Hey Nibraska:
My friend I feel for your dilemma but I truly can not and am not qualified to give you such advice. You are asking about life determining decisions and I am but a keyboard punch on this abstract media called the Internet. Man I am sure you have far better and more qualified friends, family and leaders to give you much better advice.
Having said that I have never been averse to giving my OPINION! That is all it is my friend, a personal opinion based upon my desires and beliefs.
From the limited info I have you sound like a young man – under 40. That said you also have limited time and are looking to get into the industry. Please remember, ALL AIRLINE COMPANIES ARE BUSINESSES AND NOT SCHOOLS! Whether it is ABY or any other airlines their primary job is to take people from point A to point B and MAKE MONEY! You, as a pilot, are a tool just like an A-320 or B-737 and armed with that fact you must always remember the “prime directive.” The company does not exist if it does not make money for the stock holders and ultimate owners of the business.
So, as I explained before, my desires are to work for a company that treats me like a “personal” tool. There is some personal in the tool part and that exists at ABY. But they too must make money. They compete with everyone else in the region and MUST make money too, no matter how nice the Fleet Manager, Chief Pilot, Training Manager or Director of Ops is and how much they truly care about your health, feelings and family. They have to run a company and they get in trouble too with their bosses if they don’t make a profit – the stock holders.
So coming from the ME you have a blessing and a curse. You are cursed by who you can work for (based upon you citizenship and license) but a blessing because you are a citizen of whatever nation you are a citizen of. If you are an Emirate you can pick the company you want to work for – EK, EY, G9 etc. If you are a Bahraini you have Gulf Air. Omani – Oman Air; Qatari – Qatari; Saudi – NAS, Sama, Saudi; Kuwaiti – Jazerrra, Kuwaiti and so forth. From what I know every nation desires the maximum number of LOCAL pilots to fly for their airlines. If Dubai could get 2000 Emirate pilots to fly for EK there would be NO British, Australians, and South Africans etc working there. If ABY could get 300 Emirates there would be no Danes, Canadians, Irish, Russians or Americans working here. It is that simple – and every carrier has an Ab Initio program for their citizens.
I feel that flying is NOT for everyone. Some pilots have this career given to them far too easy and they really don’t appreciate it. That is a personal opinion, but I really feel that YOU MUST LOVE FLYING. You need to really try to make each and every landing a “squeaker.” You need to get a thrill out of doing it even when you did it 10,000 times before – that was then and today is now.
OK are you ready for this? This is going to be the speech from your father or an uncle you never liked. Pull your harness tight for this is going to be more violent than an RTO at 160 knots.
My personal feeling is too many guys have it far too easy in this part of the world. You want to fly you have to do as Tom Hanks said in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” EARN THIS! Earn it and that means a whole lot of work. 250 hours and a CPL should not even get your application past the secretary in HR. Heck 1500 hours and an ATP should not get you past the Chief Pilot’s secretary – but that is not the reality here.
You want to fly, EARN IT! Do whatever it takes. In my day (yah, yah, yah you old fart) guys did what was necessary. The military was the last place you wanted to go for you could die and never get that airline job. But if you were poor that was the only way to get there. You want to fly bad enough, then go to Africa or some God forsaken place and get the experience – should you live. Spend a couple years flying trash around the world and then ask for that job. 5 years, while sounding like a lot today to you, is nothing after decades in the business. Earn it and do what it takes if you want it enough.
You get that experience you can “write your own meal ticket.” DO NOT EXPECT ANY AIRLINE TO BRING YOU INTO THEIR OPERATION IF YOU CAN NOT PROVIDE FOR THEM IMMEDIATELY!
Let me give some ways guys did it in my time. Some of us went into the military (Vietnam was hot and heavy back then) and did it that way. Others flew crop dusters and fertilized farmer’s fields. Then again others became instructors and accumulated hours and got heavier ratings. Many guys went from those areas and flew in Bum – F--- Africa, Asia etc and got time. I know several guys that flew single engine airplanes across the Atlantic and Pacific. Planes full of fuel that they pumped from the passenger seats in the back to make it – many became fish food and never saw land again. EARN IT!
So never say “wasting a year.” My friends if a year is all you take you are getting off very well. This is not mom and dads grocery store. You will fly a $50+ million airplane with 150+ people’s lives in your hand. No policeman can pull you over and say what are you doing? The company will give you that airplane and those people’s lives and you MUST know what to do. NO ONE, no Chief Pilot or VP or CEO can do anything to “make it better” while you are at 390. You are IT and that is power and responsibility that companies do not give out lightly. Two people, that may not even like each other, have control of 50 million dollars worth of equipment and a couple hundred people’s lives. You have to earn that my friend and if you are not willing to do that – well do you really want to fly or do you want a great job that pays a lot of money and gives you prestige?
Don't be dejected, but simply go out and Earn It!
I hope this helps, but as Dennis Miller says: “Then again I could be wrong!”
B&O
