There is more to aviation than flying airplanes.

[N380UA]

So you want to be an aviation professional! Congratulation! It’s a great industry with many rewarding jobs as the very most contributors of PPRuNe will attest. I have been in it for some years now and for as long as I can remember, always wanted to. No regrets, no complaints though some issues in general have become more clear and apparent the last few years. Perhaps some of you wannabes want to contemplate on them thus, here my life in aviation.

I originally had in mind to be a pilot, which at the time I was growing up, it really was something to aspire for. I'm talking Coronado, DC8 and 10, Super 27 and of course the forever beloved 747 (200) – no glass, just white scarf fly heroes in full control of their flying machines traveling the big wide world kinda stuff. While not flying, driving the Ferrari or doing the lawn of the big house in the upscale neighborhood – or the good looking FA for that matter.

So I ask some folks who should know how to become a pilot i.e. parents and teachers etc.. I always got the same bull with one exception; Highly trained and educated professionals!
So I did just that. Done my regular school (just barely), went to study at the Uni, did my flight training for the PPL with IFR, CPL with multi, F-ATPL, FE, type on 737 – just all the things that one has to do to get a flying job.

Having finished it all up, I reviewed my accomplishments and accolades. The result: Highly trained and educated professional minus a lot of cash! Was it worth it? Every cent!! Would do it again anytime, though perhaps a bit different knowing the things I know today.

Finally being on the market as a highly trained and educated low time professional with a bank breathing down my neck, I faced the first reality check! Mind you, that was pre-9/11.
The reqs. for the majors were something like 10'000h TT of which 7'000h PIC of which 5'000h on type and jet or alternatively initio company training. I had neither. The other option was to fly RH for a shabby regional outfit for a salary that forces a newbie to go on welfare – and I mean it! No joke! THAT was certainly no way to go this highly trained and educated professional!

Well, not flying for a living but throwing money at FBOs to rent aero planes to stay current, compels the highly trained and educated professional to find a job, preferably in aviation to pay for it all plus support life. Then, after some time, an event like, ohhh… lets say 9/11 happens and tumbles the entire aviation industry into the largest mess since the oil crisis in the early 70's. Now, nobody is hiring, airlines go bust and pilots are being laid of!! (For the future, just substitute 9/11 with a current affair. That all is besides the inherent, self inflicted rollercoaster of flight crew staffing found with all airlines.)

Today, some operators are picking up the pace again, the industry is recuperating. Actually, there are again flying jobs around – somewhere on this planet. Some of them even half way decent but the reqs. are again way overboard and perhaps not realistic. Or in turn of course the same scheme as always "Yes Sir we hire you! We will offer you a most gracious package of 800 Euro a month plus more sectors to fly than you'd ever wished for on a contractual basis of 4 month. Please wire us 1600 Euro for processing fee."

Apparently airlines like BA have to cancel flights now-a-days, because they cant find enough staff to fly the planes. Other major and aspiring airlines are faced with the same problems. Airlines the world over are purchasing new aircraft in record numbers. Weeping and whining that they don’t have crews to fly them anymore after sending them of to hell just a few years ago or driving them out by not coughing up the right salary. That’s aviation!!!

Though I'm not in a cockpit today and however tasty that offer seems, err …. Thanks - but no thanks. I'm happily and comfortably in the aviation industry and have moved up the ranks of non-flight positions through the years and have established a lifestyle that requires just a bit more than 800 euros.

As I said, I don’t regret any minute nor any cent! I'd do it again anytime. My point for you wannabes is that you may plan to be a pilot for the majors but it may not realize for what ever reason and you may not be able to fly or the regionals due to financial constrains. Aviation has a lot of rewarding jobs to offer besides being flight crew that still requires the highly trained and educated flight professional you have become.

The best of luck to you all!

[CosmosSchwartz]

So you could have been a pilot, but because you didn't get a job with a big shiny jet operator you think there are no jobs out there? The "shabby" regional operator is where the majority of pilots get their first job!

Your loss.

[African Drunk]

N380UA

Interesting post. But don't be too scathing of regional operators many are very professional but have too work in tight budgets. Joe public won't pay £1000 for bristol to glasgow or other routes and this will be reflected in type of a/c and salaries of pilots.

[FlyingForFun]

0UA,

I've just got home after a long day, so I might have missed something here. But I don't think you actually told us what jobs you've done, other than briefly mentioning that you are "happily and comfortably in the aviation industry"... :confused: Are you a re-fueller at a local GA airfield with three movements a week? Or a senior manager in a large airline???

FFF
---------------

[hixton]

Dont forget that you are probably now a bit of a geek that missed out on a lot of your younger years.
You had your head stuck in the books whilst everyone else was out partying, mingling, meeting chicks and generally having fun.
You probably have little social skills except what you learnt on CRM, and wouldnt be able to reccommend a good night club to save your life.

[N380UA]

CosmosSchwartz
African Drunk

Yes! a lot of the pilots with the majors today did start with the "shabby" regional ops and yes! not all regionals are too shabby either. As I said, the offers that I had to fly with them was at a salary at with I could not afford life, period. From that salary, I pay back the education loans and wouldn’t have enough left to pay rent in full – fyi, it wasn’t a big apartment either - no food, no cloth no nothing from there. My loss! Perhaps! But given the situation…?

FFF

As for my jobs held. I have been a Navigation Officer for a major airline (now bust). I was a line maintenance fleet engineer for a mid sized outfit (now bust). I was a senior project manager (flight ops) for an international company (still in operation). I was a GA test pilot and test flight engineer for a international firm (now bust). Currently holding a senior management position in air traffic control (still in operation obviously).

hixton

Let me guess; your 18 years old, still fighting acne and have just figured out how to open a bra with both hands in 3 minutes flat. Otherwise, right on buddy!

The point that I was trying to make was that once your done with your training, you may be lucky to pick up with the majors or you can afford, by what ever means to fly for a regional operator. But perhaps you might not be that lucky. In the meantime have a look at other jobs in aviation which are equally rewarding. You may get your chance a bit later though the conditions may no longer be acceptable to you at this time.

[Grass strip basher]

To be constructive thanks for your post N38... it strikes me some people have miss-interpretted your intentions... simply pointing out to those who don't make the RHS of a jet for whatever reason (medical, unlucky etc etc) that there are many other interesting and varied jobs in aviation should be taken for its merits rather than leading to derogatory comments as to your pulling ability!

Many many commercial pilots I speak to today say that if you can get a job outside of aviation that pays well and enables you to fly for fun in the wonderful world of GA whenever you want then you are on to a winner.... it sounds like you are now lucky enough to be in that position N38 so well done and good luck with it all!

Of course for some of us the lure of that RHS still burns too brightly to consider building a life around flying at weekends , :E

[Genghis the Engineer]

I think I'd personally have rephrased what you posted N380UA, but the sentiment I agree with.

Without doubt the aerospace industry is basically about vehicles leaving the ground, doing a job, and (most of the time) getting back on the ground again.

Every one of us is there to support that activity. Clearly being a pilot is a demanding and rewarding occupation, and essential to the whole business (at least for the time being, and personally I think that it always will be).


There is a certain arrogance out there that however considers that the piloting profession is the only one that counts - which is clearly not true. Even more so, it's assumed that airline flying is the only kind of flying that counts, even less true.

I either have been, or am a manager within both civil and military airworthiness, writer, a flight test engineer, a light aircraft test pilot, an aircraft designer, an environmental test engineer, and an aircraft technician. I've never even tried to be an airline pilot for the simple reason that the job and lifestyle don't appeal to me - but I sure as anything have no desire to give up flying aeroplanes for at-least another 40 years!


So, interpreting your post as saying - aviation careers are almost universally fascinating, and it's not necessary to fly aeroplanes (and in particular to fly airliners) to have a facinating, rewarding and even (if you're lucky) well paid aviation career. I agree completely.


And for anybody who failed, for whatever reason, to hack it in one particular corner of aviation - so what! Dust yourself off, and pursue one of the hundreds of other equally fascinating aviation careers open to us. Don't bitch about it, just concentrate on being as good as you can be at something you can do (and which others, who succeeded in your first objective, might be absolutely useless at!).

G