No idea. Not the faintest.

 

Just temper your expectations if what your really want to do is fly. If you were like the young people who started training a few years ago that thought that within a decade they would be flying widebodies over the pond and spending a couple day layover romanticizing Paris, just like them you will be in for a big unpleasant surprise. Now you may have to spend a few years flying rubber dog **** on a single engine freighter before a Regional airline will even look at you.

 

Preach. I flew in the military, got out at the worst possible time...and I’d stab my mother in the throat (kidding, of course) for one of those single engine cargo gigs. I can’t even find a jump pilot or CFI job. Getting paid to fly just isn’t a thing right now, unless you had a flying job rolling into this mess.

Always have a backup plan. Don’t put all of your eggs in the flying basket—the industry isn’t as stable and secure as many of us had thought. You don’t want to be sitting around with $75k in flight school loans, interviewing for a barista job at Starbucks.

 

There is absolutely nothing right now for 1000 hour CFI. I applied to 4 jump operations and nothing. The 141 school I went to is getting 10+ CFI applications daily. They are a Korean mill, but the embassy is closed so their new students can't get visas. So once the current students are done they will dry up. All of the mom and pop schools are overstaffed with CFIs and barely flying anyways. The Canyon tour operators have pretty much written off the summer season. Fire department cut my overtime completely for the next year- they are fixing the budget shortfall with brownouts.

Definitely some interesting times ahead- current civil unrest, Oct 1 aviation layoffs, upcoming election with political polarization, and no sign of a second stimulus going anywhere. Only job worse than a low seniority pilot right now is a police officer.

 

I’m a regional FO. I started working toward this job in 2006 and took 12 years before I was hired, another year before I was actually sitting in the seat. I could have gotten here faster but the job wasn’t worth the investment a decade ago, so I joined the military and learned to fly there. Life has been great and I’ve truly enjoyed my career so far.

I remember starting out thinking the only way to get here was following the CFI/degree formula. Glad I didn’t get stuck in that thought process.

 

Wish I could still go the Military route, but age and two failed AFOQT test from the English portion by 1pt when I partied to much in college 15 years ago did that in.

So for now I have a good(not great paying job doing Non-Destructive Inspection on T-38s as a contractor and am in the guard. I can go the mom and pop route for training and hopefully get all requirement (PPL, IFR) for around 8k as I could use my Gi Bill after getting the PPL.

The problem after that is me not wanting to be a CFI and possibly building hours. Lots of people here in Texas area appear to just buy a plane as someone suggested and build your own time. Just hope by the time I’m 44 or 45 (7 years away) that regionals will be back hiring and I can possibly make a 20 career out of this, regardless if it’s at a regional or possibly a major. I’m 100% sure either one would be better pay down the road and enjoyable than what I do know.

 

If you choose not to go the CFI route there are other things you can do such as aerial survey, pipeline patrol, sky diving flights. If you can use the GI bill, even better. Also, if this is your dream it's your choice to go after it. No one on the forums or anywhere can tell you yes or no you have to make the decision. Times and things change and it will come back sooner or later. You're not taking on big loans or spending cash in the bank after PPL so that is a plus for sure. Good luck!

 

There is absolutely nothing right now for 1000 hour CFI.

You applied to every CFI job across the country and found nothing?

I applied to 4 jump operations and nothing.

There are only four??

 

Within driving distance of Las Vegas. This is a career change for me. Not leaving the career I currently have to go make 100 bucks a day as a CFI at the airport for 9 hours with only 4 billable.

Judging by the Facebook groups for low time pilots and CFIs the story seems to be the same throughout the country.

I have a friend that I taught for a bit. Took a jump contract for a year on the east coast just before the covid shutdown. He is doing alright, but is retired with a pension and can afford to do it.

Its frustrating right now, but I think I will just rent to maintain instrument currency for the next year or two when things pick back up.

 

All I have to say is patience and timing. This certainly is a bad time to be a fresh ATP looking for an RJ/CFI job, BUT, right now is NOT nearly as a bad as previous slow downs in the industry. At least not yet...

For large stretches of the 80’s & 90’s the industry was brutal. From 2001-2005 very little hiring anywhere. 06-08 was good but then age 65 and the recession. 08-10 sucked. 2011-19 was the longest stretch of good news in airline history. Hopefully this hiccup lasts only a year or two. Once we recover, as long as the retirement age doesn’t increase, there will a strong demand for new pilots through the end of the decade.

If you can afford to start training now, with the expectation to enter the industry in a few years, I’d say it’s fantastic timing. I started training in 02, got a CFI job in 06, regional 07, major 13.