SkyHigh

Last summer at the beach my wife struck up a conversation with the family on the blanket next to us. It turns out that they also were an airline family that was originally from the area. Years prior the husband had been laid off from a legacy airline so they decided to take a temporary post with another airline in a foreign country. The idea was to enjoy an adventure abroad for a year before being called back to the stateside legacy airline. It had been nearly 9 long years and so far no recall was in sight. The once short term adventure had turned into a career. The new airline however did not pay very well. They could only afford to come back home to visit their friends and family once a year during the summer. That day was their last before heading back overseas. In addition they had decided that from that point on, they could only afford to return every other year. They missed their life with their friends and family and did not want to go back but had no other options. Their mood was understandably subdued.

It is a common story. We were in a similar situation when my airline shut down after the attacks on September 11, 2001. I was flying a Boeing 757 at the time and found myself on the street a year later without hope of being recalled. My options to stay in aviation were to take my family to a foreign country or take two steps back and work for a regional again for 18K per year. Neither of them were happy prospects however few other airlines were hiring. Up to that time my career had a slow but steady progression. I had started out as a flight instructor then moved into Alaskan bush flying, Forest Service contract work, jet charter, the regionals and then on to a low cost carrier. At 36 years of age my career momentum took a sudden turn. I had a wife two kids with one on the way, and no discernible means to support them as a pilot anymore.

The profession has changed. When I started out there were always hurdles to mount however once you made it to a big jet you usually were on your way. Today pilots need to cultivate a secondary career alongside flying if they are going to minimize their hardships. It is difficult to feel secure anywhere and aviation is not kind to those who have bad luck along the way. After my career hit the wall we packed up the house and put it on the market. We moved back home into a two bedroom apartment on $1300 a month of unemployment insurance and started over completely. It has been 8 years now and it is still a struggle but I am glad that we made that hard choice long ago. After surviving two decades of dangerous low wage flying jobs, college and flight training my aviation career wanted another pound of flesh that as a husband and father I could not afford to give. I still think about flying everyday but at this point there is little I can do about it. Hope for the best but plan for the worst and maybe luck will shine upon you.


Skyhigh

Airhoss

SH,

Your story is all to common with the disastrous decade we've just experienced. I am glad that you were able to pick your self up dust off and continue on.

Plain and simple...What you experienced and what many others are experiencing is a toxic combination of world turmoil and financial ruination due to many factors beyond our control.

I just spoke to a pilot who's wife is a PHD in international relations. She applied at over 40 universities for a teaching position she was finally hired in Maine and that position had 150 qualified applicants all vying for the same job. It's not just aviation.

What didn't happen to you was the litany of common excuses and fantasy stories that are all so common and that you rationalize about in your posts. 9-11 and a world wide financial collapse killed your aviation career it had nothing to do with some UAL captain "royalty" you met in AK, or that your dad has to be a chief pilot for you to get hired or any other of the highly dramatized little digs that we are so often treated to in your posts.

USMCFLYR

I know a 10+ year experienced lawyer who has spent time as a Maryland States Attorney, a Special Assistant (Contract Attorney) to the MD State Attorney General, has a year's employment with a DC law firm, and just got off active duty as a Navy JAG with time spent as a Defense Attorney and the legal advisor for the NCIS Pacific Region.

She is TRYING to get a job with a local DA district in OK and has basically been put at the END OF THE LINE behind a group of INTERNS who haven't even taken and/or passed the bar exam yet. IF this person happens to land this job it will be for a starting salary of $37,500.

I often hear advice on this forum to go to law school; because just like every pilot makes $150,000/year - we all know of course that every lawyer makes in the high 6 figures $$$ too - right?

USMCFLYR

de727ups

(In response to Skyhigh)

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

UASIT

IT baby. Plenty of jobs and lots of money
Especially if you have a clearance w/ poly.

Enjoy your Sunday. Back to my beer in Sunny Tampa!

skidoomike

It seems that people in aviation are not the only ones being used and abused today. My employer treats everyone at my company like *******. The entitlement mentality has now moved to employers too. You owe us the world and should put up with all kinds of abuse and mistreatment because we provide a job for you, if you don't like it leave. We run around like idiots all day to make a very humble living. I talk to people all over the country and it is a similar story there too. When things get better a lot of these employers will be SOL because everyone has seen what they are really like and will promptly leave without any regrets. What goes around comes around. My friend worked for a sadistic restaurant owner in California, worked him halfway into the ground before he was able to leave. After many years of telling his employees "It's all about me here" he went bankrupt.

ClutchCargo

You had no turbine PIC time and were therefore of no interest to the majors.

SkyHigh

I have a few hundred hours of turbine PIC. It is true that a few thousand would have helped more however it is mostly a function of fate and luck then effort I can assure you. I gladly would have stepped into a turbine my first day out of college. Space shuttle time would have been even better however I had to take the jobs that were offered and to live with the upgrade times as they came along.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

I agree that employee abuse everywhere is beginning to catch up with aviation.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

Are you referring to your persistent replies to my posts?

Skyhigh