LTdan

I love aviation, but other than becoming a major airline pilot, what other careers in aviation pay well? I'm not about to become a controller, so that's out. Getting hired by a major seems almost impossible and on top of that, I'm starting to get bored with just being a pilot.

NotPart91

Here's an International Company, flexible 7/24 schedules, pay commensurate with experience.

Plan B

Btw; I can't believe that they actually made a video of the job responsibilities.

On a serious note; set up an account here with an aviation tag.

It'll send you aviation-related job leads, (when available).

www.usajobs.gov

The only drawback is that application windows can be very narrow, so have your resume ready to upload.

BoilerUP

How do you define "pay well"?

Large cabin long range bizjet jobs can pay very well and have an excellent QOL, but one typically doesn't waltz into such a job.

gringo

Huh?

How so?

Learflyer

Because it's a beauty pageant. Expensive (freakin' job fairs are new normal), Got to have a perfect resume/app with no blemishes or tiny mistakes, and you have to decide whether or not interview prep will help or hurt (SWA catching on to "coached applicants.")

In short...It's a pain in the a$$. Used to be experience mattered. Now there are folks with no PIC getting called and hired over 40 something highly experienced people. Just my two cents.

gringo

Baloney.

With the exception of American and maybe a little bit Delta, there has never been an easier time since 9/11 to get hired on by a Major or Legacy carrier.

Yes, job fairs are pretty much required. Yes, interview prep is highly recommended. And yes, spending $50 to have someone put their eyeballs on your resume is a good idea.

Right or wrong, those are more or less the de facto rules of the game; almost anyone who plays by these simple rules today, provided they don't have a history of failures or DUIs or a felony record can get hired by either UAL, jetBlue, Spirit, SWA or Frontier. United just hired a friend of mine who had zero PIC.

The ONLY way the statement that getting hired by a Major or a Legacy is "pretty much impossible" is if the applicant absolutely refuses to play the game.

You can't play baseball if you're not willing to pick up a bat.

Otterbox

Airlines are making an investment in you till you're 65 (in theory) for decent pay and qol late in life. They haven't gotten to the point where they don't need to look for whatever they want since there's still a ton of applicants. Maybe it will be different in 5 yeas. Maybe not.

All the things mentioned are what I would call an investment in my future on my end and a check in the box on their end. You can either try to give them what they want now, or wait till they're more desperate (which has already been happening as they reduce hiring mins) and call you.

fiveninerzero

Get an MBA and go into management.

CODs4ever

Really? That is surprising. No PIC time or no turbine PIC? Maybe they had a lot of turbine SIC... Did your friend meet any other type of diversity guidelines or perhaps they knew some people on the inside over there at United? Either way, good for them.

I had a friend who got hired at Hawaiian years ago with zero PIC turbine, but this individual had flown regionals in Hawaii and had two older brothers at Hawaiian, which helped BIG time.

You can always go fly UAVs and make good money (similar to max FO pay at several major/LCC airlines). They have to throw money at those UAV pilot jobs because it is not nearly as much fun as "real flying."

galaxy flyer

That's the game nowadays, but there are many options. I've been a 121 pilot (Eastern), ex-mil, corporate now, nearing retirement. I've got a 7-figure retirement balance, a high 5-figure retirement check and never did more that slap together a resume and stay networked. It ain't hard. I know many big iron corporate guys knocking down 200K+ in their thirties.

All that said, the necessary investment to get a legacy job is well worth it, but it's not the only way to have a fulfilling aviation career.

GF