I feel compelled to add to this thread. I don’t know how relevant this is but after reading the posted comments I cannot help myself. Although this may be a first post here I have been reading pprune for the last 1o years.
10 years ago I faced a dilemma. Should I start flying or shouldn’t I. It was a toss up. Should I give up 7 years of uni studies to change careers. The costs the risks etc etc. It hurt for years. The love and dream of flying a saab 340 for a regional. There was nothing that could be better. It went on for years. The decision should I or shouldn’t I.
I read pprune every week, every thread on training, cadetships etc etc. I spoke with pilots to try and get the info to lead to a decision. Every year went on and every year I would delay. I did a detailed investigation of what was required from ppl to cpl to mustering to PNG flying etc etc. I found out first hand the real risks of some of those start up jobs. Being an engineer my studies were very exhaustive. I found out facts about guys on first jobs that never made it past base one alive. Stories that you never hear about. It showed me the real risks. I remember asking a kendalls senior pilot what I had to do to get a job as a regional pilot. I remember the simple response. You fly in PNG and we will look at you. Sounded simple when said fast. When analysed against time, lost income, cost and material risk it seemed it would be a very long road just to get to the interview. God help me if he didn’t like the look of me after all that. It delayed my decision for a few more years.
10 years later I still read pprune and I still like aviation. However the reality as demonstrated by the excellent information transposed by the great people supplying the real info on pprune makes it very clear. Aviation careers are now dead ducks. The salaries and T and C quoted on these web pages for regional pilots are disgraceful. The FO salaries are ten years in arrears.
My unfortunate circumstances of 10 years ago, having no money for flight training couldn’t of been better. It fxxx saved me. Had I sacrificed my career to date for the conditions quoted in this thread I would have been disgraced with myself.
The salaries quoted above should be lifted by 50 % at the least for both Captain and FO. Having a love for flying in the early twenties versus the cost of housing and living in the year 2007 is worlds apart. With the average cost of a house at 300k and (a coffee, scon , snack and orange juice) at cibo $15 the two are worlds apart.
I sincerely wish all those flight crew who came through the GA ranks all the best out there for improving their terms and conditions. They are the true warriors of Australian aviation and the Australian spirit.
For all those other plebs who’s Uncle or Aunty worked for the majors and got them straight to the RHS of turbo props I say : Sucked in you know got what you deserve. FxxxL. You’ll know have to make some real decisions and take some real risks if you want any real money or real career. Even in the majors now the chinaman will get you.