joel payne

Why do we still do this ? We must have a flawed gene somewhere.

: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/bu...ewanted=1&_r=1

atpwannabe

An excellent read for sure.

I must admit that since the downturn in the industry, I have from time to time second guessed whether or not this is something I really want to do. Although I will go into & come out of flight training with no debt, I'm still being cautious. Possible furloughs; long upgrades and blah, blah, blah seems to wear on you over time.

Btw, when Jason Captain makes CA, he will known as Captain Captain.


atp

Cubdriver

It looks to me as if getting into airline flying has to be done the right way to be truly worthwhile and to be rewarding nowadays. It has always been a topsy-turvy industry but in the last decade it has become very tight-fisted and difficult to win. The overall margins have become very thin. Even good pilots who do not play the game right are getting burned by the industry for the first time and more often do not return to it when bumped out. They are carrying too much debt with them, forget that the quality of life is not that good at the lower (regional) level, or they are going with not enough overall information about what to expect. Some things I would think about are:

*are you free from debt for your flight training, or nearly so
*do you already have a degree in something with littel or no debt associated with it
*can you find a "good regional" to apply to, as defined by a variety of factors beyond the scope of this list
*can you live near the base you plan to fly from
*do you have either no family, or only a wife and one or two chidlren at most
*are you really determined to do it, and convinced it is worth doing to be an airline pilot for your personal life ambitions
*do you really like flying and feel a need to form a self-image as a high level pilot (seriously)
*are you willing to end up at a regional for the rest of your working life if it comes to that
*do you not mind hotels half the month each month
*are you ok with some night work
*do you value having a rather large number of days off in a given month, and are able and willing to manage your free time and use it wisely
*do you really like people and the life of serving people
*do you to not mind being away from home and home town for days at a time on a regular basis
*are you dog determined to stick with the long-term career goal of flying for a major airline, and strong in your conviction it is a worthy and attainable thing to do.

I hasten to add I am just a sideline spectator who reads APC a lot, but these are some observations I can make on the subject.

-Cub

Dog Breath

A thread on this subject has already been started here.....

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ad.php?t=24911