Originally Posted by
firefighterplt
Preach. I flew in the military, got out at the worst possible time...and I’d stab my mother in the throat (kidding, of course) for one of those single engine cargo gigs. I can’t even find a jump pilot or CFI job. Getting paid to fly just isn’t a thing right now, unless you had a flying job rolling into this mess.
Always have a backup plan. Don’t put all of your eggs in the flying basket—the industry isn’t as stable and secure as many of us had thought. You don’t want to be sitting around with $75k in flight school loans, interviewing for a barista job at Starbucks.
There is absolutely nothing right now for 1000 hour CFI. I applied to 4 jump operations and nothing. The 141 school I went to is getting 10+ CFI applications daily. They are a Korean mill, but the embassy is closed so their new students can't get visas. So once the current students are done they will dry up. All of the mom and pop schools are overstaffed with CFIs and barely flying anyways. The Canyon tour operators have pretty much written off the summer season. Fire department cut my overtime completely for the next year- they are fixing the budget shortfall with brownouts.
Definitely some interesting times ahead- current civil unrest, Oct 1 aviation layoffs, upcoming election with political polarization, and no sign of a second stimulus going anywhere. Only job worse than a low seniority pilot right now is a police officer.