Originally Posted by
floridaCFII
Hey... some of us actually believe that we are professionals and that professionals don't pay for their own training as a condition of employment. If an employer wants to hire me, they should be responsible for my training. If everyone took a hard line on this subject, employers would be forced to pay for what they already should be paying for.
When I refer to a legit way of building time I mean any job where we are paid as a professional to fly. If you don't want to be a CFI, then get a job flying traffic watch, towing banners, flying jumpers, etc... just don't pay for your hours or your job.
I directed the post at CFIs because we have the most influence on new pilots and it's up to us to change their way of thinking to improve the industry.
You have good intentions.. however these are idealistic and not realistic. Just as UFgatorpilot said other professionals pay for training based on what the demand of the market is respectively. I don't know how many people worked at a law firm as a secretary or paralegal and got the firm to pick up the tab on their B.S./B.A. and J.D....bottom line is that being a professional doesn't mean you don't pay for training at some point. ...There are ways not to pay for training at all.... let's say you go ANG and get all the training and even a beechjet type out of the deal, great! Realistically most people here have paid at least through CFIs., basically paid for a job.
Realistically here, Airlines are not the most profitable companies going right now or really ever. Great, Captains used to make $250k, what happened to those companies now? Most are or have been on the brink of collapse...The more the credit market shrinks the less jobs there are to build time as a CFI, etc... which in turn may boost wages for airline pilots...guess we'll see how the cookie crumbles.
As far as the thread drifting... it isn't really, because this is the heart of what the thread was about.