Such is the life of a contract pilot. Always the first to get he ax.
Look, anyone who relies on contract flying solely to pay their bills, and doesn't have a backup, is like the guy who doesn't upload extra fuel when destination and alternate is at or near mins.
As a contract pilot you have to plan for these sorts of things. Which is exactly why, at many airlines, the contract pay is more. Because 2 factors are at play: 1) Contract pilots need more money to compensate for prolonged periods of unemployment. 2) Because of that unemployment potential being so great, less and less pilots apply for contract openings, hence the price of the pilot goes up, ie, supply vs demand.
That's why the local or union talent ought to stop their whining when contract pilots are brought in to assist in staffing shortfalls. And just the same, contract pilots need to stop their whining when they find themselves on the wrong side of that employment equation.
If you don't like it, get a job with an established national carrier and get yourself onto that seniority list for protection. I did. It took years but now I have thousands of pilots below me (junior to me). Sure there are drawbacks, my buddies who fly contracts take home more money than I do, and that's fine. But I never really have to worry about getting sacked. There are always tradeoffs.
I have done 4 contracts throughout my career. Each one was quite lucrative but none offered job security. Money isn't everything.
Last edited by Geebz; 5th Feb 2013 at 05:45.