Aviation is more safer now than ever before.

SkyHigh

 

Airplanes are bigger than they used to be.
Airports are bigger than they used to be.
Pilots are bigger than they used to be.

But airports are still bigger than airplanes and are bigger than pilots.
This is a little dippy!

 

Are you serious?

 

Some of my best times were spent alone wandering about Manhattan on layovers. What a place! NYC is awesome!

Skyhigh

 

.......still waiting for SkyHigh's bottle of Johnnie Walker to run dry.........

 

Southern Comfort or Tanqueray please.

 

Some of us remember round engines with props, steam gauges, hi-fi, sliderules, big cars with fins, pleated skirts, and Sputnick. Now we have SJS, Flat Screens, IPODS, PCs, Hi-breds, NASA and short skirts. Life just keeps getting better.

 

I am a new member to APC but I have been reading a number of your posts for over a month. It's a good place to get a smile. I like the positive thread so I thought I would make my move and ask some daunting questions I'm dealing with. I am a private pilot with an instrument rating (piston single). I am married with a kid on the way and about to go through ATPs airline pilot program. My wife and I am prepared to make only $18k a year and to fight through the airline business cycles. If anyone feels nice, please offer a guy some advise following your footsteps....
1) Truly, how often will I be gone? I live in Fayetteville, NC. Is it realistic to think I can commute to wherever and not move to a hub city? I am close to Raleigh, Charlotte and relatively close to Atlanta. Chitaqua and ASA serve Fayetteville. ASA for Delta 4 times a day to Atlanta and Chitaqua for US Airways 5 times a day to Charlotte. Is it realistic to hope for a job with one of them?
2) How does the reserve thing work? Are you stuck in the hub city(which from what I have read is the Base??) or will I have, say, a 48 hour notice to be somewhere.
3) I won't be done training and teaching with ATP for about 6 months. Do you think the regionals will still be sucking up pilots?
4) It seems that most of you fly between 80-100 hours a month. Is that about right?

Thanks to anyone willing to help. Hope the best to you all.

 

in all seriousness. i feel sorry for you. alot of people that can successfully go into regionals have very little commitments - whether it be family, where they live, etc. its easy for a 21 year old single guy or girl to give everything up and make 18K a year and aspire to become a major airline pilot. with a wife and kid(s), i feel really bad for you... but on the bright side reference the food stamp thread cuz youll be eligible for those

 

Dear Joe,

I wish I could help you, but no one knows the answers to most of your questions. The industry changes constantly and there are a wide variety of job situations you could find yourself in.

Lets all hope that you find what you need when the time comes.

Skyhigh