Quote:
Originally Posted by USMCFLYR
Hey SS -
USMCFLYR here and I'm new too. Sounds like you have had quite a few jobs that you've been able to pile on the hours! I've got more than 11 years in flying and nowhere near 5,000 TT. I'd be interested to hear some about your background. Please share.
USMCFLYR
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Hi USMCFLYR
Well, actually I am currently only on my second employer and not counting my time at flight school (left that with 1200 TT) I have only worked as a pilot for about six years. Last year I only worked for 16 weeks as a freelancer and accumulated roughly 200 hours that year.
The bulk of my hours I accumulated when I flew in the Caribbean for 3+ years. Each of those years I was maxed out at 900 hrs (British CAA).
I'm actually from Europe but started my career in a US flight school. After I left that I got my European JAR license back home, but just as I came out of that school the job market took a turn for the worse and it was almost impossible to get a job unless you paid for the type rating yourself. I thought I had spent enough already and refused to give in. While I worked for a regional airline back home as ground staff I was surpassed by several guys not even close to my hours, but they had paid themselves for a J31/S340/F50 rating. Looking back one might debate whether or not I did the right thing not paying for a job, but I can honestly say I'm kinda proud to say that I have got my hours due to hard work and not how much cash I forked up.
After two years on the ground and sending out several applications I felt I had to get back up in the air again. A friend of mine had just left to the Caribbean and told me to come over. I did and after many ups and downs dealing with the manyana attitude over there I finally got my first job as a pilot. This was just after 9/11 so I was happy just to be in an airplane when many experienced pilots lost their jobs.
After a few years I had enough of the company and got on with a Swiss company operating in Africa and Saudi. I was assigned the only project not related to oil companies and flew for 1+ year for the Red Cross in Darfur, Sudan. Due to minimum six weeks away at a time I decided it wasn't for me and switched to a free lance contract for the same company. I did those weeks for different oil companies in Algeria.The pay is pretty good and earning euros while spending dollars here in the US allowed me to only do 16 weeks last year while still having a rather comfortable life.
As my first post says I'm up for an interview in less than two weeks for one of the fracs and I'm really excited getting a chance on doing the kind of flying that was the reason why I got into this business 11 years ago.
Some of you might wonder why I decided to come back to the US and not stay in Europe since the jobs are generally better paying with more time off and better protection. I know many non Europeans would die to have a JAR license and the right to work in Europe. My reasoning was/is that since aviation is a more unstable place to be in than ever I'd rather have to move my future family from one state to another within the US, supposed to from one country to another in Europe. If having kids this could be very difficult with new languages and everything else a move to foreign country would mean. All I want out of my career/life is to be happily employed at a decent place combined with a good private life. I work to live, and not the other way around as some choose to do. Do whatever you feel is best for you, is all I can say.
I realize I might catch some heat for coming over here and "steal" American jobs, but before anyone gives me any grief about it remember that most of the US population actually is made of people like me.
So there you have it, hope I didn't bore you too much..
SS
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