Originally Posted by nick@FL350
Thanks FlyerJosh -
You are pretty much left me the nicest response here. It seems like some people have a chip on their shoulder here. It's not that I'm willing to sell myself for free. I am just a very eager and motivated guy who wants to get where you guys are now. In my eyes there is absolutely nothing wrong with a person who wants to suceed.
Your initial post struck fear in many of those who have come before you, or are with you now. It's not a chip on their shoulder, it is a legitimate fear that your mentality will erode the quality of this profession even further than my generation did.
When you were 10 or 11 years old, my career was stalled when too many who were not only willing to work for free, actually paid $10k for their "training" to get a job paying $14k per year at regional carriers. The reason you "may" (airline minimums are notoriously fluid) get that commuter job at 600 hours (I had to have 2500) is that the growth of the regional airlines is coming at the expense of the majors, where we all set our sights on when our "addiction" with this drug called aviation started. It is very possible that the pinnicle of you career could be as a captain on a 120 seat regional jet making $60k/year flying 20 days/month.
Fortunately, I've managed to find my way to a major cargo carrier, and it "may" provide me the career I've worked so hard to get, until my retirement in 20 years. To show you how meaningless the "averages" are; the average age one got hired at a major at was 31 until I turned 31, then it moved up each year as I grew older. I quit keeping up with it after 9/11, but I didn't get on at a major until I was nearly 41. I never paid for a job and never flew for free, but I certainly suffered the consequences of those who have...
The message here is that there is no "easy" way to get there from where you are, only choices you make about how, and the effects of each. The reason the airline business is in the disarray it is today is as much because of the greed and short-sightedness of the pilots, as well as managment. Those who sent you "nasty" replys to your post saw the "will fly for food" mentality that has severely degraded the quality of the career aviation once held.
Without a doubt their replys should have been more educational than harsh, so as you grow in this career, keep in mind that preserving the quality of this career is the best way to ensure you have an opportunity to finish your career within it, as you envisioned it when you began.
Blue skies,
Jet