Originally Posted by
crabinow16
what do you do when you have 350 hours and a shiny new degree..... If i got a call from a regional tomorrow and they said heres a job FO on a regional jet and you will make 17.5K a year and I say I am sorry but that isn't enough. they aren't going to say oh well our mistake the number is really 25K a year...no they are going to say ok and offer it to the guy they interviewed afterwards......Yeah I will have to live with 6 guys in small apartment that will probably be upstairs from a guy who cooks meth but you never know 5 years down the road I might be fine making an ok salary and doing what I love plus I will have some fun stories to tell.
Hopefully there will be less guys like you who will accept these DEPLORABLE conditions. Less guys means pay will go up, and conditions will get better.
Student starts are WAY down. That's good, because, honestly, if the USA didn't make a single additional commercial pilot this year, THERE ARE STILL TOO MANY !
The 1500 / ATP should help. It will be very competitive to get from 350 TT to 1500. I'm not convinced that the rule won't ultimately be sabotaged with exceptions for guys like you with something similar to your current qualifications.
The retirement boom of Dec 2012 should help to open up the top end of the profession. However, I don't think we'll ever get to the part where starting wages will be anything but deplorable, because I believe that no matter what the conditions, guys will continue to "pursue their lifelong dream, 'cuz they can't imagine doing anything else".
For you, unless you accept what the industry has to offer, you need to find another industry.