Need some starting advice!
05-28-2014, 03:01 PM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2012
Posts: 178
Chris, welcome. If you're here, and have the fortitude to sift the wheat from the chaff regarding career advice on APC, you're already ten times ahead of where I was at your age. You're young and seem pretty idealistic about dreaming of a flying career. I can't fault you for that, I was too, and I still believe it is the right fit for me, so I'm happy. But there are a lot of things I had no clue about right up until I hit the line in my brand new uniform.
You are going to invest a lot of time and emotional energy, not to mention a small fortune getting into this game. First, ask yourself why you want to do this. I'm totally serious; I know many many pilots who found out too late what the mundane details of the job really are and they are MISERABLE. They hate everything and they are terrible to work with. They must have imagined themselves as Leonardo DiCaprio in "Catch Me If You Can", with attractive young women drooling all over them, jet-setting city to city, never having to do any real work. If you're the kind of person who needs accolades and the adoration of strangers to feel good about yourself, you'll be miserable as an airline pilot. Ditto if you imagine it to be in any way glamorous. The reality is often lousy hotels, lousy food, 4am van rides three time zones ahead of where you're based or live, sleepless nights during weddings/prom/football tournaments/whatever event is going on at your hotel, rude passengers, bitter flight attendants, angry gate agents, working five days a week commuting to some hub you can't afford/don't want to live in, bunking in a crashpad with 10 other people, spending holidays birthdays and anniversaries away from home and loved ones, missing your childrens', well, childhood. Don't get me started on the slave wages that are first-year regional pay (because, let's face it, you won't waltz in to SouthWest or American with a wet ATP license, you're going to do some time at a regional) Is it always like this? Of course not, no rational human being would continue to inflict that kind of damage on themselves long-term. But it will be your life for at least a certain period of time, and it really is a LIFESTYLE choice, not a career choice. Relatively very few people are lucky enough to make it to be senior enough to cherry-pick their schedules and be home when they want to be home.
Now, having said all that, I love my job. I enjoy the variety and the challenge, and I can laugh it off when someone tells me off because we're late even though I just fought through a raging thunderstorm to get them safely on the ground. Most of my friends I spend time with are also pilots who work weekends, since I'm not often home to see my regular-workweek friends anymore, and that's okay because I work with and have gotten to know some really fun people. My spouse is also in the industry, so we have holidays when it is convenient for us. We make it work.
SO... If you're looking for advice, I really like what a previous poster said about keeping your driving record clean, staying out of trouble, and getting a degree in a separate field. The first two will sink your chances of getting your dream job if you run afoul of the law (imagine you have two candidates with equal flight time and ratings and appear the same on paper, but one has a clean record and the other multiple violations, which one will you take the time to interview?) the last you might need if you ever medical out or get furloughed, both being a very real possibility. Another item that I cannot stress enough is being financially responsible. Flight training isn't cheap, add in student loans (if you have them) from college, and you're already in a hole before you get your first paying flying job. Things will probably need to be lean for awhile, just don't rely on credit card debt. Many pilots dig themselves an impossible pit financially and, again, as furlough and medical issues can come out of left field, you don't want to be living on the edge of financial ruin.
If you can swing it, it might be worth looking into purchasing an instrument-legal aircraft and hiring an independent instructor. It might seem like a huge outlay upfront, but with wet rental rates above the $100/hr mark at many places and not including instruction, you may be able to fly your plane and rack up many of the hours you'll need at a much cheaper rate. Consider that even though the FAA minimum to get your Private Pilots License is 40 hours, the nationwide average is closer to 100. That's close to $15,000 just for the PPL. Even factoring in maintenance and fuel, the resale value on a late-model Cessna or Piper can have you recouping most of your investment.
You are going to invest a lot of time and emotional energy, not to mention a small fortune getting into this game. First, ask yourself why you want to do this. I'm totally serious; I know many many pilots who found out too late what the mundane details of the job really are and they are MISERABLE. They hate everything and they are terrible to work with. They must have imagined themselves as Leonardo DiCaprio in "Catch Me If You Can", with attractive young women drooling all over them, jet-setting city to city, never having to do any real work. If you're the kind of person who needs accolades and the adoration of strangers to feel good about yourself, you'll be miserable as an airline pilot. Ditto if you imagine it to be in any way glamorous. The reality is often lousy hotels, lousy food, 4am van rides three time zones ahead of where you're based or live, sleepless nights during weddings/prom/football tournaments/whatever event is going on at your hotel, rude passengers, bitter flight attendants, angry gate agents, working five days a week commuting to some hub you can't afford/don't want to live in, bunking in a crashpad with 10 other people, spending holidays birthdays and anniversaries away from home and loved ones, missing your childrens', well, childhood. Don't get me started on the slave wages that are first-year regional pay (because, let's face it, you won't waltz in to SouthWest or American with a wet ATP license, you're going to do some time at a regional) Is it always like this? Of course not, no rational human being would continue to inflict that kind of damage on themselves long-term. But it will be your life for at least a certain period of time, and it really is a LIFESTYLE choice, not a career choice. Relatively very few people are lucky enough to make it to be senior enough to cherry-pick their schedules and be home when they want to be home.
Now, having said all that, I love my job. I enjoy the variety and the challenge, and I can laugh it off when someone tells me off because we're late even though I just fought through a raging thunderstorm to get them safely on the ground. Most of my friends I spend time with are also pilots who work weekends, since I'm not often home to see my regular-workweek friends anymore, and that's okay because I work with and have gotten to know some really fun people. My spouse is also in the industry, so we have holidays when it is convenient for us. We make it work.
SO... If you're looking for advice, I really like what a previous poster said about keeping your driving record clean, staying out of trouble, and getting a degree in a separate field. The first two will sink your chances of getting your dream job if you run afoul of the law (imagine you have two candidates with equal flight time and ratings and appear the same on paper, but one has a clean record and the other multiple violations, which one will you take the time to interview?) the last you might need if you ever medical out or get furloughed, both being a very real possibility. Another item that I cannot stress enough is being financially responsible. Flight training isn't cheap, add in student loans (if you have them) from college, and you're already in a hole before you get your first paying flying job. Things will probably need to be lean for awhile, just don't rely on credit card debt. Many pilots dig themselves an impossible pit financially and, again, as furlough and medical issues can come out of left field, you don't want to be living on the edge of financial ruin.
If you can swing it, it might be worth looking into purchasing an instrument-legal aircraft and hiring an independent instructor. It might seem like a huge outlay upfront, but with wet rental rates above the $100/hr mark at many places and not including instruction, you may be able to fly your plane and rack up many of the hours you'll need at a much cheaper rate. Consider that even though the FAA minimum to get your Private Pilots License is 40 hours, the nationwide average is closer to 100. That's close to $15,000 just for the PPL. Even factoring in maintenance and fuel, the resale value on a late-model Cessna or Piper can have you recouping most of your investment.
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