Not sure which route to take...
I've lived and flown from cattle stations, worked the Kimberley and Top-end. Flown charter and scenics from C172s to C210s and GA8s, flown the usual piston twin suspects from airwork to fly in fly out, dabbled in instructing, worked for the RFDS and two regional airlines, and I've had a ball.
You can't buy that exposure in a cadetship, or be trained to avoid all those mistakes I have suffered. You can't fit all the mentors I have been blessed with into one training department.
Lastly no-one gives you the good stuff for free, you're like a dog begging at the table for the tit bits. Slowly you wet your appetite.
As I said earlier, you just have to head out and make it happen. If you are one of the few that get a start where you live, good luck - the majority don't. I'd suggest the ones that find work at home hang around for a while trying to make it happen.
When I had the CPL in my hot little hands, I couldn't wait to get started and make it happen. I did not have the patience or the inclination to boot lace at my local aerodrome.
There is a big world out there with lots to see, and we have a bit of everything right in our own backyard.
GG
You can't buy that exposure in a cadetship, or be trained to avoid all those mistakes I have suffered. You can't fit all the mentors I have been blessed with into one training department.
Lastly no-one gives you the good stuff for free, you're like a dog begging at the table for the tit bits. Slowly you wet your appetite.
As I said earlier, you just have to head out and make it happen. If you are one of the few that get a start where you live, good luck - the majority don't. I'd suggest the ones that find work at home hang around for a while trying to make it happen.
When I had the CPL in my hot little hands, I couldn't wait to get started and make it happen. I did not have the patience or the inclination to boot lace at my local aerodrome.
There is a big world out there with lots to see, and we have a bit of everything right in our own backyard.
GG
Last edited by The Green Goblin; 5th Feb 2011 at 03:57.
Quote:
I'm sure there are instructors that got into airlines straight from instructing...but I've never met any.
You have now. Pleased to meet you. Call me Bunglerat.
I'm sure there are instructors that got into airlines straight from instructing...but I've never met any.
You have now. Pleased to meet you. Call me Bunglerat.
So Bunglerat is a misnomer?
Dr
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wherever the job takes me...
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You could say that, Dr.
Many years ago, when one of my kids started learning to talk, he began using the word as an insult to his older sisters - or his mum & I when he wasn't happy with us (buggered if I can figure out where he got it, but that's kids for you): 'You a BUNGLERAT,' he would shout. I always found it quite amusing.
Never been anywhere near the Bungles, or any other remote location for that matter. Although these days I find myself flying over numerous "middle-of-nowhere" remote locations - on the way to somewhere more civilised - all the time.
Many years ago, when one of my kids started learning to talk, he began using the word as an insult to his older sisters - or his mum & I when he wasn't happy with us (buggered if I can figure out where he got it, but that's kids for you): 'You a BUNGLERAT,' he would shout. I always found it quite amusing.
Never been anywhere near the Bungles, or any other remote location for that matter. Although these days I find myself flying over numerous "middle-of-nowhere" remote locations - on the way to somewhere more civilised - all the time.
Check Attitude
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Queensland, Australia
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Foodstamps
Its all about hours.
You need to build hours (of flying experience).
At 200 hrs exp you can be employed to do scenic flights, parachute dropping and Glider towing.
Most Charter operators are unlikely to entrust you to a SE VFR charter in a remote area until you have 500 hours.
You are highly unlikely to fly a ME IFR Charter until you have 1,000 hrs.
You will not get your ATPL until you have 1,500 hours including 100 hrs night and 75 hrs IF.
Are you getting the picture ? Instructing may help you build the hours above as well.
Not many instructors are paid any where near what they are entitled to.
You could sell your soul to Regional or Jstar, or other predators.
Get off your backside, leave Mum and Dad and get out there and start your career.
Start learning how to do things for yourself instead of having a support system doing it for you.
Yes, it will be tough, but it will be rewarding.
You would be surprised at the QF, DJ, CX, captains who started doing scenics in the Bungles, Flinders Ranges, Jabiru, Fraser Island etc,
usually moving on to charter work in Horn Island, Darwin, Mount Isa and Cairns.
QANTAS was founded to defeat the tyranny of distance in remote areas, and remote areas is still where the GA jobs are today.
Learn how to wash and iron your own clothes, get a licence to drive a light bus,
get a "Responsible Service of Alcohol" ticket, get experience packing supermarket shelves,
all of these skills will help you survive financially in between jobs.
Note the parallel between those skills and flying, its command decision making, but of a different sort.
And yes, your mates doing it tough already are building command decision making skills.
And despite the knockers of a NVFR, a lot of charter operators rely on that to enable an end of day VFR charter
to a remote community to drop off passengers, and the pilot flies NVFR empty back to base,
ensuring that the aircraft is available for allocated work next morning.
Think about how you will rack up that 100 hrs night for your ATPL, its often the stumbling block when all other boxes have been ticked.
You've chosen a tough industry, so harden the #*ck up, princess !
Its all about hours.
You need to build hours (of flying experience).
At 200 hrs exp you can be employed to do scenic flights, parachute dropping and Glider towing.
Most Charter operators are unlikely to entrust you to a SE VFR charter in a remote area until you have 500 hours.
You are highly unlikely to fly a ME IFR Charter until you have 1,000 hrs.
You will not get your ATPL until you have 1,500 hours including 100 hrs night and 75 hrs IF.
Are you getting the picture ? Instructing may help you build the hours above as well.
Not many instructors are paid any where near what they are entitled to.
You could sell your soul to Regional or Jstar, or other predators.
Get off your backside, leave Mum and Dad and get out there and start your career.
Start learning how to do things for yourself instead of having a support system doing it for you.
Yes, it will be tough, but it will be rewarding.
You would be surprised at the QF, DJ, CX, captains who started doing scenics in the Bungles, Flinders Ranges, Jabiru, Fraser Island etc,
usually moving on to charter work in Horn Island, Darwin, Mount Isa and Cairns.
QANTAS was founded to defeat the tyranny of distance in remote areas, and remote areas is still where the GA jobs are today.
Learn how to wash and iron your own clothes, get a licence to drive a light bus,
get a "Responsible Service of Alcohol" ticket, get experience packing supermarket shelves,
all of these skills will help you survive financially in between jobs.
Note the parallel between those skills and flying, its command decision making, but of a different sort.
And yes, your mates doing it tough already are building command decision making skills.
And despite the knockers of a NVFR, a lot of charter operators rely on that to enable an end of day VFR charter
to a remote community to drop off passengers, and the pilot flies NVFR empty back to base,
ensuring that the aircraft is available for allocated work next morning.
Think about how you will rack up that 100 hrs night for your ATPL, its often the stumbling block when all other boxes have been ticked.
You've chosen a tough industry, so harden the #*ck up, princess !
