Puros

This is a thread about reality- no question about it. Many of you are facing hardships like never before and my hat goes off to you that have endured such a huge setback. I am flying for a major airline, currently on military leave now in a health care field and probably will not be returning to flying for another three years (assuming I even have a job to go back to). When I left for the military I was about one or two classes away from upgrading in the 320. Three years later, my classmates are middle- seniority 320/ 737 fo's and they keep inching backwards on the seniority list. Pairings are getting worse, pay is still at 2004 levels and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Being removed from the industry for a couple of years, I never realized the big companies like Comair and AWAC (my former employer a decade ago) are furloughing. God, it must be bad!
Where are things going? I know in my new field business if falling off a cliff in the civilian sector- to the tune of 30 to 40% since December. I was talking to an opthamologist friend of mine in the Navy and he said his friends in the outside world are seeing a 50% drop in Lasik eye surgeries! Bottom line is anything elective, even cosmetic or quality of life improvement procedure are cliff diving. So I can see why the expensive regional jets are being parked because they were at the fringe of the economic business model- great to harness high RASM customers in the go-go 90's and housing bubble days of late. Now, they may be the white elephants of an economic model that is completely different than it was even one year ago. But the RJ business model itself is the canary in the coal mine- which is going to be a huge problem for the majors going forward. I believe there will definitely be a trickle-up effect on the bigger equipment because it isn't like the majors can survive without regional feed. Gone are the days where an airline would hardly miss local feed coming in on a Beech 99 from Altoona, PA. Now, we are talking huge passenger enplanements coming off 50 and 75 seat jets so the business model at every major (save LUV and AAI) is in trouble. Some of the marginal hubs which were maintained by a mix of RJ and mainline aircraft are now flowing red. I think the big players will probably be doing major cutbacks soon. They have to. So even though you guys have seen a lot of furloughs on the regional level I believe you will be seeing much more at the majors in the future. Hopefully I am wrong, but like another poster said this poor economy is affecting everyone. I see it in my field and I see it every time I walk into Home Depot, Cosco or pick up a real estate magazine. The question is how much more pain is still in front of us? Best wishes to all.

windycityboy

Count me in as furloughed, 4th time in six years. 3 from 121 operators and the last from 135.

Things are way too quiet out there with way too many of us out there. Keep the posts going of jobs and recalls!!

Tink

On the street after 7 months and thanks diver for the ride from the airport and the couch when I got stuck in Cinci on my way back from the Mesaba interview.

Diver Driver

Anytime bro.

A10crewdawg

furloughed Aug 08 and waiting to hear from units on slots. GO GUARD/RESERVE!

jparker371

furloughed Aug '08 as well. Guess it was a blessing in disguise because at that time was fortunate enough to find a 135 gig after only being on the streets for two weeks, while guys I know a few months later cant find anything. Its gotta turn around sometime right?

FreighterGuyNow

6 airlines

Every one of which furloughed me - one more than once. All 6 went CH 11. 4 never came out.

Turn all that negative energy into a positive: get in shape, visit family, bomb around Europe on a motorcycle - whatever.

Be patient. Accept the fact a new job will probably not occur on your time line.

Keep in mind you may have to explain the time off at a future interview so look for something to fill that blank.

It really was, for me, darkest just before the dawn. When I hit bottom a job seemed to pop up and I was off and running again.

Oh yea, I was completely unprepared for the first furlough. Had my ducks in a row for the rest.

dmncnpilot

Add me to the list! Furloughed from ExpressJet since 30 Sep 08. Thought it was the end of the world. I really love flying. Got my D-G Security Officer License and started working as a security guard. Now I'm in training flying UAV's making 6 figures my first year. Bye bye airlines, I've seen the light! Don't get me wrong, airline flying is fun and I've wanted to be an airline pilot all my life, however it just doesn't pay the bills. No ROI and that really sucks! I just can't afford to go back to an airline job and just wait for the next furlough.

Be positive, best of luck to all.

ps. if you're class date @ express was after 7 May 08 you have one less guy ahead of you to worry about. I highly doubt I'll come back. Hope this helps )

flynavyj

Good luck crewdog, get that guard slot. You can be my wingman anytime! jk.

On the other side, can't vote on this, as I'm non of the above, i freaking quit....in the words of Goodfellas, "F*ck you, pay me!"

el jefe

The best tip I figured out while on furlough...

Don't check company email or APC every day 5 times a day to see if your company is recalling pilots. It will destroy you.