In my opinion, the circumstances which they find themselves in when searching for their first job are not far short of degrading.
What would you like? A red carpet?
Other posters on this forum often offer advice to pack the car and head up north in the search for that first job, and work at a local service station or woolworths supermarket
Yes, you need to earn money to fund your expedition. If you run out, you have to head home!
while frequently visiting the operators of clapped out and arguably unsafe Cessna 210s
I have never flown an aeroplane that I considered unsafe. They are all in the 'charter' category and are maintained to stricter conditions to what your 'airwork' flying school aeroplane is. They have not spent their life doing touch and go's, heavy landings, and incompetent (debatable) engine management. You will generally find they fly very nicely most of the time.
begging the chief pilots to let them fly them for less than a hungry jacks employee gets paid to flip burgers.
I have never begged, the ones that are desperate, and act it, generally don't get work.
Some end up being lucky enough to get a job after a month or two
Luck has nothing to do with it (most of the time). Dedication, patience and perseverance are the traits required to find employment.
so they can finally be treated like dirt and paid virtually nothing to fly an aircraft which should no longer be in service
Virtually nothing?, the single engine award is 38k or thereabouts. While you will never be rich, it's enough to pay the bills, have a few beers and put a little aside.
while living in accommodation which is close to the worst living conditions you will find in Australia.
You obviously have never visited a community. Life is all about choices my friend. If you want to be a Pilot, these are the hurdles you must jump through.
Some even have stories about sleeping in the back of their car while up north.
Usually the preferred method to avoid paying for accommodation while you are seeking a job and travelling.
I fail to understand how anyone can come back from this experience and justify it by saying “you will look back in this and appreciate them as the best experiences of your aviation career, where you made some of the best life long mates”. While you may make some life long friends and have pretty interesting stories to tell in years to come, that still doesn’t justify why the industry operates like this.
The flying is unreal. That basically sums it up.
Flying is a skill which people spend many thousands of dollars on by the time they have their CPL, MECIR, ATPLs and whatever else they add to the list. Why is it that such skilled people are content with degrading themselves to the conditions that I have described earlier? Why is it that chief pilots in these charter companies don’t even have the decency to have a look at a resume or take a phone call from someone wanting a job? You actually need to be there begging for a job for months on end, to sometimes come home with nothing. This sounds like what happens on farming properties where unskilled workers go knocking on doors and beg farmers for some manual labour work on their farms.
Yes, you may have spent thousands of dollars, but as a basic CPL - you know F all and can't fly for ****. You will make a myriad of mistakes in your first 500 hours while you learn how to 'operate' as a Pilot, and some of these mistakes can be very expensive for your employer. The reason why many charter companies traditionally wanted over 500 hours was they hoped you had already made these expensive mistakes and someone else had already paid for you to learn!!!
In general pilots are respected as looked upon as highly as any other jobs out there…dentists, doctors, architects, psychologists, accountants…while people starting out in all these jobs have to start on lower wages than the seniors they still don’t have to live in a hovel in the middle of nowhere and beg for a job from someone that refuses to accept a resume or phone call.
Being a Pilot is a respected occupation, but it is a practical job. You signed on to become one and like it, or lump it, this is how it is.
Any thoughts on why aviation is the one industry where starting out in the profession is so degrading?
Because the industry is full of dreamers and churns out more Pilots than there are jobs. These Pilots believe they will be flying an Airliner and prancing through the nearest terminal with a cap. The reality is it may be a decade away and there aint no hat
