Barriers to Aviation Careers
Join Date: Oct 1999
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Just a few words to add....
1. Yeh, there are a few ego charged pilots and operators in G.A. I think the years of financial hardship and frustration changes alot of pilots. I think that hardship brings out the worst in some people. While some individuals see hardship as being stuck in the mud, I try to see it as part of the learning curve. Having good stress releases and having a good philosophy to your work and life can go along way in G.A.
2. Nobody has mentioned "isolation"
Many flying jobs are in the bush. Flying itself can be rather lonely, then add isolation in the bush and it becomes even harder. If your a nurse in a bush clinic then atleast you have some people around you. If your a ringer on a outstation, well you have station people to be around. However, when your a pilot out bush, well....you fly.....do alot of paperwork and organising the future bookings and are often out at the airport away from town.
My thoughts..
U2
2. Nobody has mentioned "isolation"
Many flying jobs are in the bush. Flying itself can be rather lonely, then add isolation in the bush and it becomes even harder. If your a nurse in a bush clinic then atleast you have some people around you. If your a ringer on a outstation, well you have station people to be around. However, when your a pilot out bush, well....you fly.....do alot of paperwork and organising the future bookings and are often out at the airport away from town.
My thoughts..
U2
Seasonally Adjusted
U2...have to agree with you on the isolation.
How many have been in the situation where you drop the pax off at a strip out in the middle of no-where, they get picked up in a 'cruiser and disappear to do their business and say they will be back soon?
Several hours pass and the temperature soars. No shade around so you remove a seat from a/c and sit under the wing. Finish reading the newspaper the pax bought along and start on the magazines in the seat pockets. Dam, I've already read this Bulletin.
The GA pilot must learn how to cope with sitting around anywhere, doing nothing, for many hours...and sometimes days.
I for one, have become very good at it.
How many have been in the situation where you drop the pax off at a strip out in the middle of no-where, they get picked up in a 'cruiser and disappear to do their business and say they will be back soon?
Several hours pass and the temperature soars. No shade around so you remove a seat from a/c and sit under the wing. Finish reading the newspaper the pax bought along and start on the magazines in the seat pockets. Dam, I've already read this Bulletin.
The GA pilot must learn how to cope with sitting around anywhere, doing nothing, for many hours...and sometimes days.
I for one, have become very good at it.
Join Date: Oct 2002
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There is no way I'd be where I am today without my wonderful wife. As far a barriers go, I'd have to say CP's that have failed to get into the airlines, or whatever they were aiming for can be a bit of a pain in the butt. I know of one that seemed like he wanted to pass on his aviation failure to the guys he hired....this can be pretty off putting to a green 200hr pilot.
Join Date: Nov 2002
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RAM750
Sounds like you might have the wrong woman if you're a self-starter looking for adventure and she's not. Better to find out now rather than later when it will be very expensive emotionally and financially if she's the wrong one. Compatible character of the right stuff is what it's all about when the going gets tough as it does with all of us at some time. The right woman will support, encourage, and improve you and you'll both enjoy many years together living and working around the world as my wife and I have - and we've still managed to have 5 children while doing it
and I'm still flying!
Cheers,
Don
Sounds like you might have the wrong woman if you're a self-starter looking for adventure and she's not. Better to find out now rather than later when it will be very expensive emotionally and financially if she's the wrong one. Compatible character of the right stuff is what it's all about when the going gets tough as it does with all of us at some time. The right woman will support, encourage, and improve you and you'll both enjoy many years together living and working around the world as my wife and I have - and we've still managed to have 5 children while doing it
and I'm still flying!
Cheers,
Don
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Egotistical ******s abound in aviation, don't tell me it's exactly the same as other professions. I have done other things besides flying so I know. If there were jobs for a high percentage of pilots maybe things would be different, less competitive maybe. It aint going to change in the near future.
Props are for boats!
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Barriers in aviation, yes there are many. Money wasnt so bad for me, I was a Tradesman for 9 years before flying for a living.
As for picking the wallys from the wonders its a bit hard to judge them on their boistressness(spelling). But I have met the occasional "Egotistical #####" as Geish Girl says, and more of them do seem to pop up in aviation, but I think the correct term for these individuals is "An*l Retentive Chuck Yeager wannabes"hehehe
Anyway back to the subject at hand.
1. If your adverse to travel, this may also be a barrier to your own Career progression.
2. Money obviuosly, you keep spending it, more ratings, renewalls etc.
3. Relationships, generally spuradic, unless you meet the right person.
4.A general willingness or lack there of ,to get down and do some bloody hard work, some employees look for this before you get a job.
5.General tenacity to stick at it, not give up and go back to Mum amd Dad helps as well. ( I have seen many Prospective Charter Pilots get to Darwin, no ones hiring so they go home after a couple of days. Dont do it guys stay close, get a job , and movement will eventually occurr).
6. Above all youve gotta have fun at this game, otherwise your p##sing into the wind so to speak. So if your not happy this can be a barrier aswell.
Aviation is a way life, life is the experience..........enjoy..
Regards
Sheep
As for picking the wallys from the wonders its a bit hard to judge them on their boistressness(spelling). But I have met the occasional "Egotistical #####" as Geish Girl says, and more of them do seem to pop up in aviation, but I think the correct term for these individuals is "An*l Retentive Chuck Yeager wannabes"hehehe
Anyway back to the subject at hand.
1. If your adverse to travel, this may also be a barrier to your own Career progression.
2. Money obviuosly, you keep spending it, more ratings, renewalls etc.
3. Relationships, generally spuradic, unless you meet the right person.
4.A general willingness or lack there of ,to get down and do some bloody hard work, some employees look for this before you get a job.
5.General tenacity to stick at it, not give up and go back to Mum amd Dad helps as well.
( I have seen many Prospective Charter Pilots get to Darwin, no ones hiring so they go home after a couple of days. Dont do it guys stay close, get a job , and movement will eventually occurr).6. Above all youve gotta have fun at this game, otherwise your p##sing into the wind so to speak. So if your not happy this can be a barrier aswell.
Aviation is a way life, life is the experience..........enjoy..
Regards
Sheep
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Someday I will find a place to stop
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>barriers some of you have had to overcome or are still overcoming in your pursuit of an aviation career.
I have been thinking on writing a book myself it so happens
In a forum like this where do I start, and any one of the barriers is a chapter in itself in my life experience so far in my pursuit.
Or what I could also deem ‘struggles’ to get to somewhere I now feel I never will
The aviation industry is like no other, and seems to be outside the realms of normal Employment ethics and law
It has got to the point for me, where I am considering a life away from flying now. I am hoping for a happier life and a career where -I- am appreciated.
I openly admit that aviation has now made me bitter towards it.
Well I could go on for a fair bit, so will bring that to a stop.
Generic Barriers:
-Experience: you never have enough experience for what they want
-Money: It costs! I am soon to go bankrupt in UK, a tough lesson.
-Relationships: I have given up 3 women now in the course of my aviation pursuit that I would not have otherwise if it weren’t for flying (in the individual case of course!)
I am sick of this and other sacrifices
-Sept 11: Not so much this end of the globe downunder, but in Europe its totally changed the market
-Employers: See experience. You will always find that they have employed someone in the past or later in the future below the minimum criteria, but for you it is set in rock.
-Supply and Demand: If the goddam schools would stop saying there is/or will be a pilot shortage, there wouldn’t be so many pilots perhaps, and the pay and employment conditions for us all would improve. Also, see if you can find a school that is open and honest to its students as to how hard it is to find a pilot job?!
-Licences: If you are an experienced airline pilot and get recruited/contracted to work overseas, your licence is rubber stamped and accepted, otherwise you have to totally requalify. Protectionism (?) of their industry it may be.
One day it will all be harmonised I think, the big 2 are already evident FAA and JAA
In a nutshell, I have trained in NZ, instructed where I did 6 weeks with no pay initially and with 10hrs a month it drove me to go to the UK. Took out a loan, requalified, while holding down a job at the same time for parts of it. I had a flying company go bust on me owing me £5500 in wages. Instructing in UK for while things were ok, then Sept 11 having killed the market there, instructing not paying enough through the winter and my secondary job of IT with no prospects, and therefore unable to pay back my loan, I am now back in NZ.
In the past month I have driven some 4000km by car, knocking on every aviation company door I can find here, even the ones I knew I would not be at their normal intake level.
And yes I have tried the Auz and NZ military, prior to leaving NZ. That in itself involved getting myself medically cleared of childhood asthma in order to proceed with the application.
There were opportunities for me. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
This isn’t a moan or a winge.
But the original post asked for barriers.
Some I went over, some I smashed through, others I went around, and some slowed me down.
But there is only so much a person can take.
Think of it as an obstacle course. When you are on one that never ends, you kinda wanna stop when you run out of breath.
It all depends on what course you end up on.
I have been thinking on writing a book myself it so happens
In a forum like this where do I start, and any one of the barriers is a chapter in itself in my life experience so far in my pursuit.
Or what I could also deem ‘struggles’ to get to somewhere I now feel I never will
The aviation industry is like no other, and seems to be outside the realms of normal Employment ethics and law
It has got to the point for me, where I am considering a life away from flying now. I am hoping for a happier life and a career where -I- am appreciated.
I openly admit that aviation has now made me bitter towards it.
Well I could go on for a fair bit, so will bring that to a stop.
Generic Barriers:
-Experience: you never have enough experience for what they want
-Money: It costs! I am soon to go bankrupt in UK, a tough lesson.
-Relationships: I have given up 3 women now in the course of my aviation pursuit that I would not have otherwise if it weren’t for flying (in the individual case of course!)
I am sick of this and other sacrifices
-Sept 11: Not so much this end of the globe downunder, but in Europe its totally changed the market
-Employers: See experience. You will always find that they have employed someone in the past or later in the future below the minimum criteria, but for you it is set in rock.
-Supply and Demand: If the goddam schools would stop saying there is/or will be a pilot shortage, there wouldn’t be so many pilots perhaps, and the pay and employment conditions for us all would improve. Also, see if you can find a school that is open and honest to its students as to how hard it is to find a pilot job?!
-Licences: If you are an experienced airline pilot and get recruited/contracted to work overseas, your licence is rubber stamped and accepted, otherwise you have to totally requalify. Protectionism (?) of their industry it may be.
One day it will all be harmonised I think, the big 2 are already evident FAA and JAA
In a nutshell, I have trained in NZ, instructed where I did 6 weeks with no pay initially and with 10hrs a month it drove me to go to the UK. Took out a loan, requalified, while holding down a job at the same time for parts of it. I had a flying company go bust on me owing me £5500 in wages. Instructing in UK for while things were ok, then Sept 11 having killed the market there, instructing not paying enough through the winter and my secondary job of IT with no prospects, and therefore unable to pay back my loan, I am now back in NZ.
In the past month I have driven some 4000km by car, knocking on every aviation company door I can find here, even the ones I knew I would not be at their normal intake level.
And yes I have tried the Auz and NZ military, prior to leaving NZ. That in itself involved getting myself medically cleared of childhood asthma in order to proceed with the application.
There were opportunities for me. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
This isn’t a moan or a winge.
But the original post asked for barriers.
Some I went over, some I smashed through, others I went around, and some slowed me down.
But there is only so much a person can take.
Think of it as an obstacle course. When you are on one that never ends, you kinda wanna stop when you run out of breath.
It all depends on what course you end up on.
Props are for boats!
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Delta you sound very sombre Mate, my condolences. I would say that if you still have it in you, head to Northern Australia and have a look if you havent been. All that shivering in the dark in the UK seems to have affected you , it would, to me aswell.
You must know now that under the Trans Tasman Agreement your NZ licence is useable, you may have to get another job and hang for awhile. Remember to get a Dangerous Goods Certificate and get a set of Aussie Docs.
Just trying to offer some positive advice
You must know now that under the Trans Tasman Agreement your NZ licence is useable, you may have to get another job and hang for awhile. Remember to get a Dangerous Goods Certificate and get a set of Aussie Docs.
Just trying to offer some positive advice
