. In fact, the school paid for my Commercial Glider and CFI-G ratings, and will be paying for my MEI here in about a month. Not to mention that I have health insurance and paid vacation! Also, since I work at an academic institution, college classes are free for me and that includes tuition for the MBA program, which I started in september. And actually, I really enjoy flight instructing, even after several hundred hours of dual given.

Anyway, I say overall I've been pretty fortunate, although I have had to be patient. I'm still not sure exactly what I'd like to do and what will work out for me. I wouldn't mind flying for an airline and I wouldn't mind flying for a corporate outfit. (It'll probably be some combination of the two!) Frankly, I try not to worry myself with things that I can't control at this point. I'm sure something will work out for me, I just don't know what.

I have noticed that some on this thread recommend finding another job and just fly for fun on the side. I have known for a long time that this just wouldn't work for me--it just wouldn't add up to enough flying. I'd get out maybe once a week, and that just wouldn't be enough. And I want to be out flying in everything--rain, snow, icing, turbulence. I couldn't afford anything by myself that could safely handle those types of weather conditions. Besides that, I'd much rather have flying be a money earning endeavor vs. a money spending endeavor.

I think I'd someday like to own my own glider. I'd also love to get back to the west someday (from UT originally, but any western state would work) but northern New England is fine for now. Just as long as I have somewhere to ski and mountain bike.

The one piece of advice that I would give is to take your time and don't get in a hurry. That is the easiest way to burn out. People instruct 8 hours a day, 7 days per week and wonder why they don't like flying anymore. Sure, you'll get a lot of time quickly, but what good is it if you hate flying? You should work hard, but not too hard.

-Goose

 

[TurboS7]

I have had 14 days off now I leave for a 10 day trip to Romania to fly to point east from there. The best of both worlds.

 

[smellthejeta]

Goose Egg,

Sounds like you have a really great job instructing, of all things. I see from the tone of your post that you realize that... I hope for your sake that you pick your next job carefully, because you may not find that the grass is greener

 

[Goose Egg]

Sounds like you have a really great job instructing, of all things. I see from the tone of your post that you realize that... I hope for your sake that you pick your next job carefully, because you may not find that the grass is greener

Wilco. I'm actually leaning towards either Cape Air or a PC-12 gig out of MHT. Both represent pay increases. We'll see what happens. I do need a bit more multi-time before I think I could safely quit instructing for a PC-12 gig, and Cape Air wants an ATP. I'm not really considering a regional gig just yet, although I think an offer from SkyWest with an SLC or DEN base would trump just about everything, although if I had my 'druthers I think I'd like to end up with a good corporate job. Like I said, that's all still a little ways down the road, so we'll just have to see what happens.

-Goose

 

[smellthejeta]

Wilco. I'm actually leaning towards either Cape Air or a PC-12 gig out of MHT. Both represent pay increases. We'll see what happens. I do need a bit more multi-time before I think I could safely quit instructing for a PC-12 gig, and Cape Air wants an ATP. I'm not really considering a regional gig just yet, although I think an offer from SkyWest with an SLC or DEN base would trump just about everything, although if I had my 'druthers I think I'd like to end up with a good corporate job. Like I said, that's all still a little ways down the road, so we'll just have to see what happens.

-Goose

From what I know about this industry, which ranges from either nothing to a lot depending on who you ask, there is nothing on the face of this planet that beats a good Part 91 gig. And I mean nothing (except for working 12 days a month flying INT'L making $300k for the airlines, but those days are gone).