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So true. It can be a complete roll of the dice when it comes to getting hired. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to why one person gets on and another does not. It seems that there is some secret voodoo ritual involved. I've seen completely unsafe clowns with reputations and jerks that were on everybody's 'no fly with' list ride the fast track, and brilliant, great and fun guys get stuck in a rut. So much luck, timing, and randomness involved. It's so hard to relate this to people in the 'normal' working world. They just cannot relate how quirky the career can be, and how wildly the ride will vary from person to person with near identical qualifications and backgrounds. One has very, very little control over progression in the flying career. Plus it is so easy to get stuck in a rut that can be hard to recover from. IE, go to one airline with good upgrades and movement, suddenly things come to a screeching halt, and you're stuck or even furloughed, next thing you know you're a 7 or 8+ yr FO at a regional losing valuable years and struggling on the pay. Meanwhile your buddy, or even a former student, hires on somewhere else, gets a quick upgrade and gets the pic, and moves up to the majors within a few years and starts making money. Thus you talk to one guy who thinks the career is fantastic, and the next guy is hating life, and they could have been buddies in flight school together. Common roots, yet had completely different career outcomes.
A crystal ball would be the single most valuable tool to a pilot, I'm convinced.
So true. It can be a complete roll of the dice when it comes to getting hired. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to why one person gets on and another does not. It seems that there is some secret voodoo ritual involved. I've seen completely unsafe clowns with reputations and jerks that were on everybody's 'no fly with' list ride the fast track, and brilliant, great and fun guys get stuck in a rut. So much luck, timing, and randomness involved. It's so hard to relate this to people in the 'normal' working world. They just cannot relate how quirky the career can be, and how wildly the ride will vary from person to person with near identical qualifications and backgrounds. One has very, very little control over progression in the flying career. Plus it is so easy to get stuck in a rut that can be hard to recover from. IE, go to one airline with good upgrades and movement, suddenly things come to a screeching halt, and you're stuck or even furloughed, next thing you know you're a 7 or 8+ yr FO at a regional losing valuable years and struggling on the pay. Meanwhile your buddy, or even a former student, hires on somewhere else, gets a quick upgrade and gets the pic, and moves up to the majors within a few years and starts making money. Thus you talk to one guy who thinks the career is fantastic, and the next guy is hating life, and they could have been buddies in flight school together. Common roots, yet had completely different career outcomes.
A crystal ball would be the single most valuable tool to a pilot, I'm convinced.
After a full career in engineering at a fortune 500 company I can say that the mystery of promotions are the same outside of the aviation business. After decades of observation of this mystery I have discovered that those people being promoted (they keep this quiet) have connections. These connections could be by family, friend, or lover or even by affirmative action requirements. Almost every time I would see a surprising promotion I would find a connection as I mentioned before.
After a full career in engineering at a fortune 500 company I can say that the mystery of promotions are the same outside of the aviation business. After decades of observation of this mystery I have discovered that those people being promoted (they keep this quiet) have connections. These connections could be by family, friend, or lover or even by affirmative action requirements. Almost every time I would see a surprising promotion I would find a connection as I mentioned before.
One positive to that on the aviation side is you get promoted when your number comes up. No BS politics involved. Of course, the same can almost be made into a negative. But at least you know what you are getting into.
Course, then you go from being a senior FO w/ 18 days off to junior CA with 12 days off...tradeoffs...
So true. It can be a complete roll of the dice when it comes to getting hired. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to why one person gets on and another does not. It seems that there is some secret voodoo ritual involved. I've seen completely unsafe clowns with reputations and jerks that were on everybody's 'no fly with' list ride the fast track, and brilliant, great and fun guys get stuck in a rut. So much luck, timing, and randomness involved. It's so hard to relate this to people in the 'normal' working world. They just cannot relate how quirky the career can be, and how wildly the ride will vary from person to person with near identical qualifications and backgrounds. One has very, very little control over progression in the flying career. Plus it is so easy to get stuck in a rut that can be hard to recover from. IE, go to one airline with good upgrades and movement, suddenly things come to a screeching halt, and you're stuck or even furloughed, next thing you know you're a 7 or 8+ yr FO at a regional losing valuable years and struggling on the pay. Meanwhile your buddy, or even a former student, hires on somewhere else, gets a quick upgrade and gets the pic, and moves up to the majors within a few years and starts making money. Thus you talk to one guy who thinks the career is fantastic, and the next guy is hating life, and they could have been buddies in flight school together. Common roots, yet had completely different career outcomes.
A crystal ball would be the single most valuable tool to a pilot, I'm convinced.
The biggest delineater is timing. I shotgunned my resume out and received 24 calls to interview when I hired on at a regional. Majors, same thing in 2006-2007 time frame for those a few years ahead of me. Guys with <100 PIC were getting picked up at the lower end companies, guys with 1000 PIC were getting scooped up at CAL and NWA, we were losing 5% of our CA payroll monthly. It was a great time to get hired. Then "Age 65" & 2008 oil crisis/meltdown happened, thankfully those guys are finally retiring and hopefullying hiring picks up big time. I can tell you I know two regionals who have had absolutely NO ONE show up for new hire class out of 30 who accepted the position. We are short on both seats, short on CA's because we can't upgrade FO's because we are short on FO's. The pool of applicants with this new 1500 hour has dried up the suitable candidates - the pool for those without checkride failures who meet time requirements with no "issues" on their background checks is pretty small. Qualified people are getting call backs within days of applying.
Well, just another reason I intend to hold on to my commercial Class-A trucking license with HAZMAT and tankers.
It appears to be the exact opposite when it comes to obtaining employment in this profession than any flying position it seems.
Might as well just build up helicopter hours as a hobby and add it to the "just in case" pile.
Expensive hobby, but considering people shell out the same amount of money for art degrees, no one should complain.
Yep...until things get super dire, and they start offering part time pilot jobs, i'll just be enjoying my desk job...I can deal with a crappy overnight twice a month, but every trip, for-get-about-it.
As you figured out for yourself there is no pilot shortage. Good flying jobs are few and far between. so many people want to fly for an airline, even the horror shows like Cougan, that they are willing to pay thousands for their own training. In my humble opinion the entire industry is an employment joke.
Learn to drive a bus or a train instead. Railroads are actually loking for train drivers (engineers) and will teach people how to do it.
I was going to train to be a pilot, since it's been a dream of mine since childhood. After doing some research, I've concluded I might as well flush my money down the toilet. The flight school I went to investigate almost roped me in with the "impending pilot shortage" talk, but I was fortunate enough not to bite until doing a little due diligence.
Why would I want to spend $30-$40K to maybe end up with a job that pays $15K annually?
They've got to do something about the state of affairs that aviation finds itself. Why would you pay a pilot, who is responsible for the safety of all on board in a machine that is moving several hundred miles per hour, less than a bus driver? It's appalling.
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