Originally Posted by
IlliniPilot99
i've had about 15 instructors since starting my private to completing my commercial...all due to them either leaving for something better (the only ones that didn't leave were 50+ yearsold and just enjoyed instructing) When I started my training the minimums were around 1500TT/500ME and now being as low as they are i get the feeling that some pilots that had to actually get these hours are kind of bitter/angry at the situation of how easy or less stringent on getting hours.
It's pretty much summed up on APC that we ALL AGREE TO DISAGREE...some say instruct and really learn what it means to be a pilot others say get in as fast as you can with the way things are going right now.
With the 15 instructors that i had 14 of them were there to just get hours (all age 23 -28)...as a private student at that time, i thought thats how it just goes, meaning i'm not sure if anyone deliberatly gets a CFI because they really want to instruct...they do it so they can build the hours. (or at least based on my experience)
At the airport I work at and from family friends and family equating to : 3
captains (AA,CAL), 4 major FO's (AA, UAL, CAL), 1 Reg. Cap (Xjet), 5 Reg. FO's (AE, Xjet, Republic), and an HR guy at AA....they all say get in as fast as you can...and the only ones that aren't saying that are pilots that had to/or chose to get the hours...
and to agree with skyhigh they all say that flying cessnas didn't have a lot of translation into a RJ...saying that the training will get that all done
Exactly my point! Everyone these days is plagued by the "forget the stupid Cessnas, aerobatics, float flying, bush flying, no autopilot/GPS flying, because it doesn't translate into RJ flying, and only God knows I need to get into that RJ cockpit before my 22nd birthday, and accept that conditional offer from Delta before I'm 26 so I can have almost 40 years them and completely lose sight of why I ever wanted to get into this profession because I'm so busy worrying about contracts, furloughs, upgrades, ALPA"
You can choose to be an airline pilot and all that it entails, and in which case "get in" as quick as possible.
Or... you can choose to be an aviator. You can actually learn how to fly an aircraft, experience aviation and the science behind this art, and not get "there" as soon as possible.
Folks are so focused on just "getting there" they lose sight of what they're even doing
to get there. In the end, it just becomes a job, enjoy it while it's still not.