Re-Post: Stages of Pilot Career
 

Canam posted this a few years ago. I thought it was time to do it again.

Skyhigh


Stage one- Dreamer
During this stage, the future pilot yearns to get out of the office and into the sky. On airline flights, he admires the uniformed pilots marching confidently to their sleek, shiny jets about to zip off to who knows where on who knows what adventure. During stage one, our pilot-in-embryo may frequently refer to himself as 'Goose,' or 'Iceman.' He looks up every time an airplane flies overhead and says "I wish I were him!" He subscribes to AOPA, maybe gets the Sportys and King Schools catalogs. At some point, he'll buy the study at home DVD courses to learn the ground knowledge needed for his pilot certificate. The more he learns about aviation, the more his excitement builds, and he begins to search for flight schools.

Stage two- Student Pilot
Our future pilot finds a flight school, makes a plan, takes out a loan, and gets started with an instructor. He absolutely loves his first flight. He feels the aviation drug kick in and he's absolutely hooked. He accomplishes all of his homework assignments and eagerly awaits the next flight lesson. He makes some friends down at the local FBO and quickly becomes an airport junkie. He tells all his friends about how he soloed an airplane on his own. The student pilot stage continues well after he earns his private pilot certificate, which fuels his passion for aviation, and through his instrument rating.

Stage three-Commercial Naivete
This is about the time when the pilot begins to search the internet for pilot job listings. He looks at the corporate jobs, unfortunately they all require thousands of hours of multi-engine turbine time as pilot-in-command before they'll even look at his resume. The regional airlines, however, require a modest 1,000 total hours with about 100 multi-engine hours. No problem! He thinks, I'll get those hours by getting my commercial single and multi engine certificates, and all my CFI certificates. Then I'll hour build until I can send in my resume. He also begins to read forum threads from disgruntled airline pilots complaining of such things that he has never heard of before during his pilot training like furlough, scab, union dues, and upgrade time. The blinders slowly begin to come off his eyes and for the first time he gets exposed to some of the real-life hardships that airline pilots face on a daily basis. 'Gosh', he thinks, 'airline pilots are all so negative! Nothing could ever get me to not want to fly. These guys are all just a bunch of whiners, I'll never be like them.'

Stage four- Indentured ServitudeThe pilot is now a fully rated CFI working on that thousand-hour mark. He's filled up his first logbook and purchased a thick professional pilot logbook with his name in gold letters on the cover. He's over fifty thousand dollars in debt to some woman he's never met named Sallie Mae, and after burning through all that cash, he's landed himself a not so lucrative job at the FBO earning $15 an hour. His wife works part time to make ends meet and now she's beginning to wonder why she agreed to support his plans to get into this business in the first place. The "get hired" date that they set as a goal has come and gone, and he's still working at the local airport. At this point, he's spent so much time and money getting his ratings, that there is no honorable way out but forward. In a sense, he's reached the point of no return. How could he justify quitting and going back to school for a different field when so much has been invested into what was once his dream? At this point in their careers, some pilots throw in the towel while others press on into the muck and hope for their lucky break.

Stage five- Hired
He sweated through the interviews, the sim rides, the written exams, and he's finally made it- he's a first officer. His paychecks are about the same or less than they were as a CFI back at the FBO, but hes so dazzled by the glint of the sunlight streaking off his jet that he doesn't care. Back home, his wife who celebrated his graduation to the big boys with him only months before, now realizes that not only are they making less, but they see eachother less as well.

Stage six- Furloughed
Things didn't go too well for the economy and management had to make some cuts. He's back on the street looking for another CFI gig to keep the bread coming while he waits for an undetermined period of time, akin to limbo, to go back to work at his airline.

Stage seven- Upgrade
He's flying left seat now and enjoying the pay raise that only seniority can offer. At this point, he's just happy to bring in a paycheck- the majesty of the clouds racing by the cockpit doesn't capture his awe like it used to. It's just a job now, nothing more. His thoughts turn mostly to the poor decisions of the MBA's at corporate that will most likely cost him his job again if they can't get things together soon. It seems to him that the executives feel around in the dark. If only they saw things with the same clarity as the rank and file line holders below them. He chuckles to himself- they must have encountered some IMC on top.

Stage eight- The Majors
Commanding tens of thousands of hours worth of experience, the lives of about a thousand passengers per day, and a highly experienced crew, our captain has finally earned some respect for himself in the aviation industry. He leads his airline's chapter of ALPA and fights to preserve his pay and benefits. Forty five years old, he finally gets to spend the holidays at home, but his kids are all grown up and gone. He wonders why he spent all those hours as a young man practicing chandelles, s-turns, and lazy-eights when he doesn't touch the controls but to taxi, and take off.

Stage nine- Retirement
Tough times again. To avoid destruction, his company reduced pay, benefits, and cancelled retirement pensions across the board. If he is prudent, our pilot started a separate IRA with a reputable bank back when he was a freshly minted CFI and has been making regular contributions. If not, he's living on social security and whatever money he had in the bank when he turned 65.

Stage ten- Retrospection
Hind sight is 20/20. If he could do it all over again, he would have gone into a field where the pay was better, the job hours more regular, and the family life less non-existent. He would have insisted on a career that allowed him to see all those little league sporting events, piano recitals, and school functions. He would have avoided the disease altogether.

Sounds like the guy at least had a job...something to be thankful for.

Amen Brother
 

Amen. ;) Keep holding onto the dream brother. Of course you could also find a career that offers a better return.

Skyhigh

What would fix everything? Loaded question, I know.

I'm somewhere between Stages 6 and 7. On the cusp of returning to Stage 6 but maybe someday I'll reach Stage 7. Now, if I could just get to Stage 8 plus five years, I'd be able to relax a little, breathe maybe.

Shouldn't there be another furlough between 7 & 8?

Stage six
 

I am stuck at stage six. :) However in my case I was laid off without a chance to be recalled.

Skyhigh

How to Fix it?
 

In reply to your question: A time machine. If you had a time machine you could go back in time to the 1960's When airline pilots were well paid, highly respected professionals who were also in great demand.

Oh and can I borrow it when you are done? Maybe we could commute back in time to our jobs in the 1960's and invest our paychecks in stocks that we could sell at great profit on our days off in the future?

Skyhigh

Give it a rest already......

The woods.
 

"I went to the woods (aviation) because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

Henry David Thoreau

Died alone in his sisters attic broke and convinced he was a failure. Still great writing and concepts. My question; Is it better to live your life in misery but to be remembered later as a great person or while alive be successful and happy but be lost to time after you are gone?

Skyhigh

Rest?
 

I have been faithfully doing this for six years already. Aviation is an endless well to write about.

The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. The most passionate marriages can end in an equally impassioned divorce. I am still very passionate about this subject.

Skyhigh

Why was the first "re-post" locked? I must've missed something.

Or the "retired" could be on the third wife, flying for a non-sked out of MIA, and die of a heart attack at 3 AM from the alarm set by some FedEx pilot, happy at last.

You can be passionate about aviation without flying for corporate or airlines. You can be happy flying for either. You can realize life is a crapshoot, no matter what career you chose, thus best to find happiness where you are.

Jeez Sky. Give it a rest man. Name ONE industry right now that will offer a "good rate of return." Don't say Attorney. My wife is one and she's teaching idiots online who have no work ethic instead. Doctor? Ha Ha. Obamacare is going to put the brakes on that career. Engineer (every pilot's dream default career)? Nope. The Engineers I know want to do what i'm doing (flying airplanes). Pharmacist? I'll give you that one. That's a good one. Anymore?

Oh, and if you REALLY wanted to get back in Sky, you could. You wouldn't have to start at the "industry minimum."

Your right on Learflyer! Well said!

I think that United Airlines Captain was onto something....

Agreed Learflyer - I'm a former engineer turned pro pilot. You won't find me working in an office anytime soon!

It is better to be happy and alive as opposed to miserable in a cubicle 9-5 with 2 or 3 hours a day spent commuting. I prefer my 15-18 days off a month making a 6 figure salary.
It wasn't easy to get here, but it is well worthwhile.

Careers
 

It is true a lot of careers are in the dumps right now however few others sacrifice as much for the privilege of being unemployed.

Skyhigh

Sky, your story is not very accurate after about stage 7. There are many outcomes to the career pilot dream and end game regret is only one of them. Many if not most of the pilots who love their work are not here plugging for it in the "Leaving the Career" forum. It would be more accurate if your story dropped in some real statistics. What percentage of the professionals leave the career before age 65? What percentage gets laid off? I think you have a pretty good story up to a point, very thought provoking, but it needs some more facts. It does not ring true as it stands because each of us knows a pilot who loves his work.

Come on now
 

Hey now, this is the "Leaving the Career" section after all. Why do all you happy martyrs feel obliged to comment here? People here are supposed to be sharing ideas and concepts about getting out.

When your time comes we will be happy to welcome you too with suggestions and positive reinforcement that you are making the right choice for yourself.

Skyhigh

Plots love their work
 

It is true that there are plenty of pilots who love their work and that is great for them. There are also people who have become conditioned to prison life and are happy there too.

My aim is to connect with those who hold desires of a different life other than what flying the line can currently offer. In my case I thought that aviation would lead to a better life with more income and control over my days than what aviation currently offers for most.

I believe that pilot compensation and conditions have changed to the point of being nearly inhuman on the lower rungs. The career demands too much and offers too little in return to the average family man/woman pilot. Future trends I believe will be a continuation of decline in all that what was once good about the profession.

Some are going to press ahead anyway and that is great. Someone has to do it after all. However not everyone is good with putting their life through the meat grinder. They have families to support, hobbies and other outside interest that add to the quality of their lives. People need to know. They need the full and ugly truth put before them and if they still choose to press on then good for them.

I know plenty of pilots who are not positive about the career. Sully Sullenberger and Barry Schiff jump to mind. Sully even went before congress with his dissatisfaction regarding the career. Didn't you choose away from an airline career?

SKyhigh

For those who missed it.
 

The glory days are over
BY BARRY SCHIFF (From AOPA Pilot, June 2006.)

Barry Schiff retired from TWA in 1998 after a 34-year career with the airline.

I have been agonizing over the topic of this column for a few years, not knowing if I should publicly air my personal thoughts. Not to do so, I finally concluded, would be intellectually dishonest. So at the risk of attracting flak, here goes.

I was hired as a pilot by Trans World Airlines in 1964. This was during the glamour years that began after World War II. Airline salaries were rising, working conditions improved with every contract renewal, and airline pilots earned approval and respect from every quarter. On international flights, airline pilots were treated like royalty.

No one working for Pan American World Airways or TWA during this period could possibly have anticipated the demise of their airlines. These were cultural icons of the twentieth century. At one time, TWA's logo was the second most recognizable in the world (Coca-Cola's was the first).

The death knell for this era sounded on October 24, 1978, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act. The merits and demerits of deregulation aside, the long-term result for pilots was etched in stone. There would be an erosion of wages, working conditions, pensions, and job security.

Things got worse after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Because of the need for additional security, airline pilots are locked in their cockpits behind bulletproof doors and suffer the indignity of coordinating trips to the lavatory with flight attendants.

The glory years are gone.

I could not have been prouder when my son Brian was hired by TWA in 1989. Although conditions had declined since the airlines were deregulated, being an airline pilot was still a great job. He upgraded to captain on the Boeing 727 11 years later. Although thrilled to be in the left seat of a jetliner for a major carrier, he worked harder and earned a smaller salary than I did many years previously.

TWA was assimilated by American Airlines in 2001. During the next two years Brian went from left seat to right seat to the street. He had been furloughed and eventually found a job flying Learjets for a Part 135 operator. He now flies as captain of a Canadair Regional Jet for a commuter carrier.

Like thousands of others who have been furloughed from the majors, he has no idea when he will be recalled. Considering that American is reducing its need for pilots by contractual increases in pilot productivity and outsourcing many of its shorter, thinner routes to commuter carriers, it could be many years before Brian again sees an American Airlines' flight deck. Another of my sons, Paul, began to satisfy his desire to become an airline pilot in 2000 when he was hired by Trans States Airline, a company that operated TWExpress, US Airways Express, and AmericanConnection. Paul bounced between all three and discovered after 9/11 that he was not making headway in accruing seniority.

After four domicile changes, he opted to leave Trans States and obtain a more promising position with United Express. He worked there for three years, during which he had as many changes in domicile, and discovered that the most he had earned after six years as a commuter pilot was less than $30,000 per year. He again foresaw little potential for a career like I had and with great mental anguish opted to change professions.

Paul recently started a pet-supply company, gets to spend every night in his own bed, and has an opportunity to develop a social life. As an airline pilot gone from home 21 days a month, he had little opportunity to meet someone with whom he might like to share a future. When he did meet someone, he had neither the time nor the money for dating.

Paul says, "It is relatively easy to get a job with a commuter carrier, but not because these carriers are losing pilots to the majors; they are not. The attrition rate at the regional level is high because so many pilots reach their limits of endurance and quit. They find it too difficult to live on starvation wages [especially those with families]. There usually was nothing left in my wallet after shelling out for commuting and crash-pad expenses."

Although these are anecdotal experiences, my frank and personal discussions with numerous other airline pilots corroborate my feelings about the state of the airline industry. I can no longer encourage aspiring airline pilots without first ensuring that they understand the treacherous and daunting journeys typically required to reach for such lofty goals.

Do not misunderstand. Coping with the challenges of weather, communing with nature in a way that only pilots can appreciate, and maneuvering a sophisticated aircraft from one place on Earth to another remains a stimulating and gratifying endeavor (although I think it was more fun with less automation). It is the price one must pay to get there that is so discouraging.

I frequently am asked for advice about becoming an airline pilot. The best advice I can offer those determined to endure the rigorous hardships often required is to simultaneously develop a sideline vocation that can be used in case of emergency. A pilot should never get into a position that is totally dependent on income from an airline.

Does the end justify the means? Does becoming a captain for a major airline justify all that must be endured to get there? Perhaps, but surviving long enough to get there is the problem.

I was just watching this lecture to a group of future leaders at the USAFA.
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/mi...gen-welsh.html

I really like what he starts to say at 11+50.

When discussing the what the future holds for the graduates he says:
"You have absolutely no idea what is going to happen..."
He then goes on to say:
"Some of you have these goals and dreams that you have had your whole life and you'll achieve them. Others have goals and dreams you've had your whole life and you're not even going to come close..."
But he never says to not try.
As the once famous Marine Recruiting poster stated: No one promised you a rose garden!
(Anyone remember that poster? Classic!)

There are those.....and there are others.
You decide which one you want to be and press forward.

USMCFLYR

Well said....

[Moderator Edit: Delete quoted post]

Hopefully things will work out better for you junior. Re-post in 15 years or so and we'll see how you feel about things.

I'm still in the business, can't figure out a good way out, but if I could I would. I resent earning half of what I should, and having no job security, and being gone 2/3 or more of my life. By all accounts, I've made mostly the "right" decisions, and in many ways I've accomplished more professionally than I had imagined.

It's not worth it. I'll buy in on part of that time machine if you decide to make it a fractional deal - THAT was the career I signed on for. What it has become is similar only in the fact that we're still operating metal tubes from point A to B.

This ride sucks. I want a refund.

I agree
 

I want to have a better life, more income, more control. I want to live where and how I desire. I want to be the one who decides when I go to bed and to get up when I feel rested.

I especially know that I do not want to be a tool for a corporation ever again. I want the corporation to be a tool for me. Airline pilots have lost any power or professional value they ever had to the industry.

They are a profit source for management. Squeezed dry of pensions, wages and benefits whenever the company needs to show a margin. Not for me.

Skyhigh

Absolutely - and the difference here is that no one is saying that you should drop everything and get back into aviation. Some of us are happy with your decisions and wish you the best of luck in your current lifestyle. Most of the ones who post with negative responses to you are usually the ones tired of you harangering them for the choices that they have made and the contempt that oozes out of your posts towards the people in this profession.

Just like in other aspects of life - there are those that are happy with letting people make decisions and live their lives and there are those who wish to control another's destiny and make decisions for him/her.

You like to try and make your points back belittling and insulting professional pilots. You can't hide from those facts from anyone on these forums that have been around awhile and read your posts. You took your hatred of the industry and transferred it to the pilots. That Sky is wrong and smacks of jealousy.

You are beholden to the housing market and the buyers of your free ranging whatever you happen to be raising or growing right now.
You are not free of anything. You are still part of the complex socio-economic merry-go-round that the rest of us are riding; unless of course you have moved to the wilderness, built you own log cabin with hand made tools, rasied your own meat, grew your own veggies, and dug your own well.
No?
Welcome to the game Sky.

USMCFLYR

simple question
 

Here's the question -
How many of you started this career path knowing the realities and how many of you jumped into this based on pie in the sky notions ?
And no I,m not going to the other side , just curious about this is all.



Fred

Honestly
 

USMCFLYR,

My friend, I think you misunderstand what my message is. I am not trying to tear down pilots. I am one too. I am trying to alert people to the addictive nature of our personalities and to the self created and self destructive delusions that serve to make us tools of the company.

In the recent past pilots had more control. Through the union they told the company how it was going to be. Their jobs complemented their lives. Now the job tells us where we are going to live, how much we will earn, and when we will work.

It is the nature of our profession that we have to give up a lot of control over our day. However in trade they use to plan for our retirement and provide an upper middle class income. All that s fading away. As pilots we are only worth what our seniority number are. It is an uncomfortable situation to be in and we are doing it to ourselves.

My aim is to bring to light these issues. To some my points resonate with concepts that they too have been struggling with. Others will not identify with me at all. I am not comfortable placing my financial future, lifestyle and family situation into the hands of a corporate culture that has turned hostile to its workers.

And lastly I live on a small ranch in a house that I designed and built myself. I grow grass fed free range cattle and have a garden. My water comes out of a well. In the past we have had rabbits, chickens and turkeys. I do have a portfolio of rental homes and am at the mercy of market forces just like everyone else (except for government workers that is ;) ) however the decisions on how to react to changes are in my hands (for better or for worse). My family and I am the benefactor of my efforts.

My goal has always been to achieve a high level of financial independence and control over my life. In the past when I was growing up in a neighborhood of airline pilots I saw in them the power of choice and the ability to commonly achieve those things. Not anymore. Thin wages, shaky future and a black hole for a retirement plan.

People (pilots) need to take a close look at where this life is taking them. In my estimation a postman has a better deal right now.

Skyhigh

In my case.
 

Fred,

In my case I grew up in a town where many of my friends fathers were airline pilots. They were rich playboys. In college they told us that getting there was not "half the fun but all of the fun". My observation spans from the trail end of when things were still good until now. I can take measure of how far the profession has fallen.

I do not think the "realities" are being accurately presented to new pilots. Most wash out at the regional level to a mountain of debt and to an outside work world that does not care for pilots.


Skyhigh

Different times now. When I started this career 20 yrs ago, it was a different ball game. Airline careers were still highly regarded, and the pay was on par with other professionals (doctor/lawyer/engineer) to a point. It wasn't a "pie in the sky" 20 years ago. Besides the quick recession in the early 90's, there were jobs to be had. It isn't like it is now.

I never got into airlines precisely because of APC. The career sounded like a risky long haul to anything decent, with risks being the salient factor. I had a better option available to me which was aircraft engineering, and I turned that into the closest thing to a flying job I could manage. I got into flight testing in 2008 working on business jets. It's a fairly satisfying gig, but I am not going to pretend that I fly very much. However when I fly it is high quality action in terms of the things that make flying worthwhile. So I feel I struck a fairly good deal considering the options. The only way I would consider regrouping for the airlines at this point would be if a heck of an internal recommendation materialized, but that is not very likely.

Apc
 

Another life saved. :) Thanks Cubdriver !

Skyhigh

If our mutual friend was still on this forum, and actively posting, he would provide AMPLE evidence of your real feelings towards professional pilots by reminding us of the MANY insults you have hurdle towards them through the years.

How are gov't workers not at the mercy of market forces? You must shre your secret with me because I am obviously missing out on some gem. :rolleyes:

USMCFLYR

I agree and getting the big picture up front helps avoid the angst that may or may not come later in a pilots career .

Misunderstood
 

USMCFLYR,

Our mutual friend also wanted to misunderstand what I write about. It is easier to be cross with me than with the truth. I get that. I am the bad person not aviation, but it is not true. I am trying to make things better for people. To save lives through conversation and an exchange of ideas. I am sorry that you don't want to get it yet. Hate the message not the messenger.

Even our friend had to back away from the obvious self evident truth. Professional aviation is changing and not for the better. I have faith that you will come around and believe that even now you privately see the light or else you too would be in line at a legacy right now. Its OK. :)

Skyhigh

Sky's just trying to show the other side of the coin so to speak .