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Pros & Cons of an Aviation Career

Old 02-07-2015, 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted by SkyHigh View Post
I did not like how long it commonly takes to make it into the higher wage levels. As a young regional pilot who wanted to start a family it was a punishingly long time before I could have made it to a middle class wage.



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How long it takes to get to a legacy depends very much on timing. It also depends on the person.
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Old 02-07-2015, 08:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Airhoss View Post
How long it takes to get to a legacy depends very much on timing. It also depends on the person.
In what way?
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Old 02-08-2015, 06:03 PM
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In every way.
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Old 02-08-2015, 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnBurke View Post
In every way.
Exactly.........
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Old 02-09-2015, 03:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Yazzoo View Post
A friend of mine recently quit the industry because "aviation requires you to sacrifice a lot and just doesn't give you back enough in return."

I thought a lot about his words, and decided to come up with a Pros and Cons list. This could help those among us who are considering leaving the profession A few pros and cons I have come up with, specifically applying to airline pilots:

Staying in Aviation -

PROS:

- Flying jets is fun
- Flight attendants
- The occasional fun crew
- The occasional fun layover
- Leave work at work
- Flexible monthly schedules
- Free travel & ZED fares
- Office view
- Satisfaction of a flight well-flown
- Camaraderie; aviation is a small world
- Beats sitting in a cubicle



CONS:

- Always traveling...can be tiring & difficult to maintain your personal life
- As safe as aviation is, there's alway the chance of an accident
- Job on the line every flight/check-ride/line-check/etc.
- Irregular working hours and days off..can be tough to have a "normal" life
- Radiation, fatigue and other health concerns
- No retirement funds other than 401K
- Contracts getting worse
- One accidental slip up with the law could be career ending
- Lower salary than other jobs that require similar education levels
- Lose your job at one airline and you have to start over
- Recurrent training
- Lose your medical & you're done
- Being a pilot is a lifestyle choice; not a job (could be a pro depending how you look at it)
- There are much easier ways to make more money & be home every night


Do any of these ring true with those of you who have left the industry? Please feel free to add your own thoughts to the list!
Good list. WRT "no retirement funds other than 401K", some airlines (most notably FedEx and UPS) DO still have a pension as part of their total retirement package. Some others like fNWA have their pensions frozen.
For someone considering an airline career, above statement is true. Since you're seeking input from those who are currently active aviators, I thought I'd mention this little point.

For "lose your job and start over", I'd substitute "lack of lateral mobility." ** The later is a relevant factor for those who have seen their contracts significantly eroded coupled with a protracted period of career stagnation. If those things happened to anyone else, they could find another job with similar or better pay.

** Yes, there are contract jobs overseas out there, but for the over 55 crowd, the pickings are very slim. Plus they're not for everyone. (How many accountants or doctors would choose to pursue a position thousands of miles away?)
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Old 02-27-2015, 09:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Airhoss View Post
How long it takes to get to a legacy depends very much on timing. It also depends on the person.

It takes timing and depends upon the person.

I had plenty of peers whose dads were well placed in an airline and as a result were able to get hired at a legacy while very young. Who you know and who you are play a major role in success in certain paths in life. If your dad owns a chain of furniture stores then be a furniture salesmen. If your mother is a legacy airline captain then be an airline pilot. It makes life much easier to have well placed allies and to stay within the conduit of opportunity.

"Don't follow your passion but rather have your passion follow you." - Mike Rowe

In summary - Go where there is opportunity for you. If you are just another nameless suburban kid with a pile of school debt to finance a long shot aviation career perhaps you should reevaluate?

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Old 02-27-2015, 10:16 AM
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Retirement age is 65. You could get a degree, have a 10 yr career in another field, save some money, grow maturity, then decide whether you want to be a professional pilot. You would still have a 30 yr career ahead of you. You would also be able to avoid huge debt, if you're wise, and have a fall back career during the inevitable furloughs. I did this, and have had more staying power as a result, but I am almost ready to call it quits. I can do so, because I have no fear. Having that fallback take away a lot of the power any crap mgmt. tries to hold over you to accept less and less. I think it is KEY to work outside of aviation to gain perspective as well. Regional FO salary is truly unconscionable.
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Old 03-31-2015, 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted by SkyHigh View Post
It takes timing and depends upon the person.

I had plenty of peers whose dads were well placed in an airline and as a result were able to get hired at a legacy while very young. Who you know and who you are play a major role in success in certain paths in life. If your dad owns a chain of furniture stores then be a furniture salesmen. If your mother is a legacy airline captain then be an airline pilot. It makes life much easier to have well placed allies and to stay within the conduit of opportunity.

"Don't follow your passion but rather have your passion follow you." - Mike Rowe

In summary - Go where there is opportunity for you. If you are just another nameless suburban kid with a pile of school debt to finance a long shot aviation career perhaps you should reevaluate?

SKyhigh
Me plain country kid whos dad was not a airline pilot who was smart enough not to finance a career and paid as I went. I worked hard and made smart choices and played the long game as I paid as I went and it worked out. Many out there tried to shorten the time between initial quals to legacy pilot by paying big bucks to go to a aviation mill college. May of us knew that was not a smart move and did not.
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Old 03-31-2015, 08:53 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by HIFLYR View Post
Me plain country kid whos dad was not a airline pilot who was smart enough not to finance a career and paid as I went. I worked hard and made smart choices and played the long game as I paid as I went and it worked out. Many out there tried to shorten the time between initial quals to legacy pilot by paying big bucks to go to a aviation mill college. May of us knew that was not a smart move and did not.
It worked for some and not for others.

I had a j/s the other day that did the CoEX thing back in '96. He paid his $10k and flowed through to CAL. Now he is a 777 F/O. I don't think he has ever been furloughed or missed a paycheck.

Me, on the other-hand. Did not have the $10k for CoEx, even though I went to the interview in '96. I have been furloughed at least 5 times and have grown tired of starting over. Finally, hired by a legacy a couple of yrs ago. I was by far the most experienced person in the new hire class

Did I make the right decision?....ask me when I hit 65.

What me seem like a smart choice today could very well be a poor choice 10 yrs from now.
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Old 04-01-2015, 06:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Thedude View Post
It worked for some and not for others.

I had a j/s the other day that did the CoEX thing back in '96. He paid his $10k and flowed through to CAL. Now he is a 777 F/O. I don't think he has ever been furloughed or missed a paycheck.

Me, on the other-hand. Did not have the $10k for CoEx, even though I went to the interview in '96. I have been furloughed at least 5 times and have grown tired of starting over. Finally, hired by a legacy a couple of yrs ago. I was by far the most experienced person in the new hire class

Did I make the right decision?....ask me when I hit 65.

What me seem like a smart choice today could very well be a poor choice 10 yrs from now.
I understand the essence of this line of thinking but I don't really buy into it. The answer is: so what? Are you going to exercise analysis paralysis as a consequence of recognizing you don't have all the information you want available to you? If the answer is no, then who cares. The idea of asking oneself that at 65 is presumptuous to begin with. Nobody knows if one will make it to 65, nor if one would want to once in your 50s.

You know, for a group of professionals endemically exposed to getting bumped, displaced and laid off from work and demanding of perennial flexibility, airline pilots can be the worst offenders at one track minds when it comes to vocational choices. I was talking to a good airline pilot friend from work the other month regarding mulling over the viability of this career over a military/govt cheese one. He put it best when he said: "you know, if you end up not liking it or it settles into a long term schedule rut that doesn't work for you, you can always quit". And it hit me, people never think of that, but it's absolutely true. People have quit airline jobs for less before. Of course that requires one looks at it as a mere job, not a religion one would be blasphemous to attempt to leave.

The only part of that question that I value is whether it's meeting my personal and filial goals and expectations TODAY. If it's not, then I do something else until those are met. Do you like where you live? Do you enjoy the amount of time you get to spend with the people that matter to you? Does it afford you the stuff you want to consume with the people who matter to you? Those are the relevant questions. 65 may come and it may not. We've buried younger.

Time is the most expensive commodity and that's the one I have to maximize, even at the expense of material accumulation in infirmity. I sincerely value 35-45 more than 65-75. And if they told me to sacrifice solvency of one for the other I'll do it the same every time. That math should be self-evident if one truly understands opportunity costs in the context of human life stage progression.

I'd say stop thinking about the 10K you didn't have and your friend who never got furloughed. In the end to me that connection still assumes facts not in evidence, as it pertains to your career outcomes. If you're happy today, you're #winning.
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