577nitro

Hi All,

I have to post this because I sitting on the fence and need some additional advice/direction. I've finally made it to the point where I can get hired by a regional or freight dawger. I've spent, as most of you have, an enormous amount money getting the ratings, time, and degree so that I can follow my dream of flying for a living. However, I'm struggling with trying to come up with a viable means of surviving on the meager FO pay. I don't want my family to suffer but I've spent way to much money and life cycles not to at least give it a try.

Some background.

Why am I doing this? I currently work in IT (degrees in both IT and Aviation), and make a comfortable living at it. But it sucks....I hate going to work and dealing with the small people and cube life. Just can't see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I only started this career as a means to pay for flying. I do understand that there are small petty people in aviation as well, but I believe not as much.

Questions:

I did some initial inquires at AE, Mesa and Lakes. All would like me to come and talked to them. Actually did the first interview with Lakes. But I would like to know if there is any other regional or even a freight dawger that I should talk to as well (maybe Horizon?) Which is better or offers a real living wage?

How do I get additional flight time or pay? Are they (airlines) flexible enough to allow me to get a second non flying job? I was thinking I might be able to get a part time software development job, but I would need to have a fairly stable schedule. Is this possible? Is there any decent medical benefits?

I have a about 1300 TT, 200 multi so I meet most of the minimums, and from what I've been told could upgrade to Capt pretty quick. Should I stay and fly as Capt or try to jump to the majors as fast as possible? Would this help or hurt my career? I also have a couple friends at Frontier, who have pledged their silver bullet to me once I get the required turbine time. Should I hold out for that?

What would you would do if you were me, knowing what you do now? I know some of you are going to say.."don't do it", but thats not an option, I've already spent the money. Knowing that the whole industry and economy is going to crap, should I just hold off for now?

Thanks,
577nitro

Bond

Find a part time IT gig, that allows you to travel, and pick the regional airline that best suits your needs. I actually have a friend here XJT that has been doing IT on the side since day one, which usually suplements his income by about 12K a year.....that should aliviate some of the pain. Best of luck to you.

BoredwLife

I suggest the same. Pick a regional that best suits the QOL that you want. Whether you want to commute or not, where you want to be based. And stability. Right now your gonna be sitting at the bottom for a bit. My thoughts when I picked a regional was not to nessecarily go some where with a quick upgrade or not. I said to myself " If the industry turns upside down again... Where do I think I would enjoy spending quite a bit of time at?" Made a choice with a horrible upgrade but living where I want to live and decent pay for a regional. If I wanted to live somewhere else I might have made a diffrent decision.

I always say base your decision on QOL. You never know how long you might live that life.

Utah

Take the first flying job you get and work from there. If Frontier is where you want to be then go for it. I'd assume that you've done all the research on them and still want to go there.

Once you've got some seniority in the right seat, you'll be able to arrange your schedule to be able to do a couple days a week of outside work if thats what you want to do. While junior it will be real hard however. If you haven't, marry into money.

FNFAL

I knew a few guys that held out on taking the upgrade to captain, because they were making good money on the side(I think they were loan officers, and assorted other real estate jobs). At many regionals first year will be hard, you will work alot and be tired on your days off. But when you get alittle seniority, you will probably be able to do alot of IT work on the side.

Most regionals discourage or prohibit contract flying on your days off because it screws up you yearly flight times(you time out early). What are you doing on the IT side?

577nitro

May I ask about the horrible upgrade and why it was so? Just trying to learn here.

Thanks,
577nitro

hindsight2020

You underestimate the stress of financial back-tracking. I'm not even 30 and there's no way I'm going back to grad student wages, forget that. You think life sucks because your job environment is not fun, well try removing your ability to have a living wage with one full-time job and you'll quickly find out that financial stress sucks the fun out of your dream. You can't enjoy what you do when you're starving. The difference between your current situation and your future situation is that right now you hate life, but your family doesn't. Tomorrow your life might suck a little less (in perspective), but your family will hate life. Doesn't seem like a reasonable opportunity cost if you ask me, but to each their own.

The previous poster's advice is the best you can get. Regional wages are a de facto part-time job. You'll need a part-time job on the side, problem is now you're really gonna be gone from home the whole month just to make the same income you did before; if that's worth you flying airplanes "for a living" knock yourself out. Finally, Id try to live on base, commuting is not fun, and not advantageous to you either when it comes to having a part-time job, never mind seeing your family. As to the majors, have you seen the news lately.....good luck, you'll need it.

flyboyshell

577Nitro,

I am in the same situation as you. It makes sense to try keep a part-time job. I am going to try see if my currently employer will allow me to work part-time (since one is able to do so away from the office) and supplement my income while doing "my dues" as an regional pilot. Keep us posted on how it goes.

And forget all the negativity you read on forums, just stay focused and keep your eye on the ball. Do what you always dreamt of, I know I am, regardless of what some might say. Things have to get worse before they get better.

577nitro

A couple things, I'm a system engineer with HP on a big Gov. contract right now. But I can turn my hand with computers on just about anything.

I also develop GPS aviation navigation software for the Palm and Pocket PC platform for GA. Had a commercial product called Flight Buddy for a while until 9/11 squashed my market (couple mag articals from AOPA about it & had a booth at OSH one year). I've done some small contract work for AnyWhere Map in the past. Currently trying to get on with a company part time called Hangar B-17 doing development work for them on their XM Weather product; this would make flying for a living doable if I could get it. But the economy is killing them too.

The software development part is fun for me....the systems engineer stuff really bites...thats were ego's and petty politics happen.

577nitro

FNFAL

Well you're probably in a good place to give aviation a try. You can supplement your income if need be, and you can always find IT work if you decide that the flying lifestyle isn't for you.

Have you thought about working on the training side. I.E level D sim instruction, or working for a company that develops sims for the training side.

freight jobs are always around. Some of the coolest people you will meet in aviation are on the freight side. Be careful where you apply, some places are on call sweat shops, and some are scheduled and enjoyable. pay is usually ok

Part 91(corporate or just flying an owners hawker,etc.) Can be one of the most enjoyable flying jobs you can find(or the worst if you find a bad gig). Cool vacation type destinations, long layovers, just enough flying to keep you happy, and not so much that you are constantly fatigued. pay is usually livable

To get a part 91 job you have to network like crazy, and you will never know what your schedule will be next week, or even the next day.

The regionals give you a schedule that you can work around. You will fly like a madman and probably be tired most of the time. The nice thing is that (unless you screw up) you don't have a boss breathing down you neck all day. schedules usually suck ie. long days, short overnights, early show times, multiple soul numbing legs per day. pay sucks first year. But its good experience. Don't worry about the industry right now, its so cyclic that it either sucks or dosen't from year to year.