[QUOTE=motorclutch;2114182]
Originally Posted by
Kougarok
You could also end up being number one the seniority list if you're youngish. It's all a crapshoot and night flying isn't for everyone. I fly with Motorclutch a bit and he's actually easy to get along with. He just comes off as grumpy on here.
One of our line pilots concerns is all the new guys. We go into some challenging airports like Mexico City and Guatamala City. All of the FO's have 15+ years with the company except just a couple of guys. We're all pretty comfortable with each other. On the upside 3/4 of the FO's want to be captain and the current junior captains want to senior captains.
I wouldn't put too much stock into home basing. Having commuted for 20 years It's for sure not worth $30,000.
Kougarok is spot on. By your logic he's made an extra $600,000 by his ability to jumpseat. That kind of money can buy a lot of first class tickets. To another point: there is a huge training curve about to happen with new hires. Little if any have the standardization or skills of this pilot group ......so stand by for a wake up call if you come to ABX.
Referring just to your 600000 in 20 years.
Not exactly. Out of 30000, 10000 goes to Uncle Sam, and if 8000 goes against hotels and crash pads, we have 12000 left. That multiplied by 20 years adds to 240000. Taking in consideration the money value goes to crap year after year, 240000 now will be probably 40000-60000 in 20 years.
However, during this 20 years, you screw up your family, your health, and you end up just being an old fart with a bad attitude.
We have only one life, and our health and happiness is not worth all the money in the world. And if you are unlucky enough to have 2-3 marriages, due to the " wonderful" quality of night flying life style and bad moods created by it ( plenty seen here ), then .......don't even want to go there.
Also calling pilots, who pay their way there, pay for their own hotel and rental, who have a certain experience ( assuming you are not calling for interview 100 hours type ) a bunch of clowns just because you guys at ABX are pilots extraordinarie is not nice.