LaGuardia

Hey guys

So i’m 28 and I’m originally from Europe.
I came live in the US this year in the weastcoast with my girlfriend and I was planning to start my training in three years.

With this Covid situation I start to really think about the project, I will surely start to have a family soon so I really start to think If I need to cancel this project because the jobs options will be hard for next years.

For the pilots who survived this kind of situation with a lot of furlough ect. What do you think?

Dixie320

If you wait three years to start training, you’ll probably miss the next hiring wave.

LaGuardia

I know.. But as a new immigrant I have so much to do before flight school..

QRH Bingo

New to the forum and to the industry but so much this right here ^^^. Now is the time to get training and be ready for when hiring picks up again. I understand you have a lot on your plate but get that all sorted out quickly and move on.

Also, you make mention about having a family. The longer you wait, the longer it will be until you have some sort of normalcy for raising a kid... if ever.

It’s been said before, you gotta WANT this career because the lifestyle can really suck at times. Especially in the beginning.

LaGuardia

It's clear, it's a passion above all.
But I wonder especially if the recruitments will continue, at the age when I have to make a real decision in the career i'm afraid of finishing my training and be here at the bad moment.

PotatoChip

It's all impossible to say. No one has a crystal ball, and no one can give you the answer you want. You just have to decide if you want to live your life wondering if you should have done it or not. If you do it, buckle up, it can be a long, challenging road.
I'm 40, have worked at six airlines, been through two furloughs (anticipating a third), one downgrade, one bankruptcy, and one company that doesn't exist anymore. Still nothing else I'd really rather do though.

TOGALOCK

Not to sound cold, but welcome to life. Life, and this career especially, is a giant gamble. As others have already eluded to, getting into this career is a willing acceptance of risk and the fact that your career might fail or, at best, not go as you expected.

That said, you asked for the advice of those who have been there, so here it is... seniority is EVERYTHING. Don’t delay starting training longer than you have to. The time to start flight training is during the slow times, not once hiring has already gone gangbusters. You will have given up years and years of seniority by then which will greatly impact your career in a negative way, and possibly put you in a bad spot during the next downturn.

I do understand that you have a lot on your plate right now, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t start flight training at your own pace. Do NOT get sold into the belief that you have to attend a full time “flight academy”. It’s a marketing scheme used by those schools to sell you their product. The partnerships that regional airlines have with these schools is a recruiting tool to staff their airline; not because they are recruiting the best and the brightest. During the last hiring boom, regional airlines couldn’t find people fast enough and turned to flight school partnerships to help the problem. Your best bet right now is to go search for smaller flight schools at your local airports, find a flight instructor who is a career flight instructor (not a young buck looking to build time) or a current (or retired) airline/corporate/charter pilot instructing part time. Take a lesson or two a week and at least knock out your private pilot certificate. Then assess and move forward from there.

Believe me, if you truly love this career it’s the greatest job in the word. It’s your love and passion for it that will help carry you through the bad times. So, go get your private certificate, decide if this is TRULY a passion, or if you just think it is. The one thing I can promise you is that this career will not go as you plan and many curveballs will come your way. The only defense against it is responsible finances, seniority (there’s that word again) within your company and a love for what you do. Me personally? I grew up in a time where my timing entering the industry was going to be stellar. Much, in part, due to projected retirements. This was something that could be seen decades in advance. I remember old gray haired airline captains telling starry eyed little me how perfect my timing was going to be and what an amazing career I would have one day. I started flight training the moment I turned 16. From that point I got to experience 9/11, the housing bubble burst, the Great Recession, the mandatory retirement age increase from 60 to 65, and now the covid pandemic. I was able hit the timing well enough that I was able to be sitting in class at my first airline about a month after graduating from college with around 2000 hours in the logbook, but it still took me nearly 20 years to go from my first flight lesson to the right seat of an Airbus. Being a pilot is all I ever wanted though and I lived and breathed airplanes for as far back as I can remember. Heck, I still do... It has made it easier.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

rickair7777

I think it will pick up OK but obvioulsy the whole covid thing will offset some of retirement-driven opportunities we expected to see this decade. Assuming you already have a college degree which would be accredited in the US as a four-year equivalent.

Are you familiar with US aviation employment sectors? Majors/Legacies, ACMI/Cargo, regionals, fractionals, corporate/private?

All are different, and while the legacies and 2nd-tier majors were the brass rings which everyone was reaching for, during and after covid there's growth in cargo and fractionals.

You need to understand all those sectors and decide which one(s) you'd be interested in long-term before you can really make an assessment of pilot career opportunity right now.

If you just want to make a reasonable white-collar wage (after a few years of dues paying), fly a jet, and avoid a 9-5/M-F work schedule then you should be able to find something, probably sooner than you think.

If you want to be a widebody CA for a top-tier airline and make north of $500K/year that's going to be another discussion.

As TOGALOCK said, it's a calculated gamble, especially trying to get to the pinnacle of the profession... that's real money so the competition gets pretty stiff. Even shooting for the lower end of professional aviation carries some risk early on, but frankly most people should know by the time they get an instrument rating (or struggle to get one) how much aptitude they have for the career. If you're a normal kid, comfortable with technology, motivated, and feel pretty good after your instrument training you should be able to succeed in turbine aviation. Worst case, if the instrument training doesn't go so good, well you've a got a PPL and some valuable instrument training to help you do recreational flying safely.

TransWorld

You need to be ready, with hours, training, etc. when the hiring starts again.

If you wait until hiring starts again, and it takes several years to get ready, you will have missed seniority opportunities that will cost you money. Be ready when the opportunity is there.

velosnow

Spot on here, though my road hasn't been as bumpy (hope you don't get furloughed PC) the ups and down will come no matter what you do. It's an unforgiving career at times, but has rewarded me with more than I could have expected, especially from the other career paths I might have realistically gone down.

I think part of your answer lies within if you are ok with an alternative work lifestyle? Weekdays off, missing holidays, being away from home, body clock always off, etc. Sure, there are some flying gigs that are almost 9-5'ish and you can attain that with more seniority down the road but you've got to embrace the lifestyle so as not to be miserable. I've flown with guys/gals who would constantly complain about these things and I'll ask, "you know you're an airline pilot right?" With COVID, some of these things could be amplified for a few years and the recovery choppy.

Though I do believe the industry will bounce back and in earnest so as long as you are ready for the challenges it brings and embrace all of it (the good and bad) I'd start training ASAP to be ready for the next wave.