mcartier713

when you say ramp rat.. does that mean you think I should go for the US Air thing?... heh?

BoredwLife

I say stay away from the ramp thing. Like someone said all youll meet is other rampers. This is true, how many pilots do you know that actually hang out in the aft baggage compartment.

I made a ton of great contacts when I worked at a corprate FBO and actully got my first flying job that way.

As for school take no breaks get done as quick as you can. Senority IS EVERYTHING!! The younger you get in the better. I got on at a regional at 23 and there are quite a few younger ones ahead of me.

LAfrequentflyer

Am I wrong? How often have you seen a pretty girl only to be followed by a few more...

-LAFF

ryane946

Mcartier.

What is your financial situation? Sorry to be blunt about it, but do you have enough money to support yourself through college and/or flight training?? If you can do college and a portion of your flight training without taking out loans, go for the US Air ramp position. If you really need to money to ensure you don't go into crazy debt, go for the pizza delivery job.


Here are the best recommendations I have for you:

1. You cannot return to school this semester. Get a job (or 2) right now and work as much as you can until the end of August. Best situation would be to work day shift on the ramp (6-2) or something, and then deliver pizza's in the evening. If you can't/don't want to have 2 jobs, do the higher paying pizza delivery job.
2. Go to college at the end of summer. I don't know what school you were going to, but either go back to that college, or find the cheapest state school you can. Tuition is somewhere in the range of $2,000 a semester (CHEAP). GO TO COLLEGE!! I already wrote you an entire post about how not going to college will 1) Probably prevent you from flying for a major airline, and 2) will cost you atleast 2 MILLION DOLLARS over your entire career. Pick the easiest major you can. Just get that degree.
3. Save as much money as you can! A big cost while in college is room and board. Can you live with your parents near a college? How about relatives? A good gig I had while in college was being a resident advisor (RA). You basically live in the dorms, you are in charge of your floor, and you wind up spending 5-10 hours a week working. The pay was $9,000 of room and board! If none of those work for you, just get an off campus apartment as cheap as you can.
4. Continue to work while you are in school. Don't overload yourself. Just 10-20 hours a week is very do able. If you become over loaded, just quit your job.
5. Soon you will have made/saved enough money to do your flight training. It is up to you, but you can either do this during the school year or over the summer. In my experience, it was easier to do flight training while working 40 hours a week during the summer than it was to do flight training while in college, but that is different for every person. The ultimate goal is to have your private, instrument, commercial, multi, and CFI ratings by the time you graduate college. That way when you graduate you can immediately get paid for your services.
6. Build some time, go to a regional, build some more time, go to a major, MAKE LOTS OF MONEY and enjoy your life!

That is what I would do if I were you. Only you know your financial situation, but if you work as much as you can until the end of summer, go to college, work a little while in college, and do your flight training while in school, you should be able to graduate college with very little if any debt. And that is very rare for pilots!

Good luck.
Let me know if you have any more questions.

mcartier713

Thanks ryane...

I got the job at USAir.. I went in for my interview yesterday and she hired me on the spot. I leave for phoenix on Tuesday.

My financial situation is pretty good actually, I'm living with my parents right now, so I'm not worrying about rent, and USAir offers some type of tuition assistance which was what I was going to be paying for anyway because Dad is going to pay for flight training.. at least for my PPL anyway. And as far as college goes, I'm going to take an online course this semester and a class or two this summer, then start back up with maybe 10 or so hours next semester at my community college to get some basic classes out of the way.

As far as working 2 jobs, I want to but I'm nervous how my hours are going to pan out @ USAir. I have 3 weeks of training before I can even bid for my hours, so I don't know how I'm supposed to tell the pizza place about that. Plus I might get stuck the night shift anyway (USAir).. so we'll see I guess.

Thanks for all your input guys.

ToiletDuck

Congrats on the job and best wishes. Stay focused on why you're doing it things will work out. I had nothing, still really don't, when I started and worked all through college and now i'm flying. Good fortunes find those who earn them.
Duck

ryane946

Congrats. That sounds great. I am glad you are taking classes now and over the summer. It is great that US Air will offer tuition assistance. You should have no problem paying for school. The US Air gig is such a great opportunity to 1) Learn about aircraft and 2) meet lots of people.
As for flight training, the expense runs 25-30k. PPL is probably 8k. So you still need to save up money for that. However, I think just working your US Air job will suffice. No need to make yourself suffer through two jobs if you don't need to!
Good luck with your US Air job. Good luck getting through college. Either do your flight training during school or during the summer. And you should be set in a few years.

CL65driver

LAFF is relentless!!

Anyway, if you'd like to get your foot in the door at a 121 operation, try to find a job in flight ops. I worked flight ops for JAL at SFO for a few years, definately networked with a bunch of good pilots. Instructed on my time off, and eventually ended up with like 15 letters of reccomendation from various 744 and 747F Captains when I interviewed at XJT. Apparently it worked- since I was hired with relatively low time.

Not to mention, once you get online at a 121 carrier- the release, flight plan and weather packet won't look like a bunch of jumbled numbers. You'll also get familiar with ACARS, AG radio and everything that goes into getting a bird airborne.

PM me if you're interested- my old company might still have a Weight and Balance position open at SFO.