Originally Posted by
Lordflasheart
Dear T7PF
No-one else has offered an opinion in >24 hrs (which is unusual for prune) and given that we know little about you other than your nationality and your desire to pursue a career in aviation, so as a long retired military and civvy pilot and committed cynic, I would suggest the following:
1. It does not matter what age, or whatever or wherever you are - the realistic answer to your perfectly reasonable questions would currently be - You should assume the worst or most negative answers to every single question.
2. Even the most senior Captain in most well known world airlines would have trouble accessing most of the 'beneficial arrangements' you ask about.
3. In most airlines around the world, if you are at the bottom of the list - you do what your employer tells you - or you leave.
4. If you aspire to a career in civil aviation, you might do better by reading up on the Wannabes section.
5. I kid you not - whatever you might read or think - if you want to be a real airline pilot - It ain't easy. It's jolly hard work. It's family disruptive. Your management will squeeze you regardless of how loud you squeak. Your union will have little influence on your resulting miserable junior life.
6. Have you tried any flying, other than on holiday ? Or passed a civvy aviation medical ? What about a PPL for starters ?
7. I'm told the Indian Air Force is always looking for a few good folks.
Kind regards, LFH
Thanks for the reply! I too have adopted a largely pessimistic/cynical stance on the entirety of commercial aviation, but I'm willing to prepare for and accept the reality of the situation.
Some additional background information - I'm in my final year of school, and hoping to get a degree in (aerospace) engineering. That does make the first paragraph of the initial post a bit misleading though, it'll be a good 4-5 years before I can even start thinking about applying to any airlines, but I plan on getting a PPL before then. I haven't done any flying of my own or a class 1 medical yet, but from what I can make out based on reading the criteria and previous medical checkups, I'm probably going to pass.
Can you elaborate on points 2 and 3 please? I find this quite interesting, because from what I've heard so far, the main issue for an FO is airlines wanting ridiculous sums of money for mundane reasons like training, stuff like RYR making you pay for your own airline training and type rating for example.