You get what you pay for!

[T-prop]

I almost laughed at some other guys in my class when I found out that I got hired for the same job/pay when they paid 3-4 times as much for training and college. Then I felt sorry for them after I found out that this was what they had been looking forward to since they were student pilots.

I learned to love aviation before I looked at it as a job. I went to the local flyins. Talked to the old timers, learned how to deal with Ice and TS from hanging around the FBO, and not from 3rd or 4th hand experience from a textbook. Even learned what it was like to fly a B-24, and B-17 from a guy that I did a BFR with. That's right, 85 and still flyin the sh*t out of a 182. I got to help out in the mechanic's shop occasionally with 100hrs and even helped dismantle a beautiful AT-6 (for shipping) that had been ground-looped by a Delta pilot on his way through to Oshkosh. I droolled when I saw a classic airplane come in for fuel, and talked the ear off the pilot when he/she came in. If I saw a brand new GV, E-190, 777, and beat-up freight DC-3 on the ramp I would walk over to the DC-3 as though the others didn't exist. I almost fainted when I saw a P-38, all original, on its way to its new owner, piloted by Steve Hinton. The super chargers are so powerful it sounded like a B-1900 taking off.

I went to FL to do a fast-paced CFI at an academy. My instructor couldn't tell the difference between a saratoga and a bonanza, or how well a plane would recover from a spin, by just looking at the tail. That made me sick. In his defense though, he taught me enough to pass my checkride the 1st time.

I am more excited to finish my tail-wheel than I was when I found out that I was hired at an airline. My honeymoon with aviation ended with my current job, it was a culture shock when I started. The only thing that anyone talked about was the contract. The sim instructor refused to let us hand fly the sim to get used to the characteristics of the airplane. Taught us how to operate a flying mechanical object by mashing buttons.

I wouldn't trade my training background for anything. If I got furloughed, I wouldn't think twice about taking my job back as a CFI/lineman at the small apt FBO that I learned at or even take a freight dawg career path. At least it would provide more stimulation than mashing buttons, listening to everyone b*tch about the industry, naming clouds etc.

 

[Tank Commander]

I attended the school of hard knocks. 6yrs USMC infantry, 12yrs Armored Cav. I had a great education. Tank, airplane a lot of similarities. Procedural task, and trouble shooting. You think CRM is challenging in a plane. You should try it in a tank. During my education I lived in 4 different counties. Waged war in 3 countries. Fell in love with some beautiful women from all over the world. Ya, it was a good education. We all bring a lot of experience into the cockpit from our educations. One is not better then the other, just different.

 

[FlyinScotsman]

I think you need to think of what you will do IF you cant fly. More pilots medical out before retirement. A degree in aviation is as useful as a degree in phs-ed. Go to a school where you can get a education in something other than flying and train at good flight school...FSI, PanAm..etc.

I agree you do need to think of what to do if you can't fly. If you can go to a top notch aviation college like Purdue or UND you have an oppotunity to major in many other things plus get your flight training. UND for example has a buisness degree program tied in with their aviation program also you could tie in a meterology degree or minor in all sorts of other things. UND is a huge campus with many schools (ie law, medical, geology, etc.) the same thing at Purdue and other colleges with aviation programs.

 

[T-prop]

I attended the school of hard knocks. 6yrs USMC infantry, 12yrs Armored Cav. I had a great education. Tank, airplane a lot of similarities. Procedural task, and trouble shooting. You think CRM is challenging in a plane. You should try it in a tank. During my education I lived in 4 different counties. Waged war in 3 countries. Fell in love with some beautiful women from all over the world. Ya, it was a good education. We all bring a lot of experience into the cockpit from our educations. One is not better then the other, just different.

Semper FI !! 6yrs 0331 E-5

 

[I Hate Freight]

The best education I've has was flying checks, human waste, and radioactive stuff in heavy lead containers at AirNet.

And you get the grand prize for hitting the nail on the head. NOTHING you learn in a classroom teaches you better than real, hard, preferably single-pilot all-weather experience. Nothing.

A lot of Riddle or UND guys come to the regionals, walking through the door with 500 hours and big ego. Most are quickly humbled. Nothing prepared me better for this job than my 2.5 years of hauling frieght in the middle of the night in scary, old, ill-eqquipped airpcraft. You can't learn this stuff out of a book.

IHF

 

[acaTerry]

I attended the school of hard knocks. 6yrs USMC infantry, 12yrs Armored Cav.

You show a poor learning curve by leaving the Marines for the army

 

[FlyBarneyJets]

I kicked around JC for about four years after high school, getting some pretty poor marks. Not knowing what I wanted to do combined with watching my dad die of brain cancer really sucked the motivation right out of me. I woke up one morning and decided I was going to go over to the local FBO and take an intro flight. That was it...in less than a year-and-a-half I had my SEL and IA certs. Then I decided I wanted to do this for a living, so I applied at ERAU to finish up my degree. I paid for my education there in a couple of ways: by selling a few 60's era Mustangs I'd bought and partially restored while I was living at home and making good money selling computer equipment, by taking out student loans, and by working.

I thought I knew everything (as a single-engine instrument rated pilot) before I got to ERAU. I was quickly humbled, and I vowed to never act that way again. While I was there, I was exposed to quite a few things that came in handy later on down the road. Things like in-depth classes on transport-aircraft systems helped prep me for my first airline ground schools, but it was just exposure, not expertise that I gained from my education there. The expertise came from a couple of things: 1) learning to fly a tailwheel airplane, 2) being a student of the craft, and loving everything about aviation from the newest jets to the oldest Jenny's 3) busting my hump as an instructor to help some other folks learn to be safe, proficient aviators, and 4) busting my hump as a regional airline pilot to keep myself safe and proficient. The hours I put in as a turboprop pilot are what I consider to be my real learning years in terms of large-aircraft flying.

I've flown with a lot of first-officers, too. And guess what? The ERAU grads (myself included) and UND grads aren't the best I've flown with! Most of them are good, mind you, and humble as well. But the finest, most well-rounded, knowledgeable university-trained pilots I've flown with are University of Illinois grads. I've flown with some good FBO students, military flyers, and freight dawgs. I've also flown with some bad ones of each bunch, too.

I guess my point is that each different route to the final destination has it's own special scenery. Every one of us takes a different path for a different reason. I've never looked down upon anyone who chose differently than I did for whatever reason.

 

[BYUFlyr]

Semper FI !! 6yrs 0331 E-5

Ooh-Rah!!

4th LAR BN

Okie Class of '03

 

[DC8 Flyer]

You must fly for Arrow then. How do you like their new green paint job?

Guess again!

 

[FrozenPilot]

And you get the grand prize for hitting the nail on the head. NOTHING you learn in a classroom teaches you better than real, hard, preferably single-pilot all-weather experience. Nothing.

A lot of Riddle or UND guys come to the regionals, walking through the door with 500 hours and big ego. Most are quickly humbled. Nothing prepared me better for this job than my 2.5 years of hauling frieght in the middle of the night in scary, old, ill-eqquipped airpcraft. You can't learn this stuff out of a book.

IHF

Guess I'm one of those UND grads who learned (and is still learning) in the real world too. Theres a lot more of us than many think.