Mainline cannot make the argument that flying for regionals degrades anything, since they allowed it to happen, albeit some of that was in Ch.11 and there has at least been some recent contractual pushback from unions.

First-year pay is negotiated by the union, so that doesn't count. In fact in the last few years the company (regionals and majors) typically wanted a HIGHER first-year pay to attract recruits, but the unions (correctly) negotiated that in the context of pay across the board.

WB's pay more because they can, compared to say a B1900 CA a DL WB CA might make more in a year than the B1900 is actually worth...

Alter-ego operations obviously degrade the profession, since they are created for the express purpose of breaking a union shop (ie gojets vs. TSA). I would say that and paying for actual SIC seat time on a revenue flight are clear red lines (not technically scabs, but I'm sure alter-ego pilots fantasize about crossing a picket line someday).

i salute your service. You should be proud of your accomplishments—they aren’t worthless.

I started my first paying aviation job as a full-time CFI I’m 1998. Trust me, many of us in the lost decade wondered similar things.

Aviation as a living is a lot like the oil industry. Feast or famine—you won’t know the worth of your investments until you hang it up at the end and look back.

Good luck to you.

I just got out of ATP flight school 😭 got all the certs, worked my ass off the entire year to make sure not to fail a checkride, ended up with a 80k student loan at 9% interest ! Im a flight attendant for American Airlines I guess till end of September and I’m literally just time building , so paying out of pocket to at least get to 500 hours, went to 10 different flight school and no one even called me back for a cfi interview, Thanks for thinking of ppl like me
im so afraid I’ll go broke

That's really heartbreaking, I'm really sorry you're dealing with this.

Are you able to relocate? I was able to stay very busy as a CFI during the Great Recession by being willing to move where the work was. It will take a few months for this all to shake out, but it will get better and if you're willing to move I think you'll be able to find work.

Have you looked in to aerial survey?

There are absolutely no low time flying jobs in the NE USA right now. I’ve been scouring the listings, calling buddies for favors. If you’re under 1500-2500 and you don’t have an ATP, you’re SOL. And even if you do, the competition is now fierce with experienced regional pilots already on the street.

I feel for ya, friend. I’m fortunate that I don’t have training debt, but other than flying I don’t really have any hard skills that pay a good wage. Sitting right at 1000 hours TT, mostly fighter time (which is actually more useless than most people think), in no man’s land.

Corporate Aviation job listings facebook page is a depressing read right now. A lot of people are going to have to find work outside the aviation industry for a few years. Very unlucky timing for those entering an industry right now, or those who took jobs that put them low on a seniority list.

^^This for anyone looking for a time building job.

You might luck out on summer work, but the photo season really gets going in September/October. Start feeling out the Eagleview (I think that's what Pictometry is called now) vendors like SkyLens and be ready to move on it with short notice. Alot of the survey packages are shifting from 172s to Aztec these days, so if you don't have a multi, get one. Do whatever you can to get one of these gigs because it's steady work that pays pretty alright for time building.

Thanks for the suggestion and the support, I’ll try to check those aerial company s out, it sucks right now really

Good luck. Those gigs have all of a sudden become highly competitive.