Originally Posted by
MaxQ
Not responding specifically to your post, Nuke. Just quoting you so as to make a general comment. Plus you hope for better days for the NK people.
I am slightly (but not totally) surprised at the number of comments making light of.... no, actually making fun of, people who have lost their jobs. Has aviation been so good for so long that most people haven't experienced this?
When you are furloughed, or your airline liquidates, it usually means no one else is hiring. Even if airlines x or y are hiring, it takes many months to get hired and work your way through the hiring pool.
And jokes aside, yes one does then work at Walmart or go get their CDL to drive trucks. (only to have their trucking company go chapter 7 while 800 miles from home)
I am long retired, but lived through 4 airlines going bellyup. (plus one canceling a new hire class on me at the last minute, after having already quit my charter job)
While my sympathy won't buy anyone a cup of coffee, for any furloughed pilot reading this, you have my sympathy. Wishing you all to land on your feet, but I know that for some circumstances will prevent that from happing..
The last 15 years have been an unprecedented boon for most of aviation, so, many, if not most current pilots have not seen the dark days of the industry. The last real recession was 2008-2009, and in the years since COVID, pretty much every airline has been actively hiring thousands, and many applicants have been able to choose from multiple CJOs. Regional pay in many cases has also been as good or better than narrow-body pay at a major was just 10-15 years ago. Instead of having to scrape by at barely-livable regional wages for a decade flying NDB approaches in an egg beater into XYZ regional airport before getting their big break, many are getting hired at majors after several months or a couple years flying a 76-seat jet for 6-figures. A couple years later, they're NB CAs or WB FOs at a legacy.
While this is certainly a positive trend for the career trajectory of prospective aviators, it seems some have difficulty being empathetic towards others having to endure a hardships that they themselves never had to experience firsthand.