Firstly, Seneca Soarers first post was this...
Hi folks,
I've just finished basic training (have CPL frozen ATPL, IR, 200 hours) on the BA cadet scheme in Michigan. I want to increase my hours (preferably on a Piper Seneca) while I wait for a contract with BA (could be some time). I'm willing to travel ANYWHERE to get more hours. My question is: does anyone know of companies (bush flying, air taxis, charter etc) willing to take on pilots with my experience?
Cheers
WWW, where did he say he was looking for to work for free? All I saw was someone who has graduated from an approved course looking for advice on where to find paying work... he believes BA will offer him a job in the future, I'll deal with that in a few moments. And to everyone else having a go at the guy, then look inwards as to why you phrased your responses so negatively.
Seneca Soarer, what you have to now work on is the premise that BA are never going to offer you a job. That is what we did, those of us who were sponsored and graduated during the Gulf War (and before the silver spoon argument gets trotted out, I had a PPL, 150 hours, 24 years old and a £20,000 pound loan in place to fund my initial commercial training when BA accepted me, and I worked my rear end off on the course. Cancelling that loan was one of the sweetest moments of my life, and I make no apologies for it.)
On graduation, we were faced with a multitude of choices to apply for work, and yes, the Macdonalds jokes started then! Work was not exactly thick on the ground, however. My course had a bit of heads-up as to what was going to happen, as we graduated after we'd been told not to expect work, so most of us fired of dozens of letters to as many crriers as we could find. I was lucky enough to one of the first to be offered the Cathay Pacific contract (there were 39 of us in total went to CX , which added on to the folks who found work in Africa, or with Air UK, etc. means Harry Wragg is aiming low in his estimate.) In going to CX, I turned down a night-freight job ex-Carlisle, and also several offers to return to my former career.
So what to do? Apply for every aviation job you can. BA may never come round to offering you a job, and when they do, you may be in such a position that you do not wish to leave.. that was the position of many of the Cathay Captains and First Officers I flew with.. they had been trained by BA at Hamble, sent on to the dole queue, and if they had listened to everyone who told them how "lucky" they were and that BA would come round soon and how dare they "take" the jobs from other pilots they would still be on the dole queue now... it was 7 years before an offer came for some of that vintage, and to a man, none of them accepted it because they had sorted their careers out.
How you start in aviation matters not one jot. If you pay for it yourself, then great. If you can find someone else to pay for it, either Her Majesty or an airline, then better still. But you still end up on the same market competing with equals, and from here on in is the test of how you will fare..
In 1991, there was no one on the internet telling what the situation was like for the cadets in 1974. There is that equivalent now. If I say to you that a very senior BA manager stood before us and virtually promised that our jobs were only being delayed by 6 months (Huge Weapon, for all the ex-PIK guys reading this) and it took a minimum of 3 years for the first jobs to appear (give or take a month or 2) up to a maximum of 4 I think you'll get a drift for the reality. If I factor in my opinion that this particular event may be worse than the previous one......... hear what I'm saying?
So. Ignore those who snipe at you for who you are. Get into the market place, and in all honesty act and believe as if BA will not ever offer you a job; they may never.
Fact: BA trained you as an asset. You owe them no loyalty, and the loyalty they owe to you is merely financial. You are to them an investement, and your repayment time is a lot shorter than you think. Rod Eddington cries no tears for those he leaves in his wake, and I speak from experience there.
So to mitigate the doom and gloom laden nature of this one, if and when they start recruiting again you will be offered a job. To sit back and wait for that to happen may not be the right thing to do. I'd say get out there and look for a job, and good luck. I sincerely hope to fly with you some day. Don't go back to the City man, get on the pilot market place, you deserve it. Any "luck" you had up till now you generated yourself, go generate some more.
Sick Squid
[ 25 October 2001: Message edited by: Sick Squid ]