Originally Posted by boilerpilot

Wow. Weren't you talking about judging the position somebody was in? Some people DON'T want to fly for an airline for 40 years, flying the same or similar equipment on the same or similar SID/STAR, getting vectored for the same or similar ILS over and over and over. Some people like GA flying. Who are you to judge somebody who wants to be a career flight instructor? Or a career PA28 flier? Or a career C150 pilot? These are necessary functions, and the fact of the matter is that that route is completely separate from the 121 world, and your judgmental attitude of it shoes that you have absolutely no frame of reference for either. However, to pay to get your training does actually undermine the industry, because the other airlines don't work within a vacuum. As long as they see that there are still people willing to sacrifice almost everything just to get those three stripes, don't think that regional level pay will improve beyond a couple extra cents at different places.

You mentioned SWA, and I don't know whether or not it's actually your goal, but I can guarantee that if you think that your kind of attitude isn't obvious and immediately apparent during the interview process, you're dead wrong. There's not a whole lot of people from Gulfstream and GoJet and the like at SWA, and I can tell you it's not because there's an active campaign against said pilots, but rather that it's because the people who go to airlines like that only look out for themselves. They're the type of people who say "the ends justify the means". The type of people who say "I don't care if I climb up the ladder using my fellow pilots as the rungs". The type of people who will do whatever it takes, at any cost, just to benefit themSELVES and nobody else.

If you think that I sacrificed anything because I went to college or did flight instruction or anything like that, you're dead wrong. I got to a major, quickly at that. I enjoyed flight instruction (when students weren't trying to kill me) because I got to fly and impart the gift of flying on other people. I went to a regional that wasn't top tier, but certainly wasn't a "dog eat dog" regional like the ones I mentioned earlier. Oh, and aside from flying, I would never have fallen in love with my wife if I hadn't gone to college and gotten the experiences that I got there (didn't meet her at college). I would never have my five best friends in the world. I wouldn't have the security knowing that if I were to lose my medical and my company went under (so I couldn't get my loss of medical checks), I could find a good paying, INTERESTING job elsewhere. I wouldn't have gotten the experience, friends, and contacts that I built upon to get my current job. Oh, and where's this $100,000 figure this guy throws around comes from? Purdue's flight training was far from cheap, but even with that I think that even with the four year degree, the 150 or so hours we got in 727 sims, and getting my CFI/II/MEI and all my ratings, MAYBE I spent $100k (plus I had a ton of flying before I got to Purdue). But I have a four year degree and a ton of options to fall back on. $70k gets you a FO job at Gulfstream, but nothing else.

Bottom line, it's easy to get scared into a "MUST ACT NOW" mentality in aviation, but never forget why you're in aviation to begin with: to fly. If you sacrifice the "flying" part just to get to your job, for the love of God, stay away from this industry, because you're going to hate it in about five years. That mentality doesn't only apply to an 18 yearold deciding what to do after highschool, but somebody changing careers at 35. My guess is if you have $70k to throw at a training program (or $70k in collateral!), you have more options than you're letting on than sacrificing an extra (shocker) six months and instructing for a bit and having options afterwards.