I am sure in a few months they will be hiring people without a pulse.

 

Yup, Probably

 

Don't hold your breath.

 

Has anyone heard if they're going to dissolve the pool at some point and start over?

 

Well Seven, everyone seems to have extremely valid input here, and so I suppose I'll put in my 2 cents as well ...

I had absolutely no interest in flight instructing when I first got into flying ... but I am VERY glad now that I did it. I cannot tell you how much experience I gained from flight instructing for only a year and a half. It's not much time in the big outlook, but it will give you mountains worth of insight and exprience dealing with bad situations, bad student decisions, and, no matter how good you are, you'll probably encounter a situation where you'll be dealing with weather you didn't expect.

It will be your first time to actually be incharge, PIC, of an aircraft with another life in your hands. It's a great feeling to have, and it will also help build your confidence a lot. I highly recommend that you flight instruct for at least a few months, and do something else on the side if you want too! More flying is always great!

Best of luck to you, and let us know how it all works out for you. BTW, how is ATP? I've been curious about that program for a while, but never knew anyone who went through it.

 

On behalf of my fellow Eagle Captains, before you apply for an airline job, please learn your craft as a pilot well. It takes 1000hrs in the right seat of any of our airplanes before a crewmember really knows what the hell they're doing (in THAT seat). In the meantime, said crewmember is a liability to everyone. I posit that not so long ago, when commuter airlines flew Jetstreams and Metroliners, - without autopilots - none of the current crop of 300hr wonders would ever have gotten through training. Those machines were much harder to fly (though they didn't require programing) and operated in the weather all the time. Programing does not a pilot make.
So, I advocate instructing until you're very good at it. Fly bank checks (until you're very good at it). Take the time to well learn every rung of the ladder. When you finally get to the herochair you'll know what you're doing.

 

Unfortunately the world has changed a lot since the days of metros and jetstreams more than just the advancement of automation. Opportunities for young pilots have changed dramatically. The days of flying checks are drying up with advancements in banking computer technology, gas and insurance are making flying lessons cost-prohibitive for all but the professionally minded aviators (especially when discretionary income quickly becoming a fond memory for the middle and upper-middle class), and if you can find a multi-engine airplane somewhere, chances are pretty good you can’t rent it.

Thankfully for those who came of age between a year and three years ago, those who graduated from respected aviation programs and had a bit of instructing under their belts at the afore mentioned institutions were marketable to regional airlines. Sadly, this has led to some expectations from this year’s graduates. The airline jobs are all but gone and now the traditional gigs to build time before 121 have dried up too. I have friends who have taken up multiple flight instructing jobs and can still barely scrape a few dozen hours a month (and a few dozen hours of pay a month) because the students aren’t there like they were years ago.

The world had changed indeed and once the current group of unemployed pilots finds their respective “dream jobs,” the line of 500-1000hr wiz kids is going to come back. Sadly this means that anyone sitting in the left seat of an RJ might want to dust off their CFI’n skills because their already underpaid job description just got another responsibility added to it. I don’t agree with it but its quickly become reality. All of this being said, the young pilots out there might want to start realizing that they have had a bit of an easy road when compared to the guy in the other seat. Iron your shirt, comb (don’t spike) your hair, wear your hat if you have to, wear your blazer, keep the Ipod in the roll-aboard, leave the backpack in your dorm room for the next guy, and when the captain is right, eat your humble pie.

 

Mostly all experienced airline captains share this sentiment, and you need to ask yourself if you want to be the guy that the captain needs to watch like a hawk.

I, personally, am not content flying with someone who "who doesn't have a pulse."
Pilots should have more pride in their jobs than that.

 

at the end of the day those 300 whiz kids will all be sitting ready reserve in some dingy crewroom right along side with the guys who got hired from flying freight or another airline...i felt bad for the furloughed ATA 757 captains in class with these guys from those bridge programs...

at the end of the day in this industry its your job to move people from point A to point B...no one cares about that crosswind landing or the icing or the storms you avoided...

whether or not you've got 300 hrs or 3000 hrs the day you hit the line none of that matters...you just do your job...i think your best bet is to just tell good jokes cus if you suck at flying at least you're not a total drag to have around...

 

Like Capt152 there, I couldn't even bear the thought of being a Flight Instructor when I began training...I thought that being a Flight Instructor meant that you automatically had to be miserable at everything in life.

Once I left that training environment, things changed. I LOVED my instructing job - every second of it - and will even go out on a limb and say that I found it every bit as rewarding (if not more so) than 121 flying.

Keep the head down, and your nose to the grindstone - You'll make it just fine, and you'll Love the journey.