Originally Posted by
NWA320pilot
How long have you worked in the airline industry? I instructed for almost 2 years working my butt off and flew over 2000 hours. During this time I also did any additional flying I could scrounge up to increase multi and TT. I then got my first regional job and promptly got furloughed (to never be recalled by that company). After a while I landed another regional job that lasted for almost 10 years before being hired by a major. The airline business has always been cyclic....
As for the luck part, all jobs have that. When I hired on at NWA they interviewed over 12,000 applicants for about 400 positions. I have no idea how many applications they actually received by I count myself lucky to have made it through the process successfully.
I could run through my resume but I will not. Lets say that I did my time. I had over 3800 hours before I was able to make it to my first regional.
The recession of the early 1990's sidelined my generation for about 5 years. I applied to every major for most of the last two decades and scrapped up every flying job I could. The problem is that it takes too much luck. If someone is comfortable with those odds then perhaps they should take the 150K in college and flight training loans and buy a pile of lottery tickets instead?
You left behind 11,600 pilot who possibly are still struggling at their regionals, had to give up or are furloughed. It comes off as incredibly insensitive, superior and unappreciative of the blessings you have to come onto these forums during a recession and suggest that the rest of us did not work hard enough. The truth is that it takes strong internal contacts or a massive amount of luck.
The current generation of new pilots are facing a situation that generations past can not comprehend. They have been handed the worst economic conditions since the great depression. On top of that the industry seems intent upon destroying itself. It is not fair, kind nor accurate to try and apply your experiences to their prospects.
Skyhigh