They do it like everybody else did. You don't get it by accepting the top level jobs for bargain basement prices.... since the eventual result will be the loss of all top level pay at those jobs. You have some personal pride and fly CFI, military, 135, pipeline, whatever... There are tons of ways to fill a logbook without undercutting the profession because they want to play Airline Pilot for free.

What these kids are doing is like walking into the executive boardroom, addressing the Board of Directors, showing them their MBA from xyz school and then offering to do their job for 1/5 the total costs.... in hopes that fifty thousand more like them don't ruin the higher paying jobs that they want to apply for once they get their "experience."

great co-workers who are great friends and the funny moments we have,

hand flying about 20 feet above a overcast at 425 mph,

hand flying an approach down to mins :)


nothing else equals those moments

Walking through the front door and not thinking about flying until the next trip.

oh crakey! i want to throw up. clearly, you are in the first 200 hours of CFI'ing... Pretty soon you will come to realize, that not everybody can succeed at flying airplanes. And the more you let wash out and dont spoon feed them everything, the more you help out our industry. Then of course wait until your letting them try Vmc demo for the first time, and watch how they fail miserably, damn near putting you into a flat spin, just because they didn't want to study the maneuvers because American Idol was on last night. i can only vividly remember about 5 out of 100 of students that I enjoyed flying with. good luck and keep drinking that kool-aid

Well?
 

I understand how it undercuts the industry however in most cases you still have to go through a regional to become 121 competitive. How are you suppose to get to a legacy as a CFI?

Legacy pilots should petition their HR departments to hire away from the most part 121 qualified and favor the hard working random flight instructor, pipeline pilot or night piston cargo pilot. I mean it is your HR department that rewards undercutting SJS pilots in the first place isn't it? Hire a bush pilot why don't you? I put my time in but the legacy airlines want young regional prodigies.

You can't get there without selling out. If I am missing something then please enlighten me.

Skyhigh

OK Old Man....I'll add to Photon's list:

1) Flying with students and walking to the airplane in the cool CA morning and flying over the Sierras during the sunrise!
2) Seeing my students grasp the material and the satisfaction of their faces and then seeing them graduate and move onto the next step where they may do some GOOD WORK!
3) Knowing that I could have gotten out of my job a long time ago and be making a lot more money at a variety of jobs, yet still dreading the day that I have to leave my job.

And I'm NOT in my first 200 hours of instructing.

It sounds to me like Photon is enjoying his job. It sounds like he might actually enjoy instructing right now. Maybe that will last for a a month longer or it might last for years - who knows; but you coming down on him for no reason comes across as just a bad attitude or sour grapes on your part.
Where in his post did he mention letting students get by without being prepared? Where do you get the idea that he passes everybody?
It certainly sounds like YOU had a tough time instructing and believe that everyone should have the same experience; well...that just isn't the case.

USMCFLYR

Bitter much?
I'm not in my first 200 hours, and yes, I do know that all students are different.
Some students have better aptitudes than others, some learn faster, some don't want to learn, some get money directly from their parents and don't care, some use an eternity to "get" things, but that's how it is, everyone is different.
Sure I've had some students frustrate me to no end, but for the most part they are the exception. Try and find any other job where everything is a rose garden 24/7.
All in all, the ups of working as a flight instructor, that means working with the students, not management, has way more positives than it has negatives.
I feel bad that you really had such a bad experience with flight instructing, but then maybe you weren't really good at it, or it wasn't for you, or a mix of the two.
I just know that I really enjoy working with students, I'm able to get most of them through their courses in due time, and some of them after quite an extensive time.
I still look forward to every flight, it's not like any other teaching job out there, that's for sure

In what world do you live in where, when the majors hire again, they will take cfis, pipeline pilots, and 135 pilots over experienced 121 regional pics who have already instructed and flown pipelines and 135 to boot?