Taco280AI

Reflects on you, not me bro

dodsqubam

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. When I was looking to make the career switch to aviation, I was really worried about potential misogyny and asked a male pilot friend of mine about it. He said the age of misogynistic pilots are retired (or retiring), but that wasn’t to say I still wouldn’t run into it occasionally. I have been pleasantly surprised by my fellow male pilots who have treated me as nothing but an equal. Only during one regional airline interview did I run into a male pilot who actually started talking to me about female pilots getting pregnant and taking time off of work, and being too pregnant to fly. The scene would never make it into a movie because of how unbelievable it was. It was bananas and needless to say I got out of there fast!

Anyway, I think rather than offer affirmative action in hiring, it would be more beneficial for airlines to contribute to outreach programs for minorities and females. I can’t vouch for minorities, but a a female, the higher paying STEM fields really aren’t encouraged at young age. Guidance counselors encourage us to become nurses, teachers, flight attendants, when they should be encouraging us to be doctors, professors, and pilots. I don’t think it’s a conscious effort, but looking back, definitely an observation. Hopefully it’s different with the new generation. Anyway, thanks for being supportive! I hope you’ll encourage your daughters, sisters, and female friends to become pilots. There’s no reason we should be such a small minority of pilots, other than most of us aren’t exposed to aviation as a possible career path.

domino

I absolutely agree. But if you read my post PROPERLY, you will see I was pointing out that some people make up total BS stories to justify their decision not to move on. Lots of denial out there.

morerightrudder

Some of the more unusual lifer stories I've flown with:


Stubbornly refused to get a degree because they felt "it's not relevant to airmanship/flying skills".

Had not updated their logbook since being hired at regional. Now has about 8 years of flights to find and enter into logbook. Hasn't really started but hey, going on a cruise next month!

Felt that the any hiring process that involved HR was "drinking kool-aid", which they refused to do. Would only consider airlines that only had a technical/sim session interview, no HR. Finally left...for a second tier ACMI carrier.

Holding out for only one specific airline. That airline hasn't called. They may never call. But hey, uncle flies for them, so they gotta call!

Aquaticus

That is just a poor risk assessment. On par with parking your investment cash in a money market account because "the recession is right around the corner". Every one has a risk tolerance but staying at a regional because you might get furloughed is about the same as building a castle in the woods for a zombie apocalypse. There will always be regionals hiring with fast upgrade times that will be able to replace your current income and the reward for leaving is quantifiable. Even the worst of the worst times in the industry presented an experienced pilot with employment pretty quickly. If someone gave me that excuse I would understand that their decision making is flawed or they were delusional.

havick206

Ever thought that maybe for some they’re just happy where they are and quite content? Not everyone feels they need to be at a legacy to have “made it”.

There will always be the ones that can’t get a job anywhere else for various reasons and there’s some in the above category.

To each their own, why worry about someone else? They’re doing you s favor by not taking a slot leaving more opportunity to those below them.

I’m doing everything I can to move on to something better than a regional (even with a flow in 2-2.5 year away), but i don’t see why we need to lump everyone into the same basket.

MaxQ

Two thumbs up.
Why do so many pilots feel they need to criticize what drummer someone else steps to? Who knows.
It is his or her music, even if too far away for us to hear.
(my apologies to Thoreau for the blatant plagiarism)

rickair7777

Maybe, maybe not.

If you're 25, absolutely play the long term odds. Even with a furlough, that big-six seniority number is worth vastly more than a regional career, in all respects.

But if you're 50, with a mortgage, family, and college expenses on the horizon a badly-timed move could be a life-altering catastrophe. There's also the small but real risk of new-hire training failure... if you haven't done a new type in years, it's going to be harder.

Right now, of all times, furlough risk is relatively low due to retirements (but only at the majors with multiple fleet types which have a lot of retirements looming).

My understanding of the *intent* of this thread was to help potential noobs to understand career progression opportunities and risks, ie why some people are "stuck", be it by choice, circumstance, or their own damn fault. Not to criticize those who simply choose to stay (although there are risks there too).

highfarfast

I get the feeling that those that keep insisting guys are making poor decisions by staying at a regional haven't worked in this industry long enough to understand what seniority can mean to someone that's been at an airline for 15+ years.

I never ask the lifers I fly with why they chose to stay because I know that there must be some that the subject might be a bit sore. That said, it does come up from time to time.

The first lifer I flew with (on IOE) told me he was a cancer survivor and had just gotten back from extended leave fighting his cancer. Before the cancer, he had planned on flowing to AA but his spot came and went while he was away. Said he could select to go now but instead wanted to focus more on spending time with his family and taking care of his health which meant not commuting to wherever the new job put him and working a junior schedule.

One guy had invented a gadget, had patented it and was making more money selling it that he was flying.

One other lifer I flew with went off on an unsolicited rant about how ridiculous it would be for him to give up years of seniority and take a pay cut to go work for AA. He actually came off as quite a bit bitter and I wouldn't be surprised if, at least with him, there was more to the story. But he's the only one.

That was three. The rest:

All the rest have appeared so content with their decision that they really don't seem to really think about it. They do seem to enjoy their 5 or 6 weeks of vacation, or whatever it is they get because they like to talk about what they've been up to and they have WAY more time off than I do. They don't have enough years in them to ever see that at AA. I really think it's just a QOL thing. They also really like to talk about what I'm doing and what my career plans are and what it's like for recent hires today... no bitterness, just interested and happy things are different today than when they were coming up the pike.

All these guys had flow as an option so it's not a hustle/no degree/dui/gender/race/overqual/etc issue. They were also good pilots (even the one bitter one). They just have different priorities than making the max buck.

So if you're focused on the idea that everything anyone does is about the money and they just don't know how to do math or they have no idea how to get another job, I think you're wrong.

Flyboy68

Nice post. What I’ve learned from this post and a couple similar posts like this are that there are several reasons, and often by choice to be a lifer. I guess I thought every single regional pilot wants to fly for a major, but that’s not the case. I guess the moral of this story is, don’t judge anyone for being a lifer, they all have their own story, reasons, and justifications.

Thanks.