Originally Posted by
AerialsInTheSky
I've never been someone who's looked seriously at a career in flying, I mostly have a skill elsewhere that involves flying. After recently talking with some people in and around the industry however, I get the feeling I might be missing out on a good thing.
Here's what I'm working with:
Ratings: Commercial single & multi, CFI
Total: 2800 (almost all pic)
~2k of that is x-c in complex
Dual given: 1200
Multi: 17
Inst: 10 (act)/55 (sim)
No turbine time.
(not sure what other stats would be pertinent)
You're a solid entry-level pilot, more than ready for a turbine job. What sort of turbine job depends on your interests. Historically speaking, it's a good time for airlines. There's risk and no guarantees but your odds of ending up in a great place are very good by historical standards. But the airline hiring is also creating opportunities in other aviation sectors as they lose pilots to the airlines.
Originally Posted by
AerialsInTheSky
I would prefer not to be gone more than 2-3 days, but I'll willing to move anywhere in the world (at least for a while) for a good job, don't mind learning another language or whatever.
2-3 days per month? Probably need to look for some niche 91135 gig.
Or 2-3 days at a time? Airline trips are usually 2-4 days long, with a little seniority you could hold 2 and 3 day trips at most companies. Four day trip = three nights in a hotel.
The best aviation jobs in the world are pretty much going to be here in the US, major airlines or high-end corporate. Unless you're a citizen nobody overseas will hire you unless you already have experience (usually PIC) in the exact airline type they need. Once you get that, there are jobs in Asia and the middle-east, plus a few other out-of-the-way places.
Originally Posted by
AerialsInTheSky
ALSO: I have an MBA from a respectable school. I would really like to leverage it if possible, so if there was a company or situation that could use that, even later down the line, that would be preferred.
Airlines will give you some but not a lot of extra preference for graduate degrees. Regionals don't care, they'll hire almost anyone education or not, but majors get competitive so every little bit helps.
I would avoid almost any situation where you're a pilot AND an office worker. That will usually mean office salary and fly during your time off. Or fly during working hours and catch up on your real job on your time off. Basically going to mean fly for free and probably too many balls to juggle to keep it safe.
Originally Posted by
AerialsInTheSky
Sooo... what would you do? I'm not in any rush so I'm fine with waiting to try for a while to get in somewhere better than an immediately-available option, if its a matter of just waiting until a slot is available, or building my multi time up to whatever, or both. I have access to a multi, I can get to 25 or 50-100hrs, or whatever I need, just need to know what "whatever" would be.
Need 25 ME for regionals. Other ME turbine jobs will likely require, and if you're single pilot it might be several hundred hours more.