Another Boeing 737 Max-8 crash

There were more pilots than there were jobs in the 90s. Flying commuter airlines was pure misery.

 

Is this a Britishism I'm not aware of (and like -- like a wedge of a bankroll), or was that meant to be wage?

 

Yep, a wedge of money.

 

Pile of dosh! Love it.

 

I could say the same thing about motorcycle racers..

 

There’s a name for it. AIDS. Airport Induced Divorce Syndrome. Mind you it’s not just pilots. Maintenance guys doing shift work, hell, most airport related jobs are shift work due to 24/7 airport schedule...shift work can be hard on relationships

 

Agreed, I think they are underpaid to start off with. But on the other hand they can be into the six figures pretty quickly and eventually they can be making $200-300k+ to work 12-15 days a month so it's not a bad gig.

 

You might make bank. A Southwest guy probably won’t kill it if that is where he stays. If he can get on with delta on international routes as a captain he will be pulling $200k. But, jumping into that spot is hard, and will happen 20 or so years into your career, which hasn’t paid much.

 

Dad started at NetJets after retiring from his flying job. Two years in, with the Teamsters threatening to strike (it was a closed shop), Warren doubled everyone’s pay. I think he made more in a third of the time.

 

The biggest thing I see nobody is mentioning is that you have to have a 4 year degree for the majors to consider you so you can make the big bucks.

So 4 year degree cost on top of $80K+ flight training and a good 15+years of your life paying your dues.

 

The opportunities are there if you’ve got the
hustle. You can get your degree, go fly USAF and have a job lined up with a major before you put in for separation. You just gotta hustle. There are a few 30-year-old FOs in 777s who’ve done it that way.

 

Not saying there aren't but the amount of commitment explains the pilot shortage.

I got a $50K+ CDL job after 12 weeks of school/on the job training that I was being paid during.

 

I can’t even think of a word to describe a NetJet pilot’s quality of life. Their schedule is horrific. If you just want to fly and don’t care about having a family or friends or a relationship with your kids it might work for you. Otherwise I can’t imagine why anyone does it.

 

Sounds like they do it for the pay

Sent from my smatrfone

 

FedEx just donated like $18 million to a local university here in order to expand their flight school stuff to generate more pilots.

 

Ive flown through worse

 

It's all relative. Quality of life "sucking" for some means working 20 days a month.... for others, 15 days on the road is pure torture.

I would say the worst part of the career is that due to the seniority system, in the beginning you're "gambling" a bit that in 6-10 years you will end up with decent seniority at a bigger airline that has good pay and quality of life. You have to start out working shit jobs where you're gone all the time for not alot of $$. Your goal is to keep your nose clean (from a regulatory, training, DUI, and flight attendant pregnancy standpoint) long enough to build some quality experience, AND hoping the big boys keep hiring long enough for you to get out of the shitty airline (or airlines). Then, once you get the dream job, you hope THAT company doesn't take a shit on you or the economy doesn't go berserk so the company keeps growing, and you keep moving up through the seniority ranks. This was about a 6-7 year path when I started in '98, if you didn't hit any roadblocks. (9/11 extended that to 10-12 years).

It used to be you needed a 4 year degree. That is not the case anymore. Also, the military used to be a big pipeline for pilots, but they are having struggles of their own, they are very, very short of pilots and on top of that, the dream military jobs are harder to come by. Thank the drones for that.

The path to a 6 figure career, flying jets 13-14 days a month (what we used to call the dream job) is shorter and less fraught with peril now than it EVER has been. There is real opportunity there.

For me personally, I never thought I would end up at a place like Southwest, but I am very happy there. I fly 3 days a week, and make competitive salary with all the other big airlines. I will never fly heavy metal over the pond, but to be honest, I'm ok with that. I'm 45 this week, I can't even handle a 3 day west coast trip the way I used to, forget going overseas. Plus I get to fly the plane as much as I want, vs. sitting there watching the autopilot. Also, the thing I like about my airline is that you can work as hard as you want, or as little as you want. They obviously pay differently, but I like having that flexibility. My buddies at Delta have a monthly cap on their flying hours, and thus it's hard to work more or less. To each his own. Plus, when I come to work, people around me are generally happy, and that makes me generally happier, and thus I enjoy my time at work rather than turning it into one 3 day long bitch fest. But now we're way off topic.

It has been a great career for me (so far), I honestly don't think the divorce rate is any higher than any other profession, but that is just based on my observations. I was lucky enough to marry a woman that has some independence, a job of her own, and although we miss each other, we appreciate our time apart, too. I had 20 years of girlfriends yelling at me "I've been waiting all week for you!" So you can imagine what they would say when I got home Friday and started loading the trailer.....Thank god I dodged those bullets.

 

Is this a common problem ?