Last night I was standing in line to gain entry to the annual local contractors ball and ended up next to the biggest builder in town. I had heard that recently he had bought into a turbine twin that is co-owned by two other business owners.

He told me that he was planning to get his multi-engine rating and fly it himself until he found out how little the pilot was getting paid. He said "man, I don't even pay my lowest grunts that little" and went on to brag about how this guy spends the entire day waxing the plane and burning the day away in a cold and damp hangar awaiting the occasional mission.

My friend told me that he simply shoves the pilot into the right seat whenever he feels like taking the helm and scares himself and everyone else as he attempts to fly it at the pilots career peril. He couldn't believe that a college educated "professional" would stoop to a living that even a high school drop out wouldn't accept and then permit such bullying. I told him to have the pilot report to the job site and sweep until needed at the airport.

He then paused and asked if I would be interested in taking on the pilots days off. Not on your life, was my reply.

Livin the dream.

SkyHigh

 

Guy sounds like a tool.

 

No, SkyHigh's the tool.

 

So what is the dream skyhigh? Layin' some bricks for a house? Must admit some of the points you make about working in aviation are good, but 2000 posts about an industry you aren't apart of is a bit ridiculous.

gettin' old man.

 

This isn't a phpbbs is it... Ugh, where is the 'ignore user' option?

 

What I don’t understand is why more pilots are not up in arms more about the state of the industry! Makes me sick. So many are so happy to be making 50k a year. I had a friend quit skyw because he was going to loose his house if he didn’t. Sad. He went back to work running a salvage yard.

Yeah just ignore skyhigh, ignorance is BLISS!

 

bla bla bla,

You got my point. I shared this story to point out how owners/management thinks. Everyone here should be outraged but most are not. The story and resonse to it are telling of the future. Flying is decending to that of a working hobby. Most get paid just enough to live on but not enough to make a life.

Some will figure this out and others will fall prey to the trap.

SkyHigh

 

Why ignore SkyHigh? He paints entertaining and slightly embellished pictures to make a point, but he is telling it like it is and as long as you take what he says as the product of someone who didn't quite get the red carpet treatment it generally applies. One of the guys at my skydive outfit painted the same picture of one such position he was smart enough to resign. He was treated with minimal respect, perpetually on-call, flew minimally, was forced to wax and sweep, paid squat and received no benefits. It was the exact same picture. This poor fellow currently uses his CFI to work as a forklift driver.

 

yeah, after reading your post, the guy doing that is a tool, and if he is your friend then you are a tool too. And business must not be that good if the BIGGEST CONTRACTOR is flying a weak as s turbo prop. I know several friends of mine (yes several) who fly for contractors and they all have citations, falcons, gulfstreams,, you guys are weak a ss.

 

Two points, Sparky:
1) There's absolutely nothing wrong with a turboprop. I think maybe you ought to go see a doctor for that SJS you seem to have.
2) Nobody ever said it was a turboprop. The plane was described as a "turbine twin."