aviation careers...
STSfan
in...but let me know otherwise.
I'm interested in a career as a pilot; I'm 25 and a college
graduate, and recently have begun work on my private pilot's
license...should probably have it by the end of the summer.
Anyway...I'm not as interested in flying for the airlines as
much as flying Learjets and the like; I was wondering if anyone
could recommend a proper path for training and also maybe what
life as a professional pilot is like, financially and
emotionally, etc, etc,. Thanks for anyhelp; it's much
appreciated.
John
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JMR
http://www.flyhere.com/
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http://www.flightsafety.com/
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TRAVEL/NEWS/04/14/pilots.ronan/index.html
"STSfan" <jebourqui...@juno.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:287ca026...@usw-ex0102-015.remarq.com...
Larry Fransson
> I'm not as interested in flying for the airlines as
> much as flying Learjets and the like; I was wondering if anyone
> could recommend a proper path for training and also maybe what
> life as a professional pilot is like, financially and
> emotionally, etc....
You'll get different recommendations from different people regarding the
path you should take. I started with private, moved on to instrument,
and then commercial, CFI, multiengine, CFII, and MEI. I followed that
up with a Citation type rating. My reason for getting the type rating
was that I had the money to do it, I was still 700 hours from being able
to get an ATP, and I wanted to fly a jet at least once - I couldn't be
100% sure that my flying career would become a reality. I was able to
justify it somewhat as an investment in my career, but I wasn't counting
on it to help me. Turns out that it did, though. Where you get your
training is entirely up to you. I got all of my training through FBOs
and flying clubs. No college programs or flight training academies. A
major advantage of doing it that way is that you can continue to live
where you're at and work at the same time. Getting it all done in a
reasonable period of time will probably require throwing most of your
spare money and time at it. I used to spend 25% of my pre-tax income on
flying.
I would highly recommend the flight instructor route for anyone who
wants to get into corporate/charter flying. Pilots these days are
getting airline jobs with less than 1,000 hours and minimal multiengine
time, but the majority of corporate and charter operators like to see
more than that. That is changing, though, as the pool of qualified
applicants is nearly dry. One advantage of many instructor jobs,
though, is that your schedule may be very flexible. That flexibility
can be very helpful when it comes to getting a job with the
corporate/charter operators you want to work for. Many these days are
using low time pilots on a part time basis. Those part time jobs can
work into a full time position when an opportunity arises. If you can
find an instruction job at a company that also has a charter department,
that can be very helpful, especially if the charter department is
expanding as many are lately. The company I used to work for used its
instructors to fill open positions in the charter department. While
instructing, I started flying charters in single engine Cessnas, then
moved on to a Piper Seneca, and then a Cessna 414 when the company added
one to their certificate. The department has continued to expand since
I left two years ago, adding a Cessna Conquest (turboprop), and hoping
to add a Citation soon. An opportunity like that could give you the
experience you need to get the job you want. It might even be the job
you want!
Your life as a professional pilot may well be much different from mine
or anybody else's. It depends on the job you get. As an instructor, I
worked six days a week. Once the charter business got busy, I was
making enough money to work five days a week. My next job was in the
right seat of a Lear 25 flying charters out of Macon, Georgia. I had no
life and no money (although $1500 a month goes farther in Macon than it
would in Seattle), but that was okay, because I was just there for the
experience. That job was 24/7 on call, but it was fun, too. I got to
go to a lot of different places and fly some really interesting people.
The job I'm at now pays well enough to make a reasonable living, and the
pay scale gets better from here. I fly a Lear 35 in air ambulance
service. I have a real schedule. It's a bit messy now because we're
short on pilots. (We've turned over 50% of our pilot staff in the year
that I've been here. Most have gone to National Airlines in Las Vegas.
That's okay with me, though, because I upgraded to captain a few months
ago, which meant a nice increase in pay and security.) But in general,
I can look two to three months out and tell you which days I'm working,
the hours I'm working on those days, and which days I'm off. If I spend
a night on the road, it's usually either because I'm at FlightSafety for
a week or because I'm somewhere in Alaska with a mechanical problem and
there's no way to get it fixed until the next day. I've had one trip
that required an overnight stay somewhere - they are the exception
rather than the rule. Some corporate and charter jobs will give you
that, but it's not easy to find. The charter company down the field was
looking for people to fill the right seats of their Challengers a while
back. They were offering more than twice what I was making, and you
didn't need and previous Challenger experience. But they could only
guarantee four days off every month - essentially the part 135 minimum
requirement. I decided that wasn't for me. I've come to enjoy having a
schedule and a life. The married guys like it, too. AIDS (Aviation
Induced Divorce Syndrome) is all too common among professional pilots.
I know several pilots who have had that problem.
A career flying corporate jets probably won't be as financially
rewarding as an airline job. Some are, but most aren't. It is a little
better now as employers are forced to raise salaries in order to retain
their pilots. It has taken four years, but I think I have just reached
the point at which my salary is about the same as it was when I left the
military in 1996. It's enough that I can afford to replace my 1991 Ford
Ranger with something new and buy a small house or condo if I can come
up with a down payment. (I'm living in Seattle, so housing is not cheap
here!) I think I'll be happy with this job until I retire. I'm always
willing to consider something else, but it's hard to find something that
compares favorably with this job.
One thing that you'll have to get used to as someone who aspires to fly
corporate jets is the attitudes of airline pilots and airline pilot
wannabes who think you're nuts for not wanting an airline job. I get it
all the time, although less so now since some of those guys now have
airline jobs and I don't have to deal with them anymore. Something that
keeps me here is a conversation I had with a guy who used to be doing
this job. He is now working for Southwest. He said that airline flying
isn't nearly as interesting as this job, and he spends more time on the
road. The only thing he could say to recommend airline flying was that
it paid more. If your life is all about money, the airlines are
probably the only place you'll come close to being happy. But you
probably won't even be happy then. But if you can be happy with a
reasonable income, you can probably find something you'll like. Just
make an effort to get to know everyone you possibly can. Who you know
is everything in this business.
----
Larry Fransson (lfransson*aol*com)
Pilots are just plane people with a different air about them.