laxislife,
You're Canadian, eh? Hello from an Alaskan neighbor. Good luck in whatever path you choose. Check out the following website too, lots of info for pilots from outside the U.S., or interested in work overseas and all that it entails as far as visas, citizenship, etc.. Good section for Canadian flyers too. Cheers, http://www.pprune.org/

 

I am giving the kid facts. This career is brutal to more people than it is kind. If you don't know this, wait and you will see. I would not wish this career on anyone. Most people in this career would step on their grandmother to help their own career. If you think this career is a stable,rewarding and a great way to make a living you are on a controlled sustance.

 

"If you think this career is a stable,rewarding and a great way to make a living you are on a controlled sustance."

Well, I'm not. I'm just speaking from my experience. Some people's experience has made them quite bitter and angry about the career. That's understandable. But to say that one is on drugs unless one knocks the career is silly and inaccurate. But, whatever floats your boat....

 

There is a very large portion of the pilot community that agrees with de727 here. It's just a majority of them work at Netjets, UPS, FDX, Southwest and they have a right to love this career.

Going through my first furlough right and not really making ends meet but there still isn't anything else I want to do for the rest of my life.

Everyone complains about being gone 4 days at a time but I have been told that if I am not recalled soon I need to do something because the "Warden" had gotton used to her time alone at home and misses it.

 

I agree with almost everything you’ve said except when it comes to ERAU "sponsoring green cards" - I'm fairly certain ERAU (and other universities) cannot sponsor a person for a green card. Instead, they'll sponsor the students with time limited F1/M1 or J1 visas which are basically student/training visas that allow students part time “practice jobs” in the field of their studies such as flight instructing in the field of aviation, etc.

I think the people you were talking about who waited 5-7 years or so were foreign student who went through the process on their own (marriage, “green card” lottery, business visa exchanged to green card, etc, etc.) and while they were waiting for their paper work to be squared away they kept flight instructing mainly because the visas they had in effect "locked them" to a specific work place.

Just wanted to clarify that…


Also, laxislife - in response to Boredwlife's post above - I'm now at UPS and I do love what I do for a living. However, I loved it even when I flew for a nearly defunct commuter airline making $25k a year. Couldn't pay all my bills and kept maxing out my credit cards (some of which I'm still paying off ) but I loved it nevertheless.

By the way, your questions remind me of a former student of mine, he was a computer designer/engineer who gave up his successful career and his own small business venture to become a pilot at the age of ~38. He became a great captain and loved what he did even though everyone told him he'd made a mistake. Unfortunately, he died in an accident a few years later but when I ran into his brother one day he told me that his brother was the happiest when he worked as a commuter pilot... The flying meant more to him than all the money in the world...

It is a tough profession but in my opinion a great one...

 

If you are a Canadian citizen, why would you want to work here in the US when there seems to be better opportunities in Canada? Air Canada has a better pilot progression system than ours in that all their pilots, I am told, are under a one seniority system. Besides last time I flew to Canada, there seems to no shortage of airlines flying anything from B737 to DHC-8s.

 

What about the CAL requirement for 1000 PIC?

 

Most of the posts here say don't do it because of money. While I believe we all should be well paid and we are currently under-paid, money is not everything. Do what you love to do. If you love money, go for it. If you love flying, go for it. If you're lucky, you can have both.

It took me 21 years from the private pilot to major airline job. That is with years of instructing, corporate, and 9 at a regional. Most jobs paid poorly. Would I do it again? YES. Hell, yes. I loved every minute of it. I love flying. If I wasn't flying a 777 for an airline, I would be flying a bush plane in Alaska or banner towing in Florida. I don't care. I'm a pilot and I fly.

Take in what everyone is saying here, but remember where they are when they say it. Some of what they say is true, but there are lots of worse careers and jobs out there. Good luck with what you decide.

 

They only required 1000 PIC not 1000 TPIC. So if you managed to log 1000 hours pic in a cessna before you went to a regional, you met the requirements.

 

What you said about providing new grads with time limited visas is true.
However, ERAU DOES sponsor green cards as well. At least, they have done so in recent history, I don't know if they still do it for a CFI hired today.
My own significant other and probably a dozen others have gotten their green cards this way. What you have to do is work there for a few years, and then they'll sponsor you. My SO started instructing part time as a student (2000), got sponsored after reaching a certain amount of dual given (2004) and just became a permanent resident (2008). The school even had to run an advertisement in the papers for the position before they started the green card process. The way this was explained to me is that obviously the govt isn't going to let any company sponsor a green card for any worker. The company has to basically prove that the type of worker they are looking for is hard to find in the US, which justifies the need to sponsor a foreigner. CFIs are plentiful in the US, but not experienced ones (which is why the school needs you to work there for some time before they'll sponsor you.) Then they need to show that they tried recruiting publicly, which is the reason for running those ads.
All in all, it's a very long and difficult process, but pretty much the only option for some of these foreign guys. What I'm not sure of is why you would choose to take this road if you had other options available to you, as it seems to be the case in Canada.