dremaldent

I disagree, at least to the point where our jobs would be in jeopardy in the long term, but with the way things are if you're seriously thinking about bailing, I'd use this time in the economic downturn to possibly learn another skill. No time like the present and all.

As for OP, this is gonna happen to you a few more times, you might be in a better position later, you might not. Always have a backup plan, even if it's just enough to limp you through a few months. Contrary to what you might be hearing, the industry will still exist after all of this is over, and there will be jobs, the question right now is when those jobs will open up again.

dremaldent

Retirements nearly make this impossible. 15 years is a really, really long time, and there are a lot of retirements just in the next 5 years, and that's not counting people who decide they're done with all this.

135tankerdriver

As you probably are realizing the aviation industry is a lot about luck and timing. Like the saying goes you don’t ask a pilot if they’ve ever been furloughed you ask them how many times.

Have you considered flying for the guard/reserve? It’s a way to diversify your income and provides connections for future employment. And there’s always active duty. I went active duty after 9/11 happened my junior year of college and I’ve avoided the ups and downs.

hydrostream

It's normal to be discouraged and seek other options. But if this is what you really want, stay the course.

We are not alone in this pain right now. In my family my wife is currently the unemployed one. That's something we never expected, but it happened.

It will bounce back, and you'll be in a good position to take advantage of that. If you have a family depending on you, of course do what you have to do. I wouldn't even hesitate to leave if I needed to. I'll find my way back.

Good luck!

firefighterplt

Same boat, brother.

It’s too early to know exactly what effect this will have on the industry. If they furlough pilots, those guys will have to come back before the rest of us even have the opportunity to get hired (as it should be). Lots of variables.

If I were in my 20s, no debts, living with mom and dad or in a cheap apartment...I’d be more apt to take a bs job and hang around, fly when I can, waiting for things to bounce back. I’m in my mid-30s, mortgage, all that fun stuff. I’ve made the decision to fly GA when I can, stay current, yet pursue another career path. If the airlines come around soon, I’ll jump back to it. If not, I’ll keep moving forward on my alternate path.

Options are good. Keep them open.

05Duramax

I posted this as a reply to a post in the Republic forum but it applies to this and being that I have lived through it I can offer my experience.

I quit flying during the lost decade and came back a couple of years ago because I realized I would forever regret not following through on becoming an airline pilot. I also realized it is a really good job, a lot better than the vast majority of jobs. It is soul crushing to have a good paying job in an industry you don’t care about/doesn’t interest you, believe me.

You’ll have to do some soul searching to answer your question but I will tell you for me a day doesn’t go by that I don’t regret quitting on flying. My buddies that saw it through the hard times are making 150k to 250k a year gaining seniority at majors while I make 50k a year as an FO at Republic.

minimwage4

Its a rough business although it was getting unbelievably good lately and even dare I say stable. But again, supporting the theory that it’s a rough business all it took was a random virus to bring it all down in a matter of days. It’s an incredibly frustrating game.

I guarantee even your buddies that are making 200k right now had to go through a lot of misery for years during the hard times working min credit 2 days off on reserve, basically no life. And now those guys will probably downgrade or even get furloughed depending on how this goes. It’s a definitely an unstable business. I believe the last downturn lasted 3 years.

ImmaAHole

Are you professionally qualified to do something else? If not, keep flying.

Bahamasflyer

Just to be clear.....aviation is FAR from the only industry that is being severely affected by this 100 year crisis. The whole US and world economies are in a free fall. There are PLENTY of my friends who are outside of aviation that are staring down the same barrel as we are, so to imply that this is just an aviation thing is far from true.

Even within this industry though, cargo not only seems stable, but humming right along. Anyone trying to enter the industry now, or is a newbie who is looking at a furlough, and has the fortitude to stick with, should consider putting most of their eggs in the cargo basket.

Heck.....in 5 years if I have an offer from DAL and another from FDX with the same class date, I'm absolutely going with Fedex, even if I live in ATL. Heck, in that scenario, I'd even leave DAL with 5 yrs seniority to go to Fedex. Its just that much more stable than pax flying.

Think about it.......how many pilots since 9/11 and 2008 have the cargo carriers furloughed, vs how many have the pax carriers put on the street? At least an order of magnitude more.

Oh......and lastly........nothing is more MISERABLE than being in an office, doing something you hate, no matter how much more you make than flying, and no matter how stable the work is. Life is way too short to be unhappy doing something you loathe.

zyzz

Cargo may not always be the same either. I saw an article the other day that loads are dropping just as fast as they rose. After all this there will likely be a push to shorten the supply chain and move factories home. Hopefully we won’t be as reliant on China as we are today.