ERAUstudent31

Hey guys,
I am currently a student at Embry-Riddle, Daytona Beach (take that with a grain of salt, as i do not enjoy ERAU and look forward to moving on)
Anyways, I am flying here, but i am a business student. Every now and then you will hear professors talk about pilots who are also high up on the ladder in the corporate structure of the company because they were hired as idk someone in marketing, and they are making the 300,000 and up salaries...my question is "Are these legitimate statements or are they wishful thinking, and if these are true is it easy to obtain with a good degree in business". I have already applied elsewhere and am currently looking at a few other universities that have good business degrees in hopes of being hired into a corporate position with an airline someday. Is it possible to work in the corporate aspect of a major airline and also fly for them?
Thanks guys,
-John

acl65pilot

Generally, management does not want a pilot anywhere near the bank vault. It used to be very common to see guys doing that but no so much anymore.

Than said, many of the Flight Operations leadership positions pay very well. In fact at DAL the top positions probably pay over seven figures with bonuses. All of the other ones are based on the agreement or contract.

Every so often a pilot will make it to the top and outside of the flying side, but it is because that is where they started. (Ala marketing, finance etc)

navigatro

IN my opinion, you have a much better chance at a lucrative career with an MBA than with an ATP.

CactusCrew

I'd ask those professors what they are doing teaching at ERAU if there are positions like that out there !




Obviously not the teacher's pet ...

BeenThere

You are in a position to decide right now whether you want a career as a pilot or a career screwing pilots. Can't have it both ways. In today's environment you can pretend to be a "pilot advocate, " but at the end of the day you are a manager. BTW I agree that you can make more with the MBA and be home at night. May I suggest investment banking?

BoilerUP

Don't ever forget this one very important thing:

Your professors may teach you, and they may be very good at it...but they're still "selling" you something - its your choice whether to buy it or not.

That holds true of every aviation university...including my alma mater.

That being said - don't expect to be anywhere NEAR "true" (ie not operational) management in any business without a solid business background, including a masters-level business or finance degree.

rickair7777

If you want to be a pilot and a manager, go fly for the military. You are guaranteed progressively higher management jobs as your career progress (if you work hard), with additional relevant education and training along the way. When you get out, you can then chose between flying or a corporate management career.

Or you could get a Guard/Reserve flying slot after college, and pursue a civilian career in management. The problem is that frequent reserve duty absences can hamper a successful corporate career.

BTW, in order to have best odds at a multi-six figure corporate job you will need an MBA from a brand-name school. By that I mean Wharton, Stanford, etc (no the Harvard of the Skies doesn't count).

FlyJSH

Yeah, and I know a guy who earned 50 million a year for hitting a little ball into a hole and doing a few ads.

If your prof means someone who is a non-aviation management type who also flies the company plane, he is dead wrong. The insurance required for a company VP to be the PIC on a King Air would be outrageous. Insurance companies like the folks at the controls to ONLY be thinking about FLYING.... not the upcoming sales meeting.

A rule of thumb: the difference in insurance rates for a professional pilot versus an owner/operator or management type are roughly equal to the crew's salary.

Zapata

No offense, but that should go without saying. As much as these university pilot mills would like you to believe otherwise, (in the accomplishment department) obtaining one's ATP is chump change compared to earning an MBA.

UnlimitedAkro

Hey John-

I also went to riddle, graduated 04 (D.B.). Looking back on all the promises of quality of life and huge salaries and great lifetime careers in aviation (and so on and so on), it has lead me to believe: either the professors there are intentionally selling lies to all the students to keep the university profitable and keep the students motivated, OR- the professors there are so disconnected with the REALITY of the entire industry because they are still living in the state of the industry from the 80's and 90's, which most of them were top seniority flying 747's or 767's or maybe they just don't want to believe how bad of a career flying has become for so many, or they just aren't allowed to "sell" the reality of this career to the students. But yes, they feed us with that crap my entire education there.

The reality is, the industry has become so bad in the last few years that it should be pretty hard to continue to sell that fairy tale without someone someone speaking up.

As soon as one of your professors says "oh the industry operates on cycles. Right now its down, but it will come back..." make sure you quickly remind them about all the scope that will never come back, all the mainline jobs that continue to disappear and will never come back, the pay that has disappeared and will never come back.... I could just keep going and going.

The only thing that is on a "cycle" is pilot hiring. The good career, is gone.