kspilot

I haven't flown for the airlines but many of my immediate family and close friends do or have. They are gone from home several days a week. As a long haul truck driver you earn one day home for every 7 days out. I was usually gone from home for 2 months at a time and then home for a week. It was after several years of driving over the road that I finally broke 50,000 a year and saw the house a few days a week and after another year we decided we wanted to be home more. At the local job I took, I worked for three and a half months with one day off. I started at 530 every morning and got home around 9 spending all day climbing ladders and dragging around hoses, traveling down several miles of muddy or snowy dirt roads. I finally got p*ssed and quit and then went to flight school. Please don't try and tell me that you ever worked that schedule for years as a pilot. It sucks that your flying career didn't work out, but to question my experience because I won't agree that aviation is a dead end job is rude. Anything that a person receives compensation for is not going to be completely accommodating to their family life, otherwise it would be a hobby. A friend once told me a story about visiting the set of an adult film and meeting Ron Jeremy, He said the guy was a jerk and complained the whole time. Another friend tonight told me that as he sat in Denny's he listened to two homeless men enjoy a plate of cheese fries and discussed at length whether they would enjoy whiskey or vodka for the evening, he said their attitude was as if nothing could go wrong in the world that evening. Being pessimistic any job can drive you insane, as well as your co-worker. Judging by your comments I would prefer not to sit next to you in a cockpit, perhaps that is the reason you never found an enjoyable job and I doubt you have much satisfaction with your career now as you have over 4000 posts on a blog for an industry you are no longer a part of.

DYNASTY HVY

Ouch ! That smart's

SkyHigh

All I am saying is that most flying jobs have a lot in common with long haul trucking. You are gone a lot and are abused by your employer. However the pilot is out a small fortune in training, time and education expense to make less money.

When you compare both jobs being a trucker offers better wages much sooner and for much less than being a pilot. As a med evac pilot I was stuck at the airport for 10 hours a day to be followed buy being on a 30 minute leash the rest of the time and I did not make all that much money. All that after blowing 4 years of my life in college and a ton of flight school.

Neither job is all that great, But at least the trucker can afford to live a middle class life.

I am here at APC because I enjoy writing and aviation is still a passionate topic for me.

Skyhigh

RMWRIGHT

saw on climbto350 today a job post looking for metroliner sa-227 captains
in ohio. pay 40k a year. imagine spending at least 80k in flight training years of flight training and instructing etc to build time for a slight chance of making 40k a year ! =i am studying now for cdl class a and hazmat written=

LeoSV

I am an operation manager for a trucking company, my trucking company. Drivers and companies are throat cutting on rates to keep their business right now, customers are paying less, and have less work, which means drivers are earning less and working less. 2500 trucking companies went out of business in the past 12 months. I have laid off over 50% of my drivers.
Now lets talk about when it's good. You either have to buy a new truck with a warranty for $70k or get a used one, usually with close to 1 million miles on it. tires cost $400 each, and roadside repairs wreak havoc on your bottom line. There is little job security and since you are technically self employed as an owner-operator, you usually supply your own benefits. I feel for the pilot who spends tens of thousands of dollars to get a commercial flying gig only to be disillusioned into "making good money" by becoming a long haul driver. The day you hook up your CB and talk to your "peers", you will cry a river that you left the cockpit.
Yes, you CAN make great money in trucking, but it's the same likelyhood as making great money in flying. You must pay your dues for years upon years. Layoffs, time away from home, being taken advantage of by your dispatchers, sleepless days and nights, and getting fat and unhealthy. But to you that are going to do it, I say the same thing that all of you tell aspiring pilots that post on here for the first time.. Good luck and keep us updated.

Cubdriver

...what Leo said. It's a tough business. I did it from 1996 to 2005, and LeoSV has the correct story to tell. My best year I made around $38k net as an owner-operator using my own tractor-trailer... this was in 1997. I made around the same working fulltime for J.B. Hunt, Inc. a few years later as an employee using that company's equipment. Trucking does not produce great money even during good times, except for the lucky few who are high in high seniority seats at "Less Than A Truckload" (LTL) Carriers like DHL and a few others. One might do pretty well working for such a company but we are still talking about $60-$70k in 2009 dollars so it is not all that great even then. Everyone else has to work hard for a living. It's hard, relentless work driving trucks. As a professional engineer I make around $60k a year right now for an easy 9-5 work schedule. It's not fair... but it's how the world works. A lot of engineers at my company make much more than I do, so compensation is not always related to quality of life.

SkyHigh

I don't think that anyone is really saying that the job of truck driver is any better. Neither job is all that great. However as a trucker you don't have to blow a fortune just for the opportunity to be disappointed. A guy can get a CDL try it for a few years and not have to pay off the 80 to 150K it took to get trained and educated.

Even in this economy there are four ad's for truck drivers in my small town local newspaper. Just for fun I called each one. I told them that I did not have a CDL but that I could pass a drug test and was a responsible adult. Each one offered a living wage and told me that I would have a job if I got a CDL. They claimed that they could even get the state to pay for my training. Not bad for a six week investment.

A person could afford to buy a brand new custom Kenworth and get a CDL for far less than the cost of a four year degree plus flight training.

The best plan however is to get a real job like Cubdriver suggested.

Skyhigh

cargo hopeful

People on here are actually comparing truck driving to being a pilot…

Now I’ve heard it all…Good grief.

Rnav

hahaha, actually being a pilot should be compared to driving a bus. Both operate long aluminum machines that carry people. But, then again city bus drivers make a lot more than alot of professional pilots and still have pensions.

LeoSV

Sky, those companies say that because they can't keep drivers due to work conditions and pay. There are a very high number of scumbag companies that will hire you and then charge you for everything except the air you breath. They do that by deducting from your check. Additionally, they more than likely send you to pick up a load and you layover for a couple days with no pay in some podunk town, sleeping and living in a 8x8 foot truck cabin. If you really want a realistic idea, try to find a driver from one of the said companies and ask them.
And yes, City bus drivers make usually between $24k and $52k with pensions, but this brings back the age old question, did you become a pilot because you wanted to make lots money, or because you wanted to fly for a living? I would personally hate being an inner-city bus driver.