Originally Posted by
WmuGrad07
As a pilot, all I would like to do is have a job that pays the bills, gives me benefits, and lets me fly a plane. After working one flying job, quitting to go to Eagle then having my class cancelled it really sucks. And for you PP to be all negative and say you'd rather be flight instructing, you can come take my flight instructor job from me and I'll take your seat. When the weather sucks, I can't work, so I don't make money. Yes I do have a flying job but it sucks. If we poolies got in two weeks earlier we could be fat/dumb/and happy like you are and complain about having a job that at least gives you a minimum paycheck every month. But as a starving flight instructor when there aren't many other jobs out there Eagle looks nice to me so I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay the bills, or ****** where is a non flying job when I have bills piling up.
Eagle was going to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Now flight instructing is only putting me farther behind where I predicted I should be. I guess it's a job, but it's not what I want to be doing. Thanks for answering the original question about the pool.
If you think I'm being negative, then you're a fool...plain and simple. I'm just putting the facts here. If you can't bother to read what I say, then don't bother to comment on what I say. If you need a refresher I said I loved Eagle, loved flying, but didn't love the lifestyle. I love my wife and family and like being home most days out of the week and for those that do, this is a poor job choice.
Or do you think I'm being negative about the job outlook? Well, sir, that is simply the truth. It does not look good - and nobody can tell you for sure whats going to happen from day to day. That is fact. Oil could drop to $20 a barrel tomorrow, the economy could turn a corner next week and passenger loads could increase by 150% in January - then you'd be called in from the pool most likely. But who can know such a thing? Nobody! You will have to wait until you're called in, whenever that may be. It won't happen a second sooner.
Fat, dumb and happy??? After 9 months? Are you joking? Complaining? About what - the FACTS of this lifestyle!
I don't know what kind of bills you have to pay, but I have many friends who are struggling to make ends meet, even with this super-sweet "minimum" paycheck you're talking about. I have friends who don't have enough money to eat. I have friends who can hardly afford their $450 rent on a place with a car included - they get to chose between having benefits or a place to live (the insurance is not cheap). The first year is rough...the second year improves if you're on one of the jets (ATR increases by a whole $2 an hour 2nd year). Arguably, its probably better than most instructing jobs...but you also have more expenses than your instructing job. Food when you're on long trips, crash pad, transportation, etc. It adds up rather quickly.
Stepping stone to what? Most things you want to step into are going to require turbine PIC time. I have flown with Captains who have taken 8 years to get where they are so they could get some precious PIC time and move on. Eagle was their stepping stone too. Then some of them got kicked back to FO in the last few months.
Apparently there are a bunch of people out there that don't want to hear the truth. They are going to continue to think this job is nothing but sunshine and daisies and fluffy little kittens...they aren't going to listen to the voice of reason. Anybody in this profession who tries and explain that its not all fun and games is labeled as "bitter" or "negative". Why, I must be out of my mind to find things to be unhappy with!!! I get paid to fly! Geez, I should be kissing Peter Bowler's backside for the wonderful opportunity I've been given. You simply don't want to hear the truth. You want to look at this job with your rose tinted optimism-enhanced glasses. You think you just get paid to fly...
...well, don't forget the paperwork, the politics, the BS, the union dues, sitting in the ready reserve room doing nothing going out of your mind with boredom 8 hours a day for a month, spending Christmas eve and day stuck in a hotel room in Witchita Falls, getting yelled at by angry passengers, gate agents with a god complex, evil captains, sitting more reserve, more paperwork, more BS, more politics. All of this assuming you make it through training. If only it were just showing up and flying the plane...but there is much more to it than that. The flying part is just a by-line in the whole ordeal.
Ever notice you never see thread upon thread with nothing but postive happiness in it??? That's because, in the end, this is a job - a job like all others, that can become very frustrating when you see how powerless you are to effect any change at all. If it were so awesome and wonderful the posts would often reflect that. Yes, it can be a great wonderful happy job - but don't think that it always is. You learn to be a chameleon and a politican and a tactician, or you end up on the street. Just flying would be a relief. And you do little true flying. Babysitting the Autopilot, FMS and GPS and changing ACARS paper is more like it. You do what the company tells you, when the company tells you, how the company tells you. You have the freedom to chose your wake-up call in the morning.
Get your facts first, then distort them as you please. I have had contact with hundreds of people in this industry. Very few of them would tell you different. I have seen the smiles wiped off at least 100 faces. Yours won't be any different.
Read Ernest Gann's "Fate is the Hunter", at least the first 100 pages. Even though it took place in the 1930s, I can't believe how similar his experience was.
Telling you like it is from one viewpoint does not make a person 'negative', 'bitter'. Having an airline job does not make one 'fat, dumb and happy'. Preconceived notions about the job are usually wrong. I don't know why I try and help people understand both sides of the story.