Can things at RYR get any worse?
When I finished my IR in 2008 I bought a nice little book by an American chap. Although Yank-centric and a little dated due to the subsequent LO-CO revolution in Europe, it gave me plenty of helpful suggestions for pursuing a career in Aviation outside of the prevailing SSTR mould. At the time I had no interest in joining LO-COs and made dozens of very good contacts. I have no doubt that those seedlings would bear fruit in time.
The only reason
I'm not going further down that route is my age. If I were 10 or even 5 years younger, I wouldn't choose to spend money in order to join a LO-CO and be treated like scum in order to prop up the profits of a selfish business model. I would be more tempted towards the
real flying jobs. After all, what would you rather look back on when you retire: 35 years flying 6 sectors a day around Europe staring at the FMS or 35 years of mixed experience, including many different aircraft types, airports large and small, different companies and cultures? If your main aim in life is to make money this point will be lost on you.
I know we're in a recession and these are desperate times but there
are options out there for commercial jobs if you really want to earn a living as a pilot, but they are not easy to find and most people these days are very, very lazy. You will have to be patient, but if your motivation is to 'fly' rather than gain some kind of ego boost in a jet, merely pressing CMD B at 1000ft 4 times a day, then you need to concentrate your energy on a long term strategy. When you're in your twenties you have so many more career options than you realise.
As for RYR, if your circumstances are such that it's an economically viable or
the only option for you, then go for it. It's not as bad as the anti-Ryanair brigade suggest but make sure you go in with your eyes (and cheque-book) wide open. Grow a thick skin. You will be blamed by all and sundry for the demise of the industry. Accept it, move on. You'll earn a living. You'll get your hours. The World won't end because you joined RYR. The accountants and capitalist culture of money greed that has actually created the LO-CO phenomenon (excusing it as a social service because it brings low-cost travel to the great unwashed) will get away to their tax-haven mansions scot-free of any blame. Not that they would care anyway.
On a different but not incompatible tack, I have little sympathy for the older pilots who come on here crying about the demise of terms and pay. The good old days were the antithesis of today's LO-CO culture, where Governments (i.e. the Taxpayer) propped up unsound and wasteful business models, when only the wealthy travelled, paying over the odds for their tickets, allowing pilots to line their silk pockets working 'occasionally' before retiring on glorious pensions. No wonder those pilots are unhappy.
Obviously we all dream of a fairer industry; a meritocracy where only the most talented and hard-working get to the top, regardless of where the money comes from; a safer system where training is not rushed at TRTOs in order to get cheap cadets on the line and where flying experience is a pre-requisite for the more demanding jobs; a system where pilots are paid in proportion to their skills and time, and where Airlines value their human resources instead of finding every excuse to belittle them.
But this is 2009 and we're living in a society that rewards profit making above all else. It's not going to change. Make you own way through this mess but ignore advice at your peril.
RANT over....
....Um, what was the original post?
