scumby

My 2 cents about paying to fly......When we decide to become a pilot, we have to pay money for a school with the hopes of getting on as an employee after your qualified. Thousand of dollars are forever gone, some spent wisely , some spent stupidly. Finally, after months you get all your rating and have no money to even pay for towel paper. What's next ? Buy a plane with partners ? Be a airport rat and do anything to get stick time ? Now, after you paid thousand of money to get here, you just get more money from the money tree (at least my exwife thought I had one). Parents,friends, banks, etc. You decide to get the best buck for your money so you search the internet. It's the magical ball that will help you. So, you decide to join full throttle. You went to a PTF school. You picked that tree dry and now you have the hours to actually get a job. But, at what price ? Companies like Great Lakes, Seaport, Vision, Scenic. Wow, you hit the big time. One year later you go to the Regional and you say "I MADE IT". then years later, you have a furloughs under your belt. This could take 4-7 years if the stars were to aligned perfectly. Your in debt thousandssssss of dollars for what a dream. What I'm trying to say here is we're all paying for training. From getting our licenses, CFI jobs that are less then Taco Bell. Commuter jobs that you're eligible of food stamps. Oh, then you finally get that interview with airline ZZZ. They like you and say you need a type rating to work here. Paying for type ratings. Hell yeah, there goes more money.Then after all this time and effort you get your 2nd Furlough letter or the company went out of business. Great, you get to start at the bottom AGAIN. Hopefully, your saving a jar full of coins, you'll need them. Then the next job interview comes after you've been furloughed for almost a year, Couldn't afford to fly as you were poor as ******. The interviewer ask to see your logbooks and says your short on our minimums of 50 hours in 6 months. What now ? You hear through APC , XXX airline will hire me if I become PTF. Then I'll have the hours to go to a crappier airline. Which means paying for training. so, to conclude this , we all pay for training by getting the required licenses, rent planes to build time, try and CFI, , PTF schools and the School of hard knocks. I don't care how he/she got the ratings, experience,qualification. All I care about if I have to leave the cockpit to go to the bathroom, that person better do a excellent job. I know pilots that shouldn't be pilots. They are horrifying but had quality training. Could you trust them when you went to the bathroom ? Hope it's a short flight. So, does where you were trained really make a difference , yes. Is every pilot trained as a PTF bad. NO, it has to do more with natural skills, judgment, personality, and drive to be a good pilot. So paying to fly, we all are guilty of that. Except the military pilot. Everything is handed to them with white gloves and hot tea. (I'm enlisted, just like to stir up the pot a little bit) I don't prefer PTF pilots but it's the nature of the beast.