Originally Posted by
jefflebowski
Hi all,
Here is my story. 40 years old, working on CFI and only have 300 hours. I own a construction company that has offices in a few states (160 nm) and I also practice law sometimes. I have always wanted to fly for an airline and I am finally in a position to do so. I know I will never make it to the majors and that is fine. I was thinking about buying a 152/172 to commute to my other office and to build time, but my club has a nice 152 for $70 wet and 172 for $90 wet. Would the airlines look down on logging the 1,200 or so hours via paying for them? I plan on teaching some, but I do not think I will have the time to teach primary students; it wouldn't be fair to my students. Opinions? Fortunatly my wife can run the business so I will have a nice income while I fly. Thanks all.
Airlines prefer quality time when they can get it, and successfully doing CFI work under the pressures of an employer and customers is obviously more challenging than recreational or personal GA...you don't have nearly the pressures to perform in the later.
But with the anticipated shortage of 1500-hour pilots, I doubt you would have any trouble getting hired at a regional.
Be aware that professional pilots understandably tend not to have a high regard for wealthy dabblers who want to play airline pilot. If you just come in for a few years and then quit you'll just help drive wages down.
Also the actual job is relatively sucky at least until you get some seniority. I'd seriously consider how bad you want to do this, how long you're going to want to do it, and maybe think about sticking to GA (which is usually a lot more fun than 121 flying).