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Old 04-09-2020, 02:04 PM
  #1  
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Default Covid-19, and career aspirations

Hi, I am 26 years old and have done my private pilots license at a part 61 school. My instrument, and commercial are part 141 so I could get my R-ATP. I will be doing my multi commercial at a part 61 school, I split things up to be cost effective and still be able to take advantage of the R-ATP. I am about 4-5 months away from earning my CFI, and I am about 2 years away from graduating with a Bachelors in aviation. I figured in my calculations that I would have about 1000 hours in 2 years when I graduate if things went okay. To take note I am passionate aviator that is following my dreams, and I've had a steady job in classic car sales before this, and I know how badly the normal 9-5 is for ME. So I am not going to pack up my bags and run, so save those replies . I am a first generation pilot, and I don't have information outside of here and research. Now that I have gave a brief bio, I would like to know how I can make myself more competitive in the meantime in general and definitely with this COVID-19 (outside of grades, I volunteer at my church and am a youth leader, and different kind of community service). Also, I know the industry is not looking good, definitely for those that are ready for the airlines now, but I imagine this will pass and people will travel again. But when? Lastly, any speculation that it will be difficult to get a CFI job in about 4 months. Obviously less upward movement will keep a lot of people instructing.

Thanks!
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Old 04-09-2020, 03:36 PM
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Until there’s hiring at regionals, time building jobs including CFI will be hard to come by.

GF
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Old 04-09-2020, 11:25 PM
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Originally Posted by galaxy flyer View Post
Until there’s hiring at regionals, time building jobs including CFI will be hard to come by.

GF
Hes lucky to see just how volatile aviation can be while at an easy place in life to make a choice.
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Old 04-11-2020, 12:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Captainfit View Post
Hi, I am 26 years old and have done my private pilots license at a part 61 school. My instrument, and commercial are part 141 so I could get my R-ATP. I will be doing my multi commercial at a part 61 school, I split things up to be cost effective and still be able to take advantage of the R-ATP. I am about 4-5 months away from earning my CFI, and I am about 2 years away from graduating with a Bachelors in aviation. I figured in my calculations that I would have about 1000 hours in 2 years when I graduate if things went okay. To take note I am passionate aviator that is following my dreams, and I've had a steady job in classic car sales before this, and I know how badly the normal 9-5 is for ME. So I am not going to pack up my bags and run, so save those replies . I am a first generation pilot, and I don't have information outside of here and research. Now that I have gave a brief bio, I would like to know how I can make myself more competitive in the meantime in general and definitely with this COVID-19 (outside of grades, I volunteer at my church and am a youth leader, and different kind of community service). Also, I know the industry is not looking good, definitely for those that are ready for the airlines now, but I imagine this will pass and people will travel again. But when? Lastly, any speculation that it will be difficult to get a CFI job in about 4 months. Obviously less upward movement will keep a lot of people instructing.

Thanks!
No Regional is going to be hiring again for at least this year and maybe next year too. I suspect the days of Regionals hiring at R-ATP or ATP mins are long gone, hiring mins are going to go up because there are going to be a lot of well qualified pilots with prior 121 time on the street looking for jobs. What that means is all those CFIs planning to leave this summer/fall once they got their hours will be staying on for the foreseeable future. Once these flight schools open back up I suspect it will be really hard to find a job but not impossible if you are willing to move. Hopefully you are greasing the skids to instruct where you are training now.

After you CFI for a year or two, you may need to go to a Part 135/91 job to get a lot of multi-engine time. All that other sunshiny **** you do will help to separate you too, but will be more beneficial when/if you decide to move on to a Major airline a decade or two down the road if they still exist. They eat that **** up whereas Regionals just care if you meet their min requirements.
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Old 04-11-2020, 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted by LoneStar32 View Post
No Regional is going to be hiring again for at least this year and maybe next year too. I suspect the days of Regionals hiring at R-ATP or ATP mins are long gone, hiring mins are going to go up because there are going to be a lot of well qualified pilots with prior 121 time on the street looking for jobs. What that means is all those CFIs planning to leave this summer/fall once they got their hours will be staying on for the foreseeable future. Once these flight schools open back up I suspect it will be really hard to find a job but not impossible if you are willing to move. Hopefully you are greasing the skids to instruct where you are training now.

After you CFI for a year or two, you may need to go to a Part 135/91 job to get a lot of multi-engine time. All that other sunshiny **** you do will help to separate you too, but will be more beneficial when/if you decide to move on to a Major airline a decade or two down the road if they still exist. They eat that **** up whereas Regionals just care if you meet their min requirements.
C'monnnnnn man. Is such doom really helpful, not to mention far from accurate?
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Old 04-11-2020, 04:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Bahamasflyer View Post
C'monnnnnn man. Is such doom really helpful, not to mention far from accurate?
Would you rather me lie to you and tell you everything will be back to normal by July 4th, all those planes will be unparked, and new hire classes across the board will be back up and running full speed?
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Old 04-13-2020, 10:54 AM
  #7  
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Originally Posted by Captainfit View Post
Hi, I am 26 years old and have done my private pilots license at a part 61 school. My instrument, and commercial are part 141 so I could get my R-ATP. I will be doing my multi commercial at a part 61 school, I split things up to be cost effective and still be able to take advantage of the R-ATP. I am about 4-5 months away from earning my CFI, and I am about 2 years away from graduating with a Bachelors in aviation. I figured in my calculations that I would have about 1000 hours in 2 years when I graduate if things went okay. To take note I am passionate aviator that is following my dreams, and I've had a steady job in classic car sales before this, and I know how badly the normal 9-5 is for ME. So I am not going to pack up my bags and run, so save those replies . I am a first generation pilot, and I don't have information outside of here and research. Now that I have gave a brief bio, I would like to know how I can make myself more competitive in the meantime in general and definitely with this COVID-19 (outside of grades, I volunteer at my church and am a youth leader, and different kind of community service). Also, I know the industry is not looking good, definitely for those that are ready for the airlines now, but I imagine this will pass and people will travel again. But when? Lastly, any speculation that it will be difficult to get a CFI job in about 4 months. Obviously less upward movement will keep a lot of people instructing.

Thanks!

I finished college with all my ratings in 2008. I have been in two different military branches and had multiple different civilian jobs since. I finally managed to get to a financial situation and enough hours allowing me to start a career in the airlines about 2 years ago. Then this happened. Im still employed and still happy about the career change decision. Airline flying has truly been the best job I have ever had/will have. My point is life throws obstacles no matter what. Just keep pushing forward and don't stop trying to better yourself for when the timing comes back around. It could be a year or it could be ten. No one knows the future so keep at it.
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Old 04-13-2020, 02:29 PM
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Don't listen to all that doom and gloom. It's not going to take you 20 years to majors which WILL exist in one way or another. Here's a quote from Ibell from the other thread, appears to be a person who has experienced the cyclical nature of this business.

Originally Posted by lbell View Post
Having gone thru the late 90's downturn, 9-11, 2008 Economy Dump, Colgan Air Crash (implementation of 1500 hr rule), Merger-Mainia, SARS, and now COVID-19...I have learned the aviation industry ups & downs are like a pendulum on a Grandfather Clock that repeats itself every 10 years.

With that being said, the Majors missed out on the busy Summer 2020 flying. SEPT/OCT are normally slow months (great for non-rev). Travelers will begin to start flying during Nov/Dec holidays, but at a snails pace due to fear & cheap gas prices.

The Public Traveler has to get back to work, and become financially secure, before they book vacation & travel plans again. Businesses will reevaluate their travel budget, since they will have already worked thru the kinks of using Zoom for tele-conferencing

Jan/Feb 2021 will be slow, as it always is. (Again good time to non-rev).

Late March 2021 will start to pick up with Spring Break travelers. April will have increased bookings as the public is "tired of staying in" & "want to get away". This uptick in traffic will cause the Majors to increase flights for Summer 2021. The public will return and take their postponed 2020 vacations.

Now the Majors will have to hire for these increase flights, and start hiring in March/April 2021.

By the time this trickles down to the Regionals needing pilots would equate to around Sept/Oct 2021. There are enough furloughed pilots from TSA & Compass to supply the Majors (and Regionals) with a steady quality applicant pool.

Sept/Oct 2021 your Regionals will go into a hiring frenzy, to get staffed for the upcoming 2021 Holiday Travel Season. The pipeline will "dry up quickly" as Flight Schools will see a significant decrease in students between now and the next hiring boom of Sept/Oct 2021. This will cause the Regionals to increase pay & Sign On Bonuses to attract applicants to their company.

Then the pilot shortage will really hit with the 2022 retirements, increased flights, and near zero students that continued their flight training to meet ATP Minimums. If you are a new student, you should be able to get your 1500 hours by Sept/Oct 2021 (as long as you can get hired as a CFI, which may be difficult with the reduction of students actively seeking flight training) and be in the perfect spot to get hired.

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Old 04-13-2020, 04:03 PM
  #9  
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You can do this career but make damn certain you have something else on the back burner or marry rich. Personally I’d bail if I were in your shoes knowing what I know now. It’s nice to dream that things will stabilize but then when you actually get that regional job you’ll realize the majors will sidestep a well qualified captain for several years for someone right out of college with just a couple thousand hours but at least they volunteered or did something else that met HR’s criteria.
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Old 04-15-2020, 02:14 PM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by Bushmaster78FSA View Post
Don't listen to all that doom and gloom. It's not going to take you 20 years to majors which WILL exist in one way or another. Here's a quote from Ibell from the other thread, appears to be a person who has experienced the cyclical nature of this business.




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I read that, it sounds like he is on his stuff! I appreciate that!
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