Re-Post: Stages of Pilot Career
#121
Thanks Man !
I love that people post their opinions on the industry. This forum is where I got all my "non flight school biased " views on the industry. I think if people would read through this before they decided to go into aviation, they will be more informed on what it is like beforehand. I commend people like you sky... you tell it like it is, no glitter, no bs. I don't think your goal is to discourage people from going into aviation, just to inform them.
Skyhigh
#122
Dinner parties
A fun thing I use to do at dinner parties when everyone else was complaining about their careers would be to tell them how much I made as a pilot. Try it and you will see a bunch of pale quiet faces looking back too aghast to comment.
In my attic someplace is a box of my old pilot pay stubs. I always dreamed of framing some of them for posterity and horror. It is true that everyone complains about their career but being a pilot usually wins in a "my job is worse than yours" contest.
Skyhigh
In my attic someplace is a box of my old pilot pay stubs. I always dreamed of framing some of them for posterity and horror. It is true that everyone complains about their career but being a pilot usually wins in a "my job is worse than yours" contest.
Skyhigh
#123
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,919
A fun thing I use to do at dinner parties when everyone else was complaining about their careers would be to tell them how much I made as a pilot. Try it and you will see a bunch of pale quiet faces looking back too aghast to comment.
In my attic someplace is a box of my old pilot pay stubs. I always dreamed of framing some of them for posterity and horror. It is true that everyone complains about their career but being a pilot usually wins in a "my job is worse than yours" contest.
Skyhigh
In my attic someplace is a box of my old pilot pay stubs. I always dreamed of framing some of them for posterity and horror. It is true that everyone complains about their career but being a pilot usually wins in a "my job is worse than yours" contest.
Skyhigh
#124
Career Path
Everyone has a set of skills, opportunities and interests that are unique to them. My advise is to take inventory of everything you have available to you and pick what makes the most sense.
If your parents own a furniture store then be a salesmen. It is a fallacy to think that you can have it all. Some careers are not all that much fun but they also are usually the ones that pay the best.
Specialty skills are usually a good bet. My brother has a friend who has specialized in agricultural irrigation systems and has made a good living. Working for the government also is usually a good deal.
Anything that has true restrictions to entry is also a good idea. I have a few friends who work for the Bonneville Power Administration. Their union entry program lasts for years.
One thing that is for sure aviation is not a good deal anymore. The training is too easy to get. Experience is not really all that important anymore. There are few limitations to prevent pilots from being abused by the market place. It takes longer to become licensed to cut hair than it takes to become an airline pilot.
Skyhigh
If your parents own a furniture store then be a salesmen. It is a fallacy to think that you can have it all. Some careers are not all that much fun but they also are usually the ones that pay the best.
Specialty skills are usually a good bet. My brother has a friend who has specialized in agricultural irrigation systems and has made a good living. Working for the government also is usually a good deal.
Anything that has true restrictions to entry is also a good idea. I have a few friends who work for the Bonneville Power Administration. Their union entry program lasts for years.
One thing that is for sure aviation is not a good deal anymore. The training is too easy to get. Experience is not really all that important anymore. There are few limitations to prevent pilots from being abused by the market place. It takes longer to become licensed to cut hair than it takes to become an airline pilot.
Skyhigh
Last edited by SkyHigh; 11-19-2011 at 04:05 PM.
#125
One thing that is for sure aviation is not a good deal anymore. The training is too easy to get. Experience is not really all that important anymore. There are few limitations to prevent pilots from being abused by the market place. It takes longer to become licensed to cut hair than it takes to become an airline pilot.
Skyhigh
Skyhigh
#126
Cosmetology Requirements
Washington State Board of Cosmetology Requirements
COSMETOLOGY: 1600 hours
BARBERING: 1000 hours
ESTHETICS: 600 hours
NAIL TECHNOLOGY: 600 hours
Almost two years of daily training.
Zero to hero in the airlines:
200 hours minimum flight training and a King DVD education to qualify for the first day of ground school at a regional. Some programs can complete that in 3 to six months.
Skyhigh
COSMETOLOGY: 1600 hours
BARBERING: 1000 hours
ESTHETICS: 600 hours
NAIL TECHNOLOGY: 600 hours
Almost two years of daily training.
Zero to hero in the airlines:
200 hours minimum flight training and a King DVD education to qualify for the first day of ground school at a regional. Some programs can complete that in 3 to six months.
Skyhigh
#127
A fun thing I use to do at dinner parties when everyone else was complaining about their careers would be to tell them how much I made as a pilot. Try it and you will see a bunch of pale quiet faces looking back too aghast to comment.
It is true that everyone complains about their career but being a pilot usually wins in a "my job is worse than yours" contest.
Skyhigh
It is true that everyone complains about their career but being a pilot usually wins in a "my job is worse than yours" contest.
Skyhigh
#128
USMCFLYR
#129
I don't think the cosmetology comparison sticks Sky, because they do not distinguish between left seat and right seat in that business. Nobody gets to left seat of a 121 airline without a bare minimum of 1,500 flight time for an ATP, which equates probably to something like twice that in total time on the job. So, realistically about 3,000 hours to meets mins for left seat, and actual movement is highly dependent on other conditions which tend to slow it down most of the time. I don't have the data handy, but my guess is the actual hours from day one student pilot to left seat captain of an airliner in the US, is probably in the neighborhood of 5 years minimum. 200 hours to be an FO seat is just a bare minimum, real times to right seat are often well over a thousand hours which again, translates to quite a bit more time on the job. Everyone knows you get all the ratings then teach for a couple of years. If a work year is 2,000 work hours, it's more like 6,000 hours.
I used to work at a company that attempted at one point to use commercial pilots with 500 hours of flight time, to fly Cessna 206 Stationairs in predominantly VFR weather. After three or four of them washed out of the training module, they raised hiring mins to CFI, CFII, and 850 flight hours. This, just to fly an overweight Skyhawk. Real minimums were far higher than legal minimums.
I used to work at a company that attempted at one point to use commercial pilots with 500 hours of flight time, to fly Cessna 206 Stationairs in predominantly VFR weather. After three or four of them washed out of the training module, they raised hiring mins to CFI, CFII, and 850 flight hours. This, just to fly an overweight Skyhawk. Real minimums were far higher than legal minimums.
#130
Good comparison
I don't think the cosmetology comparison sticks Sky, because they do not distinguish between left seat and right seat in that business. Nobody gets to left seat of a 121 airline without a bare minimum of 1,500 flight time for an ATP, which equates probably to something like twice that in total time on the job. So, realistically about 3,000 hours to meets mins for left seat, and actual movement is highly dependent on other conditions which tend to slow it down most of the time. I don't have the data handy, but my guess is the actual hours from day one student pilot to left seat captain of an airliner in the US, is probably in the neighborhood of 5 years minimum. 200 hours to be an FO seat is just a bare minimum, real times to right seat are often well over a thousand hours which again, translates to quite a bit more time on the job. Everyone knows you get all the ratings then teach for a couple of years. If a work year is 2,000 work hours, it's more like 6,000 hours.
I used to work at a company that attempted at one point to use commercial pilots with 500 hours of flight time, to fly Cessna 206 Stationairs in predominantly VFR weather. After three or four of them washed out of the training module, they raised hiring mins to CFI, CFII, and 850 flight hours. This, just to fly an overweight Skyhawk. Real minimums were far higher than legal minimums.
I used to work at a company that attempted at one point to use commercial pilots with 500 hours of flight time, to fly Cessna 206 Stationairs in predominantly VFR weather. After three or four of them washed out of the training module, they raised hiring mins to CFI, CFII, and 850 flight hours. This, just to fly an overweight Skyhawk. Real minimums were far higher than legal minimums.
It takes 600 hours to become a nail tech but only 190 to start your first day as a wage earning first officer.
Skyhigh
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