Degrees don’t make a good pilot. I think your idea about the mandatory hats is spot on. Hats are what really makes a good pilot.


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Yeah but they were not old enough to directly feel the effects of that back then since none of them were college graduates trying to start their aviation careers just yet. If anything that age group's timing into this industry was impeccable as they were able to benefit from the reduced interest rates on federal student loans after the '08 crash and they didn't have to wait out the severe backlog in the career pipeline from the combined age 65/recession black swan event.

 

So you're saying they need helicopter pilots

 

We were also old enough to watch our parents lose careers, many had to extremely downsize their entire life. I was lucky enough to get a job just ahead of the recession but many of my peers had to fight 50 something year old career employees (who had just been laid off from a good job) for the privilege of working for 7.25 an hour at McDonald’s. Friends of mine had houses foreclosed upon and struggled to scrape enough cash together for basic essentials. I (and others) spent most of high school frantically working a minimum wage job so I’d have enough gas to continue to get to school. We watched parents fight and divorce and in some cases trade their health for a terrible entry-level job just so their families wouldn’t be homeless. You haven’t seen sad until you’ve watched a 17 year old teach a 55 year former banker (who had to beg for their job) how to work a popcorn machine in a movie theater concession stand.

Just because we weren’t in aviation during that time doesn’t mean we didn’t suffer as well. Parents’ stress and problems are rarely fully insulated from their kids, especially teens. We also had the foresight to see this change in the career and make moves and investments when things were terrible to reap the rewards now. My parents and many others strongly discouraged me from this career path but I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and took a leap of faith on it.

People wonder why millennials have no loyalty, and it’s because many of us watched parents who invested their entire adult lives into a company get thrown away like nothing during the recession.

Just another perspective.

 

A-EFFING-MEN!

In the same boat, I had just bought my first house in Feb. of 2008 with a baby on the way...the recession stopped my flight training dead in its tracks (had my PPL/Instrument) and forced me to change direction and go into IT. Figured it would be a short stint before I could finish my commercial. Add in more recession, Colgan 3407, and life in general, and it took me a total of 12 years from my PPL to 121 FO.

I fly with some senior captains who’ve done nothing but fly their whole life, and are so bitter they can’t see straight. It’s not the 20-30 somethings fault for their poor career choices and unfortunate timing with events. Sometimes it’s just a ****ty situation. Each generation is just a product of their parents and exterior influences. If you don’t like the younger generation, take a look at the generation that preceded it.

I’ve realized I’m lucky to have the perspective I do. I’ve done the manual labor, the office jobs, the crappy movie theatre gig...I’m able to see just how great this job is if you m kw what you’re getting into.

 

Amen to this too

 

The two posts above are spot on! Watched my mom raise my sibling and I with no lore than 24k a year. My timing in this industry is impeccable, but it came at a price and a lot of suffering through the better part of a decade.

Fortunate to earn a paycheck doing what I love!

 

The college system has changed significantly. Information used yo be concentrated in the hands a few. The internet gave the information to the masses. You can find information online to create and generate your own business and be very successful without a degree. Work for someone else and they demand you're in debt far exceeding their base pay to enslave you for 10-15 years; between a mortgage and student loans you need a job. Our generation was tricked into going to college being told it will all pay off when the inflated price of a degree is as simple as 3 months of internet research. Break the cycle of oppression the airlines are seeing you must change to meet the need of the industry. In this case hands on experience is more valuable than a degree. If a degree was really a sign of better understanding and a more intelligent individual; Airlines would then offer instead to pay individuals with a degree to take flight lessons. Cost efficient for 1,500 hours of hands on experience is significantly more relevant than a study of aviation law and the history of the Wright brothers. If you want to buy a piece of paper for 100,000-200,000 and offer an opinion to that justification for the peanuts you make in regionals - feel free. For the rest of us that understand compound interest of student loans and relevance of experience exceeding a piece of paper will keep that money to invest in better markets.

 

Wait, are we talking about the uniform hat or wearing a baseball cap while flying?


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A few things...

Bottom line, airlines want a white-collar culture in their pilot ranks, the pilots (especially the CA's) are often the adult supervision in the room out on line where everyone else is minimum wage with (maybe) a HS degree... and (literally) a couple Billion $ on the line with each flight. You can fit into that culture, airlines can and do hire a few folks without degrees but they don't want that to be the norm. You'll see more of it, at least for a while, in the near future.

Getting a degree is just how you play the game in this day and age, and they want team players who have some competitive edge. If you're looking to be a rugged individualist and go your own way, either do it in another sector of aviation, or do it on your days off... you can wear long sleeves, just have to pass on the neck and face tats. Although there's always henna.

Also... because they can. If they have 6,000 apps on file and are hiring 30, they can pick plenty of folks who have the degree AND plenty of aviation creds and experience.