Cadet pilot dilemma - pilots please help!
09-22-2017, 04:11 PM
#21
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Originally Posted by Broncofan
Yeah my wife is fully supportive of what I do and its still a hard career on the marriage. Do you live in the US? Taking her to Asia doesn't sound like the best idea then either. Asian airlines can have rough schedules as well from what I've read on the forums.
Also, I forgot to add that my wife can't stand being alone. Marriage wise, we're happily married but I can foresee that the schedule of an airline pilot's job (having to be away 5-6 days in a row sometimes) will put a strain on our marriage.
Is it only difficult at the beginning and does it get easier on the marriage? Like, does your wife get used to it as time goes by?
09-22-2017, 04:16 PM
#22
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Originally Posted by Otterbox
You lack of wife support combined with a 10 year training bond spells disaster in your future.
The way things are going overseas I wouldn't work for any overseas airline and miss the hiring wave in the US due to work rules and employee protections you get here.
Just apply to JetBlues ab initio program, at least you'll work in the US.
Otherwise, since you make decent $ pay to get your license through CFI then build your hours as a CFI in a cadet program for one of American Airlines Group regionals with a flow to AA and start your career that way.
You don't have to love flying, you just Have to like it enough to do the job safely and professionally.
The way things are going overseas I wouldn't work for any overseas airline and miss the hiring wave in the US due to work rules and employee protections you get here.
Just apply to JetBlues ab initio program, at least you'll work in the US.
Otherwise, since you make decent $ pay to get your license through CFI then build your hours as a CFI in a cadet program for one of American Airlines Group regionals with a flow to AA and start your career that way.
You don't have to love flying, you just Have to like it enough to do the job safely and professionally.
09-22-2017, 04:19 PM
#23
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Originally Posted by Varsity
1. None of those programs are 'best in the world'. It's marketing BS. The USAF and USN are the only ones who can make remotely valid claims to that title. You will be trained bottom dollar to swing gear and keep the seat warm.
2. You will be a slave for 10 years, nothing else.
3. Your wife will probably hate it and leave you. The schedules in Asia are horrendous.
4. "Airline Pilot" is not a stable job. I laughed out loud when I read that.
5. If you aren't willing to leave your wife over it I wouldn't do it.
Frankly you seem incredibly naive about what you're in for. Stick with your current business and fly RC airplanes on the side.
2. You will be a slave for 10 years, nothing else.
3. Your wife will probably hate it and leave you. The schedules in Asia are horrendous.
4. "Airline Pilot" is not a stable job. I laughed out loud when I read that.
5. If you aren't willing to leave your wife over it I wouldn't do it.
Frankly you seem incredibly naive about what you're in for. Stick with your current business and fly RC airplanes on the side.
09-22-2017, 04:37 PM
#24
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Originally Posted by trip
Focus on your business, not working for a huge company where your just another long employee number with a long term bond to pay off.
09-22-2017, 04:40 PM
#25
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Originally Posted by captjns
Dilemma, you're not PASSIONATE about flying. Your spouse is not supportive of your idea. You're earnings and savings are substantial.
Buy a plane, build your time. Perform charity work with your aircraft. Once you meet the requirements, apply for a job with a regional, which has a "Flow Through to a Major". Cheaper in the end as you can sell your plane if you don't like working on a schedule that does not suit your needs.
Buy a plane, build your time. Perform charity work with your aircraft. Once you meet the requirements, apply for a job with a regional, which has a "Flow Through to a Major". Cheaper in the end as you can sell your plane if you don't like working on a schedule that does not suit your needs.
09-22-2017, 04:43 PM
#26
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Originally Posted by Mover
Keep the business and find another backup plan.
You're right in that I'm seeing this airline pilot job opportunity as a 'backup plan'. Honestly if business was going as well as before and not on a decline, I wouldn't even think about doing something else. The thing that's so attractive about this pilot backup plan, is honestly the perks that I see that come with it - Money, prestige (at least in Asia and asian families/circles), travel. However, I also don't want to be traveling and having fun while my wife is home alone, feeling lonely and having to do everything by herself.
09-22-2017, 04:49 PM
#27
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Originally Posted by sACKtis
Time to get a new wife!
You'll do better than $20k a month in 10 years and wont have to stress about the ups and downs of being self employed. Take the gig and dont look back, enjoy your days off without taking your work home with you.
You'll do better than $20k a month in 10 years and wont have to stress about the ups and downs of being self employed. Take the gig and dont look back, enjoy your days off without taking your work home with you.
As for doing better than $20k a month in 10 years, my current earning is slightly higher than that (perhaps 50%-100% more, varied monthly), but for simplicity's sake I wrote it as $20k/mth. Our modest apartment is fully paid up (no mortgage), car fully paid up, and we travel for holidays 3 times a year. But besides that, the point being that it's hard to tell if I cannot make more than $20k a month in 10 years by not being an airline pilot. It's just that with the pilot job, it's more secure in that I know how much I'll be earning. I'm just a 'worrier' and I worry about the future.
09-22-2017, 04:55 PM
#28
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Originally Posted by M20EPilot
If you're a troll, well done!
IF not, no need to repeat, but the two big red flags: passion and wife. You need both to be successful when it comes to dealing with the suck of this career.
I did something else for over a decade and got stable prior to diving in. I had also flown since a very young age but the timing and economy just didn't support flying full time in "the lost decade" vs what I was doing. So I bought an airplane, built time, had a lot of fun... and that confirmed the passion I had for flying from a young age was still there.
With your business and income, why not do the same: go off and get your private pilot certificate. Buy an airplane. Enjoy it. You'll build time for your instrument, and commercial, and learn a whole lot in the process. If you decide flying professionally isn't for you, keep the plane as a rich-man's toy, or liquidate it.
I have no idea what line of work you're in where you'll be dried up in 3 years (maybe something to do with American politics?
) but by all means: keep what you're doing relevant and as a way to generate income outside of aviation. No one knows when the next tumultuous event will occur that will turn things back around for a while.
IF not, no need to repeat, but the two big red flags: passion and wife. You need both to be successful when it comes to dealing with the suck of this career.
I did something else for over a decade and got stable prior to diving in. I had also flown since a very young age but the timing and economy just didn't support flying full time in "the lost decade" vs what I was doing. So I bought an airplane, built time, had a lot of fun... and that confirmed the passion I had for flying from a young age was still there.
With your business and income, why not do the same: go off and get your private pilot certificate. Buy an airplane. Enjoy it. You'll build time for your instrument, and commercial, and learn a whole lot in the process. If you decide flying professionally isn't for you, keep the plane as a rich-man's toy, or liquidate it.
I have no idea what line of work you're in where you'll be dried up in 3 years (maybe something to do with American politics?
) but by all means: keep what you're doing relevant and as a way to generate income outside of aviation. No one knows when the next tumultuous event will occur that will turn things back around for a while.My wife is a foreigner here (persuaded her to leave the US when I was working there a few years back) to come with my to Singapore permanently. So, she doesn't have much friends and any family here at all. We work together on the business so we spend most, if not all of our time together. She isn't the independent type honestly, and cannot stand loneliness. However, I honestly think a career at my national carrier's a great one, with good perks. Am I wrong/should I feel guilty about considering this career in the first place, I feel like I'm being unfair to my wife if I take this job.
09-22-2017, 04:59 PM
#29
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Originally Posted by N19906
Excellent, goodman.
(OP: you're swimming in money; go get your own plane and see if it's really for you. This career is HELL on marriages.)
(OP: you're swimming in money; go get your own plane and see if it's really for you. This career is HELL on marriages.)
Can't get my own plane here in Singapore, doesn't work that way. Besides, I'm not if it's just an 'asian mentality', but I like to think of myself as poor, that way the money can go very far for us lol.
09-22-2017, 05:58 PM
#30
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Originally Posted by Dilemma
Hello! I'd really like to know more, why do you think this career is really HELL on marriages? Is it really much more difficult to maintain a marriage than in other careers? What would you do if your wife feels resentment/unhappiness while you're flying, perhaps to an exotic location in a 4/5 star hotel while she's back at home doing chores?
Can't get my own plane here in Singapore, doesn't work that way. Besides, I'm not if it's just an 'asian mentality', but I like to think of myself as poor, that way the money can go very far for us lol.
Can't get my own plane here in Singapore, doesn't work that way. Besides, I'm not if it's just an 'asian mentality', but I like to think of myself as poor, that way the money can go very far for us lol.
Second) - your first years will have little days off.
Third and most important) - your marriage will end in divorce from your absences. For FAA certs, what I've seen in 16 months wway from home (or longer). The Chinese ab initio students that I ttrained do not get to possess their actual FAA certificates, the company holds them as soon as they are mailed by the FAA. They do have their paper temps, but they get local certicates to fly.
You will not fly into the US without an FAA certificate.
If you ARE AS WEALTHY AS YOU SAY, then get a visa, come here to train and bring your wife while becoming naturalized citizen; after you acquire your com multi with some turbine time you can apply for job there.
Either way, you cannot run your business while you are in an ab inito training environment, as it is very rigorous and difficult.
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