Gearswinger

I've been talking to a lot of new hires lately. Quite a few are guys who got out of the military (non flying jobs) who went to school and got their ratings and time and now are starting 121. Every one of them have been great to talk to, very sharp and professional.

WesternSkies

I too have noticed more accents. Nothing wrong with it but it does cause you to ponder.

Bellanca

It's not about having to build 1500, as much as the time comes slow and most people are looking at 2-3 years to build the hours, all while making crappy wages, then another year of first year airline pay. There's a lot of people that just can't afford to only make $25k for 3 or 4 years...

The school I instructed at was $250,000 for 4 years plus flight ratings. Rediculous. But even going the FBO route can easily run $50,000 these days, add another $70,000 for a degree from a state school (yes tuition is getting that out of control), and a lot of people just can't afford it.

GoFastTurnLeft

I'll let yall know in mid January when I go to training. I'm 25 and have a good feeling I'll be one of the younger ones in class.

Taylor814ce

Private alone runs average of $20K in my neck of woods.
$8/gal 100LL.

sweetholyjesus

Go on.....

RedGuy

So as I see it the problem is the arbitrary requirement of the airlines to have a college degree for a career that having one does just about nothing to enhance your skills.

In years gone by you couldn't even think about getting a job at a regional with less than 1500hrs or more just because that's what you had to have to even be compedetive.

This seems to be finally turning into a good time to be a pilot, for the first time I've seen real improvement in wages and companies fighting to get pilots in my nearly 2 decades in aviation. The fact that you have to get alittle experience is a minor bump in the road.

Bigpimppilot

6 more years of slogging in the trenches for below average pay and you could flow to AA. Let's look back in 5 or so years and see how that flow works out.

50SeatsofGrey

This is a huge pet peeve of mine, how can you argue that you deserve more money and at the same time claim you need less education than what is already required?

Requiring a college degree is not arbitrary, college is basically an extension of high school today. I honestly cannot think of an excuse for not having one. With the exception of about 3 or 4 degrees, college is not intended to be specific training for a job, its about learning how to think. The issue with obtaining a degree is the astronomical cost, not merit.

OP, compared to a few years ago (pre 1500 hr rule) the makeups of regional new hire classes are a lot different. I would go so far as to say that fresh CFIs are the minority, while career changers and people who have been dabbling in flying while doing other things make up the majority. It will be interesting to see how things play out.

threeighteen

Med School looking better and better by the day....

wow, where is your flight school? ORD? It's $3.84 at my local airport, which is far from podunk and I've gassed up for as low as $3.33 in the last month.

Astronomical cost, like you mentioned, is a fantastic excuse for not having one.