Good jobs still exist in 2020

[Flying Rabbit]

Hi everyone! I came here to share my story and to boost the spirit of everyone that think aviation is dead.
I'm from Portugal, the lovely country with excellent weather and nice beaches, cheap meals and chilled out people. I finished my pilot course in the end of 2016 with 150 hours and there were no jobs for such low timers except Ryanair. I applied for it and went to the interview. (Un)fortunately I didn't pass. I was pissed, but luckily I had a job offer in the middle east with trucks that payed my bills for one year. After that, in the middle of 2017, there was a rumour that TAP Portugal could open a position for pilots with 200 TT. I came back to Portugal and tried to do as much as I could. Unfortunately money wasn't coming from the sky and I only managed to make 190TT when TAP opened. Luckily, a few months later, they didn't ask for minimuns and I applied. I got in!!! I started in Fabruary of 2018 and did the A320 type rating with them. The company was a mess and the instruction was even worse. Me and my colleagues waited weeks to do the base flight, another 3 weeks to do the first flight, and so on with a lot of cancelled flights at the last time. I was completely dead by July and failed 2 line training flights. They said goodbye to me in October and I sailed to fly private jets in Cascais. Did the type for the C525 (Citation) and started in January of 2019. Salary was just 1500 plus per diem, which were 2100/2200. I wanted to keep my A320 rate valid so I did it in Spain and a friend told me to put my CV in some websites, like aeroprofessional. I did it after having the rate valid in my license and after a few days a guy called me saying that there was an offer to fly the C525 for 4000 a month with a private owner. It seemed to be too good to be truth, but I said yes and went to the interview with the owner and then the aircraft manager. I got the job!!! Started in September and damn, it was like the guy told me. 1 flight every 3 days, flights home every stop of 3 days or more, 4000, lunches and dinners with the owner and almost no money spent. Then covid came and I thought I was going to be fired. The aircraft was stopped and no light in the horizon. Then my boss, the owner, came to me and said ot not worry because the salary wouldn't be cut and the job was secured. I spent from March till today, in his house, everything payed, food on the table, clothes washed, bed made every day, pool, playing with the dogs and I go very often on his boat around Malta with him and his associates. Tomorrow, July 16th I will fly again. This is the proof that still are really good jobs and to the ones that are trying to find and feel down, don't give up. If I wasn't fired from TAP I wouldn't be here enjoying my good life. Don't give up guys! Covid is just a phase and everything will recover! Cheers

[dirk85]

I have been in business aviation for half of my career and I can tell you that jobs like that are the exception, not the rule.
The amount of bad operators and ****ty salaries in GA is much higher than the airlines, no doubt. The average typical GA job is nothing like what you have now.

It’s like working for Air France and tell everybody else there are good jobs out there. Really?

[Mike Oxbig]

Good for you Flying Rabbit. it is nice to hear a success story and I only hope it keeps going this this for you. As Dirk said, you have an exceptional job so enjoy it

[rudestuff]

Does the owner have a daughter?

[ACJDriver]

Good bizav jobs are through word of mouth, and usually not advertised so count yourself lucky.

[His dudeness]

It’s like working for Air France and tell everybody else there are good jobs out there. Really?

Relax Dirk, there is the one guy with the dream job and he tells us how it is. Rabbit, thanks for the intention, though I think its not doing a lot of good in the current situation. Lets just hope we (and all currently unemployed) can ride out the virus, Fridays for Future and all the rest and go back to something at least resembling "normal" and that soon !

And Air France does not serve red wine in the cockpit any more, I was told !

[dirk85]

Scrape Air France from the good employers list then!

[pilot dude]

Good on you Flying Rabbit. Everybody deserve a break sometimes. Also me had a similar break long time ago.Fligh high, live the dream and yes we will prevail Covid 19 and fly again.

The Dude

[Private jet]

Yes, good jobs certainly do exist, I had a couple of them, well they suited me anyway. Always for private operators but not on standby 24/7/365, flying Chally 604's that were clean both technically and hygienically, and the jobs were never advertised in that cesspool of human crap termed the employment "market".

It should be understood though that these sort of jobs are rarely jobs "for life" and can come to quite an abrupt end too. So it's wise to make the most of it, and try to enjoy it at the time because it won't last forever. Also unless you are independently wealthy yourself then you should aim to bank and skillfully invest a high proportion of your earnings. I did, and it has been a very absorbing and "rewarding" hobby/sideline. Don't fritter away your earnings on fancy cars, women etc. it might seem like a good idea at the time but it's really not.... Also try to have a backup/secondary source of income. It can be very modest but it adds to the pot so to speak and it gets you out of the aviation "bubble" for a bit and back into the "real world" haha. Most jobs for private operators are effectively part-time, so there is a lot of opportunity to do this.

[happyjack]

I have had some amazing owners that wanted to provide for their crew big time Unfortunately these type of decisions were made by a terrible management company who knocked it all back at every opportunity. The result being that the crew resented even going to work! Never in my life would I accept a 15 euro/per night backpaker hostel as crew accomodation? But a certain maltease management company put me there and then argued that that was all I was worth!

So yes there are wonderful positions to be had but the nice life depends big time on who you are flying with and having a fair management company as well as a good owner?

[Private jet]

So yes there are wonderful positions to be had but the nice life depends big time on who you are flying with and having a fair management company as well as a good owner?

Yes, there has to be a relatively rare "alignment of the planets" that's for sure!

[Klimax]

Hi everyone! I came here to share my story and to boost the spirit of everyone that think aviation is dead.
I'm from Portugal, the lovely country with excellent weather and nice beaches, cheap meals and chilled out people. I finished my pilot course in the end of 2016 with 150 hours and there were no jobs for such low timers except Ryanair. I applied for it and went to the interview. (Un)fortunately I didn't pass. I was pissed, but luckily I had a job offer in the middle east with trucks that payed my bills for one year. After that, in the middle of 2017, there was a rumour that TAP Portugal could open a position for pilots with 200 TT. I came back to Portugal and tried to do as much as I could. Unfortunately money wasn't coming from the sky and I only managed to make 190TT when TAP opened. Luckily, a few months later, they didn't ask for minimuns and I applied. I got in!!! I started in Fabruary of 2018 and did the A320 type rating with them. The company was a mess and the instruction was even worse. Me and my colleagues waited weeks to do the base flight, another 3 weeks to do the first flight, and so on with a lot of cancelled flights at the last time. I was completely dead by July and failed 2 line training flights. They said goodbye to me in October and I sailed to fly private jets in Cascais. Did the type for the C525 (Citation) and started in January of 2019. Salary was just 1500 plus per diem, which were 2100/2200. I wanted to keep my A320 rate valid so I did it in Spain and a friend told me to put my CV in some websites, like aeroprofessional. I did it after having the rate valid in my license and after a few days a guy called me saying that there was an offer to fly the C525 for 4000 a month with a private owner. It seemed to be too good to be truth, but I said yes and went to the interview with the owner and then the aircraft manager. I got the job!!! Started in September and damn, it was like the guy told me. 1 flight every 3 days, flights home every stop of 3 days or more, 4000, lunches and dinners with the owner and almost no money spent. Then covid came and I thought I was going to be fired. The aircraft was stopped and no light in the horizon. Then my boss, the owner, came to me and said ot not worry because the salary wouldn't be cut and the job was secured. I spent from March till today, in his house, everything payed, food on the table, clothes washed, bed made every day, pool, playing with the dogs and I go very often on his boat around Malta with him and his associates. Tomorrow, July 16th I will fly again. This is the proof that still are really good jobs and to the ones that are trying to find and feel down, don't give up. If I wasn't fired from TAP I wouldn't be here enjoying my good life. Don't give up guys! Covid is just a phase and everything will recover! Cheers

Absolutely fabulous post! You, my man, has just proved why your “boss” are keeping you. Sharing not only bad, but also good, and knowing the importance of right from wrong makes a difference in life - and aviation. Good on you and also good on youR “boss“ for recognising this - not all do. Awesome man.

[sun shines every day]

Absolutely fabulous post! You, my man, has just proved why your “boss” are keeping you. Sharing not only bad, but also good, and knowing the importance of right from wrong makes a difference in life - and aviation. Good on you and also good on youR “boss“ for recognising this - not all do. Awesome man.

This story reminds me of Barry Seal :). Be Happy, good luck!

[Banana Joe]

1k euro is a bit offensive to the profession though.

[FlyTCI]

Yeah for sure, you will never become a millionaire making 1k/month. :ugh:

Please tells us that is not what you are making now...:= Not that 2,3 or 4k would be enough either to fly anything turbine single pilot.

[eiffel]

800€/day on a PC12 ?... Really?....
The market rate for freelancer on the PC12 is more likely 400€ - 500€ per day ...

[Trim Stab]

I count myself as having one of the best jobs in aviation. I’m a survey pilot which is easily the most interesting sort of civilian flying you can do. No passengers, no hosties, no co-pilot, no schedule - just interesting flying in remote places (usually), low enough to have a fantastic view. I rarely have to fly at night or bad weather (just for occasional ferry flights). The T&Cs are awesome - I work 4-5 months per year, the rest is paid leave at home. I do maybe 150-200 hours a year, and make about the same with bonuses, per diems etc as a loco captain in Europe. A few years ago the boss decided we needed a gyrocopter to do low ground speed lidar work, so sent me off on a gyro CPL course. That didn’t work out because of various issues, so he sent me to do CPL(H) too, as it would work out cheaper than employing a full time helicopter pilot. Just the best job ever!

[Klimax]

I count myself as having one of the best jobs in aviation. I’m a survey pilot which is easily the most interesting sort of civilian flying you can do. No passengers, no hosties, no co-pilot, no schedule - just interesting flying in remote places (usually), low enough to have a fantastic view. I rarely have to fly at night or bad weather (just for occasional ferry flights). The T&Cs are awesome - I work 4-5 months per year, the rest is paid leave at home. I do maybe 150-200 hours a year, and make about the same with bonuses, per diems etc as a loco captain in Europe. A few years ago the boss decided we needed a gyrocopter to do low ground speed lidar work, so sent me off on a gyro CPL course. That didn’t work out because of various issues, so he sent me to do CPL(H) too, as it would work out cheaper than employing a full time helicopter pilot. Just the best job ever!

Another awesome story amidst covid-19. Thanks for sharing mate.