md11phlyer

Your memory's tendency to rewrite history incorrectly has prompted you to become delusional, and possibly led you to quitting the pursuit of a dream. I'm sorry.

Skyhigh is for quitters.

MadDog11F

Interestingly enough, Gemini is the best thing that could've possibly happened to me...

SkyHigh

Over the years I have had to accept some difficult truths.

If one wishes to become an Airline Pilot then time as a CFI is near worthless because airlines don't care how you get your time. They only care if you get there faster and in bigger equipment than the other guy. Working as a CFI for most takes many years to build hours. The pay is in-humanly low. The skills learned are unnecessary and do not help the pilot to be better suited for life as an airline pilot. I was a CFI for a long time. It did not help me or any of my friends.

FO's have a near worthless place in the aircraft and it is proven in the market place. After nearly 20 years of effort unless you have 1000 hours of turbine, or better, PIC your resume might as well be wrapping fish. No one cares or values FO time. It is a supurfulous position. The days of your life spent as an FO are a total waste as far as your career goes.


JB, Frontier and the rest of the grade "B" league of airlines don't have bases in the NW, are continually on shaky soil and will never provide the same life as a legacy or major airline. If you can't understand why I would not be interested in risking my future on a situation that can not offer a satisfactory return then perhaps you have a case of sjs.

Believe me I wish the world was different. I believed and pursued these things only to learn some hard facts. Everyone of these beliefs were learned by me through years of sacrifice and pain. My main thrust in aviation is to survive, thrive and to be able to provide for my family. Almost every captain I sat next to throughout my career I did not envy. They were a window to my future or to anyone's future who does not get hired and invests oneself into a good company. I have made efforts and studied how to win in aviation and life. Though I wish the world was different it is how it is. Even though the message is painful denying it does no good to anyone.

Perhaps if things were different we would trade places on this forum. If my resume had hit the right desk or maybe if a former bush pilot had been on the hiring board that day I would be the one who was putting on a clean white shirt in the morning. Even then however I don't think I would forget how lucky I was and never forget the hardships that others endure.

SkyHigh

SkyHigh

Perhaps you hired on early enough to have made the left seat? I have a friend there who had five years of frozen pay in the right seat, gone for a month at a time and expected to face a shutdown everyday. If one was single then perhaps they could accept those risks, I however can not.

One mans paradise is often another's hell. The only thing that separates the two is often only a few seniority numbers.

SkyHigh

SkyHigh

I would say that diminishing returns and dimming future prospects are the reason for my decision to quit. It had nothing to do with history other than to use it to predict the future.

All you cargo guys can have fun beating me up. My airline story isn't over yet and neither is yours. Only you know what you have lost and only you will continue to loose and gain. As for myself the losses to aviation have stopped.

SkyHigh

TXTECHKA

You're pitiful. What do you do now that you are "self-employed" that is so much better than flying? I think you live by some belief that pilots go to the regionals as career and plan on staying. No, they go and get their time and get on with a major or a good corporate job. They are still there, you just refuse to admit that since you jumped ship before your time came. I think of the regionals as the equivalent of a doctor doing their residency. You don't make any money but it is moving towards something better. Some people stay too long and that screws them up some but if you are persistent and have some character, then you can do what you want in aviation.

SkyHigh

I like most others believed that I would go to a regional and then move on to a major. The truth is that most never leave the regional. When you look at major airline hiring as a whole it averages only around 2600 hires per year. The military alone could supply enough pilots to satisfy the majors indefinitely. In addition the regionals and LCC's are expanding while the legacy and better major airlines are shrinking. The odds of one ever reaching a good job at the majors is fast becoming a hail Mary shot at best.

If you go to a regional a better plan would be to expect to make a career out of it with thin hopes of maybe reaching a major one day. If you don't like the idea of spending a career at a regional then perhaps you had better take pause and consider another plan.

SkyHigh

TXTECHKA

You still didn't say what you did for a living now.

N6724G

I have been on this site and reading Skyhigh'sposts for years. Exactly what is SkyHigh's story? I read him complaina lot but I actually never knew how he came upon these hard times. WHats the story in a nutshell?

ImperialxRat

He has said it many times before, in many other posts.

I can't remember the exact phraseology, but he is a contractor, or builds houses. Or both. =)

While I agree that often times Skyhigh is TOO negative about the industry, everything he says isn't just garbage. You should read his posts and then look at the industry with a more rounded picture. And also just remember that his voice is just one persons opinion. Sometimes I really appreciate coming here and reading posts other than "mesa sucks" or "our pay is too low"

But trust me, sometimes I get tired of the negativity too....and no matter how much he says it's not a worthy career pursuit anymore, it isn't stopping me from trying...just like a "skyhigh" back when he was entering aviation most likely wouldn't have deterred him.