Originally Posted by
bryris
This sounds like a dream. You are quite lucky, as you admitted. The fact that some get the carrot in the end, leads many many others to chase the carrot. For many, its futile. The bad part is, it has nothing to do with personal ambition or drive or motivation to excel. It is being in the right place at the right time and having shaken the right hands.
If you created the most challenging obstacle course you could imagine and pumped enough people into the entrance, some would make it through because the pendulums swung in just the right way to let them pass, etc.
Enjoy it! To make 100k at a captain on an MD80 at under 30 years old is amazing.
I agree with you mostly but I still think many are getting a very good deal but you do not hear from them on this site. No doubt, many TWA and Midwest guys totally got the shaft. Many of the ones that were prepared got on with Allegiant and other airlines over the years. In many cases furloughed pilots have a better deal at the new airline after a few years. Many USAir furloughs went to Jetblue and SWA and made out. Some of the more senior at Allegiant that live in base/are home every night are furloughed TWA.
Pilots have been losing "dream jobs" for years. It is not a big mystery that this can happen in the industry. You have to keep on it even when you are sitting comfortable. You have to keep up with whats going on in the industry, keep the log book updated, take one of the first upgrades when it presents itself. Keep renewing the CFI. I never understood how someone without any turbine PIC time would pass on an upgrade. I call that playing with fire.
I will disagree and say that drive does play a role in this game. How many captains treat the FO like crap and down the road need that FO to walk in their resume at another airline? You know it happens. Many have horrible networking abilities. How many pilots have you heard say that they would never want to be check airman? That is huge on the resume. I believe it was one of the boxes to check on the SWA application. Bad luck can and does happen but the prepared ones land on there feet. Allegiant is doing well now but I assume they will have trouble at some point and that I will lose my job. So, I keep the log book up to date, stay in touch with everyone, and keep an emergency fund in the bank. NFL players have to assume they will get injured each game, Doctors have to assume they will get sued, and business owners have to always be aware of competition. Anything with a big pay day is hard and risky.