Here's the thing...
The economy stinks, and believe me there is nothing worse than being unemployed (especially as a pilot) right now. As a pilot it is hard to get a job because although some companies are hiring, there are very few jobs available.
As many in the business know it takes a lot of time and training to become an airline pilot. Doctors and lawyers normally spend 7-8 years after high school to achieve a position in their respective fields. Airline pilots are no exception to this. In some cases it may even take longer for a pilot.
As life progress you may end up with a family, house and what not. In other words you gain certain life responsibilities. This is not all that uncommon to most people.
So now lets say, in mid-life you find yourself un-employed or furloughed. You still have to maintain responsibilities that you have gained in life and important part of that is financial means. I think every one of us can agree on that.

This is a very common issue when it comes to our brotherhood of pilots. The options become very limited when put into this situation. As far as flying jobs, it really stinks right now. If you do have a lot of time and experience, regional airlines are very hesitant to hire because they feel you will leave to quick once jobs open up. The flying jobs outside regional carriers may not pay much, but they are quickly consumed up from other furloughed or unemployed pilots. Flying overseas could be an option but you really have to be current and qualified in type. Although pay and benefits may be attractive, you still have to work overseas and that could cause issues at home.

Unemployment does offer programs to assist in returning to the job market. What most unemployment agencies don’t recognize is that you’re in a highly skilled profession. When I was furloughed I looked into these programs and I was told several times that aviation and the airline industry was not a viable career field. This meant no funding for l training to become current and qualified to get a job overseas. I was recommended to consider a career alternative. I applied to every regional that was hiring, and got nothing, no interviews or anything (I met all the qualifications and criteria, no bad history or skeletons). Unemployment benefits don’t last forever either, 6-18 months in most states, and that time passes very quickly.

So now your near broke, no medical and dental, family life is a mess, and your left with fewer and fewer options. Not good times…

I have heard this said way to many times, why do pilots take jobs that are less than standard in pay, because that is what is available. New pilots take jobs with regionals to gain time and experience for very low pay. Experienced pilots will take jobs to take care of their families.

One solution perhaps, is if you are employed and working for a union carrier, why not solicit your unions improve the current state? For example if unions lobbied state and federal governments to support the furloughed pilots, wouldn’t that be great? That means the experienced airline pilot who just got furloughed would not have to become a truck driver! We often criticize pilots for taking jobs for low pay. The reason is simple, we ourselves have done this to our industry. I honestly believe that our pilot unions never saw this one bit. Many other industry Unions do take care of their unemployed. I also believe that as a brotherhood of pilots we should do more to help ourselves within our group. Airline Pilots as a whole should develop more solidarity. So the next time you hear about someone taking a job for low pay, instead of criticizing them, just ask yourself, what can you do to prevent that?

When you point the finger, you got three more pointing back at you. Do what ever you can to help a furloughed/ unemployed pilot out. We should have kept the standards 33 years ago (1978).

I apologize for the long rant; I hope my spell check and grammar check work so it doesn’t get blasted.