It's somewhat distressing to count all the references being made to Mcdonalds and Burger King. As potential aircrew you need to up your game and stop crying or throwing yourself onto the bottom rung of the ladder. Life is tough and so is aviation but the answer doesn't lie in the self harming "I don't care about myself" approach that many have adopted by seeing Macs and Burger King as the only option. If I were interviewing you (not that I ever will
) I'd be notably unimpressed at the fact that you've clearly learned nothing and cannot think out of the box so to speak. There are a plethora of other jobs in between that you should be aiming for, after all what if that magic call never comes? Are you going to stay at Macdonalds for the rest of your career? If you're all so clever and have done the Everest ATPL groundschool exams then why can't you enroll on an IT or accounting/finance course and whip out a QUICK foundation exam or something just to give you a small cushion for the meantime and something worth putting onto your CV. In case the call doesn't materialise you'll have the foundations of an alternative career or at interview you can claim that even in the non-aviation world you always strive for the best and push yourself to achieve that.
All this clap trap about working in the fast food industry reminds me of those heart broken romantics that would find solace by punishing themself to join the French Foreign Legion or sail to distant lands never to be seen again by their loved ones again
. Just because things don't go well you have to pick yourself act like an adult and do the next best thing whether your ego or heart likes it or not, that's practical living. There are many inclduing myself that train whilst working and raising a family and still feel privileged to be a part of this. I think alot of this applies to the younger age group and those on the metored schemes where the cadet pilots are so mesmerised by the mentoring airline they almost sign over their life to them only to find themselves waiting years and sometimes not even getting anything tangible at the end.
There were pilots in the 60s that had everything paid for and little to worry about too, but we don't spend our time despairing about how good they had it we just get on with it. Alot of you are still extremely lucky just to have had the opportunity of flight training. I realise that you've spent alot of money but what are you saying that someone else with an ATPL didn't? They were all expensive qualifications and a downturn is nothing new there have been countless pilots around the world that lost out in previous recessions.
If you failed to plan then you are the ones reaping the dismal rewards of that now. For those of you with an ounce of patience get something else in the meantime for you to hold onto until the storm passes and then once the sun's back you won't even remember any of this "who-ha". BUT PLEASE NO MORE MACDONALDS OR BURGER KING.