Order of success:

Line Pilot
Check Airman
Flight attendant
Ramp worker
Janitor
Chief pilot
Homeless/jobless
Serial killer

At least being chief is not at the very bottom.

I've been a chief and checkairman and will never do it again.

 

Your posts remind me of mil guys that come in and from day one aspire to become a General...you know, the kind no one likes to drink with at the bar.

 

At both the regionals I worked for, the compensation for CP was in the six figures.

As far as check airman goes, it's usually an hourly override on top his normal rate. $15/18/20 an hour depending on the company.

If you ask some guys, it's simply not enough for some of the grief they go through doing what can be a very difficult job. Not only for flying with new hires/new CA's etc, but sometimes they become scheduling's whipping boy. They may start a trip, then get reassinged because somebody may need some additional OE, or need to have a line check done. Shortening his already short overnight, or extending him past his original release time and affecting his QOL.

 

Yep, everybody has their own definition of success. Some of the finer points of being a "success" as the CP for a company;

You get to call a pilot and ask him why he calls in sick too much or why his sick bank is so low.

You get to call a pilot on his phone, and ask him why he was 3 minutes late, probably not his fault.

You will get to have the DO call you up and ask why the above is happening, and insist that YOU come up with new and stupid policies to fix it.

You will get to have a pilot come into your office whining about what scheduling is doing to him. If he only read his contract once in a while.

You will get to fend off calls from alpa/union reps about your draconion procedures. Telling you that if you flew the line once and a while, you would pull your head out of your butt.

You get to put up messages on the computers telling everybody to do something differently because somebody screwed something up operationally.

You get be woken up at 12 midnight because a CA is PO'd at ops/scheduling/ramp about something and he decided to call his immediate boss, YOU.

You think you are going home for the day, get called from scheduling saying there is an uncovered turn that needs a CA, and YOU are the only one that can do it. And its your kids/wife B-day.

You will get to call in a respected CA and tell him that some new FO who didn't have the balls to tell him to his face, or the brains to go to pro stands reported him as being unsafe.

You will get ask a new hire FO why he got a thumbs down on an probationary FO report, also, the CA didn't have the balls to counsel the FO himself, just went behind his back. Then you get to call that CA in and ask him what the hell his problem is.

You will get to call a CA into your office, and tell him that he is under investigation for sexual harassment by a female FO/FA for something that never happened, chick is just psycho. You may get to fire him if her lawyer was better than ALPA's. Bummer if the guy was a friend of yours.

You will get to call in a CA/FO and tell him that they are under investigation because somebody saw them drinking on an overnight. You may get to fire them if it's true. Again, bummer if you knew the guy. Not saying what they did was right.

You may be in a position where you are asked to fire a pilot for something that's not really a big deal, but because the DO wants an example set. You may elect to defend the pilot for obvious reasons, and then you get fired from CP because of it. Again, the guy may be your friend, bummer.

You will get to have FA's come in crying about their drama and thinking that you can do something about it because you are the only person around in management.

You will get to be a secretary for your pilots because they are tired of having their paychecks messed up and want you to do something about it because you are the CP.

Anybody else got any lovely things they have seen a great, successful CP get to go through?

 

If you'd like some more advice, maybe you should learn to write. Writing in complete sentences will help your credibility in management. Using correct forms of capitalization and punction will also aid you in this endeavor. That being said, I do enjoy your random usage of majuscules, though.

 

Otto, my brotha, you were a Chief Pilot here at Express? EWR?

 

Good luck, I have suggested this to him on more than one occasion.

 

Very well put.

My plans consist of completing one of two routes. One is to obtain an MBA w/an a.o.c. in either Finance or Industrial Operations while enjoying a career on the flight deck. After enjoying a number of years on the flight deck, I could go into either department or Flight Ops. My other choice would be to pursue the office of "Vocational Deacon" while enjoying a flying career. Upon retirement from the airlines become a "Transitional Deacon" then, ordained as a Priest.

This is what I would call success just as N6724G has his view and everyone else has his own take on what success means to them. It's all relative.



atp

 

apparently the chief pilots at ASA are getting nice paycuts as per the new contract, so they are leaving and now they can't train enough FO's to CA fast enough. I dunno, just my .02 FWIW.

 

Well, I dont drink, so I dont know, and like I said before. All my friends arent neccessarily my coworkers. i have a life outside of my job. You should not live to please others and make them like you. You should live to support your family. When you get over 30 years old, you will realize that