I was 36 years old with 6400 hours of mostly multi-engine jet or turbine time by the time I was laid off. I was married with two kids and one on the way. I needed to replace my job with something that offered a similar wage, future and standard of living as the job I was laid off from.

Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back I suppose I could have taken a job with Skywest and been able to make it work however at the time it was difficult to see where the path lied. I have a family to support so commuting to an FO position that payed 18K to start was a huge step back that I was not prepared to risk my families happiness again over.

Every flying job is a risk. When you are in the trenches it is not easy to tell what the best path is. At that time we were on the ropes financially. I had a young family and had endured years of low starting wages by the time I was laid off. Many regional jobs that are superstars today are often dead ends tomorrow. It would not have been a reasonable thing to virtually abandon my family and commute across the country to take another risk on another regional job. I was at the age where I needed to be at a career objective major airline. I needed an Alaska Airlines job however few were hiring at the time.

Instead I moved my family back home into a two bedroom apartment on $1300 a month of unemployment insurance and started over. In a few years I was able to build my family a dream home on acreage thanks to my new career. I miss flying and wish that things had worked out differently. It is a lot easier to bounce back in aviation as a single person. However my position is that if this profession was worth much a pilot with experience and education shouldn't have to keep starting over at nothing every time there is a lay off or furlough.


SKyhigh