Learjet FO

I was a CFI/Skydive/Caravan cargo feeder pilot who got crushed in 121 training at Trans States back in 08 when regionals, especially Hulas Kanodia's, didn't GAF. They'd just cram a MASSIVE class into an auditoruim, have you study the manual taking a bunch of regulations, systems, and flight planning related written exams and fail out 1/2 of us in the sims with some Flightsafety bum who evaluates from the start with no training. No pay. No housing. I spent the recession living off my wife as a house husband and struggling at various non aviation jobs (MW, sales, janitorial). An aviation degree gets you nowhere outside the cockpit. Then when demand picked up for pilots, I applied for a local Lear job on Linkedin for shots and giggles and found myself in a professional flight department with patient ex military instructors who gave AF and genuinely wanted to teach me how to fly a jet and a hands on non EFIS/FADEC jet at that. After 2 years in the Lear (where you still have to fly the plane most of the time) I moved on to Air Wisconsin to get my CTP/ATP and found a completely different regional training environment than 8 years prior. The class was SMALL. The instructors were captains FROM THAT AIRLINE. They instructed instead of evaluating, giving TONS of tips along the way, saving evaluation for the last 2 sessions at which point everything was ROCK SOLID. If you don't know what you're getting into, you'll get to discuss your failure at every interview for the rest of your life like I do. I have literally met military pilots who failed out of regional training the first time, one of which found himself in a similar Lear job at Aery Aviation. Things are getting better. No matter what happens, keep getting back up.