05-06-2024Quote:
Again, I'm not trying to delay, just trying to find the right opportunity. That KA350 SIC job is in improvemnt, but not by much. Is it worth commiting a year to that?
Originally Posted by DMartin12
Back to the point, I understand I need to improve my resume. I know there are smaller operators who offer home basing, that would be ideal. But who? It seems like many have stopped hiring this year.Again, I'm not trying to delay, just trying to find the right opportunity. That KA350 SIC job is in improvemnt, but not by much. Is it worth commiting a year to that?
Other operators mentioned in the APC Part 135 forum - https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/part-135/
If you're not getting any traction with your current resume, and hiring might be getting more competitive for the next year as Boeing and PW work through their issues, would NOT taking the King Air SIC job be better for your resume?
Buddy had a great military and airline career. He's a young buck....met a guy flying a MEL on Long Island. Shortly afterwards that guy leaves and gets a job flying a radial (Convair 240, Martin 404?????) in SoCal. Guy calls him up - "boss said he'd give you a job if I'd vouch for you. I will. Are you interested?" He left. I asked "did you know anyone out there?" "Just this guy a bit." "So what did you do?" "I packed my car and drove to SoCal." What did he do? He jumped in his car with his clothes in the back seat. Why? Because it was a better opportunity.
No airline passes, paid commuting tickets, no jumpseat privileges, airline tickets cost way more (avg ticket pirce in 1980 is $1300+ in 2023 dollars) and pilot pay was worse (take home pay was about $700). No internet. No cell phones. Long distance phone calls were expensive. $2.60 for a 3 minute call. A 5 minute call every weekend was about $20. I typically ran out of money the last couple of days in the month and would eat whatever food I had in the cabinets. $20 for phone calls in a month? Not happening Girlfriend and I could 'text' on company reservation system.
Even I was impressed at what he'd done. He laughs about it now but it was a bold move. Knew no one, didn't have a place to live, just a promise that there was a decent sized (44 passenger sized) aircraft FO job being offered. Back then if you were offered a MEL FO job you RAN to get it before someone else beat you to it. Plane ticket home? Probably cost about close to 10% of his yearly take home pay if not more.
It's head shaking for our generation to see the unwillingness to pursue the career as hard as we did. The rewards for the majority is worth it. Retire with net worth in the top 2-3% in the country if you max out your retirement funding.
