Fnfal
 

FNFAL

Hey are you the same guy from flightinfo with the cool avatars?

SkyHigh

Hey Sky,

I picked up on a comment you made a little while ago. You would work for China Airlines if you had a Seattle base. If I may offer you a link which suggests that this might be on the way. There is a massive pilot shortage coming but it is 'overseas' from the US.

I wonder what that would be like? I am trying to get on with NCA but to no avail. Not looking forward to the training but I think I would enjoy the work very much. However working for a Chinese would worry me just a little bit.

Supply and demand
 

It seems like this topic keeps coming up, and pilots forget that this is a business, subject to the laws of economics--especially supply and demand.

Yes, it costs a lot to become a pilot at a major--either years of low pay instructing and at a commuter or regional, or giving up several years of your life in the military. Each of us would love to be swamped with money for living through this, but because so many people are willing to do it, the supply of pilots is high. This drives salaries down.

In the early days of the airlines, there were many fewer people capable of being airline pilots. If you think about it, in the 50s the airliner itself had only been around 10-20 years! Now we've had almost a century to "grow pilots," and that has happened--there are lots of folks out there that want to do what we do, and sometimes for peanuts. It's a "buyer's market" for those looking to hire pilots.

Are the "glory days" gone? Depends on your definition of glory days, I guess. I still get to go to work, fly a plane, see the world in a way very few people do, and get paid a decent, if not overwhelming, salary to do so. Could I make more money as a computer geek (my educational background)? Probably. But I also would have tons of paperwork, deadlines, status reports and all of that hassle, too. In aviation, my work is done when the passengers walk down the jetway (or down the steps for some folks). When I go home, work stays at work. My wife likes that (OK, so do I!).

So basically, flying is like EVERY other profession--you ask for the most you can get, and work for what you feel is sufficient. If you don't like the pay in the flying industry, do something else. If you don't KNOW anything else, well then, that was a poor life plan, I'm sorry to say (sometimes the truth hurts, ya know).

For those of you who enjoy the flying life, good on ya. For those who don't, go look for something you DO enjoy--regardless of the pay, life is a lot better when you don't hate what you're doing every day.

Couldnt say it better myself. I am actually leaving my job at merrill lynch working in local currency trading to fly for good. the one thing i learned at my job is learning what i do like and how i should go for that tru passion!

Ignore him (SkyHigh). If we don't respond to him he'll go away. He's getting off on ****n' on our profession. I'm relieved he doesn't fly for a living. We have better people in this industry. He most likely didn't make it past probation. Now he's lurking around taking pot shots at everyone who has succeded where he failed. Sad.

YOU ARE DA MAN!!!!!!!! :D

Overseas
 

I would consider a job flying from SEA to Hawaii or Fiji as with Aloha or Hawaiian Airlines. I have never been interested in spending a lot of time in places where I couldn't speak the local language or crossing all the time zones.

My dream was to fly up and down the west coast in nothing larger or smaller than a 737. :)

SkyHigh

Barry Schiff
 

Everyone should read the Barry Schiff article. I am not alone in my positions by a long shot. It is not negative to have an opposing view nor should anyone be afraid of hearing them.

SkyHigh

:p You may want to ask the NWA pilot who flipped his opinion of that 'high quality of life'...