Our son wants to be an airline pilot... I have some questions :)
You will call me cynical, but unfortunately pilots and their union(s) do not stand up for themselves.
Longer EASA duty times were allowed in with barely a murmur. UK allowing EASA licensed pilots but not the other way round. Pay and conditions are dropping.
I even had incredulous looks years ago from my own colleagues when I suggested that we lobbied to stop flying on Christmas Day. (Yes, I know it is lucrative for the airline, but we crews got no bonus for it - most other trades would get double or triple pay - and if the flights did not exist, passengers would simply fly before or after Christmas.)
So we see pilots now paying frankly obscene amounts to get themselves trained and type-rated, and then have to jump through numerous hoops and then possibly even have to pay to be employed, then have long duty days, but it's OK because there is a fatigue reporting system
PS, I started flying aged around 35, starting with night mail runs on very old, basic turbo-props, but ending up on the A330 before Covid struck. However, that was years ago, I don't know if it would be possible today.
Longer EASA duty times were allowed in with barely a murmur. UK allowing EASA licensed pilots but not the other way round. Pay and conditions are dropping.
I even had incredulous looks years ago from my own colleagues when I suggested that we lobbied to stop flying on Christmas Day. (Yes, I know it is lucrative for the airline, but we crews got no bonus for it - most other trades would get double or triple pay - and if the flights did not exist, passengers would simply fly before or after Christmas.)
So we see pilots now paying frankly obscene amounts to get themselves trained and type-rated, and then have to jump through numerous hoops and then possibly even have to pay to be employed, then have long duty days, but it's OK because there is a fatigue reporting system
PS, I started flying aged around 35, starting with night mail runs on very old, basic turbo-props, but ending up on the A330 before Covid struck. However, that was years ago, I don't know if it would be possible today.
Originally Posted by SoftwareDev
The biggest issue I'm seeing is the pay. Sitting here as a Software Developer in London at 26, I'd need to be in the left hand seat doing long haul for BA to get the same salary.
It can be so humbling, that dreaded pay cut from well North of £200,000. Oh well, we all have to learn to tighten the belt and slum it like other mere mortals from time to time.
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Well I did almost 35 years in it and never got close to 200k! Close to 100k was doable but for that you had to be flying a "heavy" in the left hand seat, and doing it in unsavoury places with NO life at all outside the job! You were owned. I don't need humbling from that. It was sheer abuse!
PPRuNe Handmaiden
Uplinker, easyJet's UK BALPA threatened strike action over the implementation of the EASA FTLs ISO the UK CAA's which they'd been operating under. The vote was overwhelmingly to strike. easyJet capitulated and now (then) the FTLs were wound back to the UK CAA's with even more concessions. This was a few years ago now.
So occasionally, the pilots do stand up and when they do, it can be quite effective
So occasionally, the pilots do stand up and when they do, it can be quite effective
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I started flight training at 18. Airbus RHS at 20 and LHS at 26. Now a number of years later I’m facing a third round of redundancies and at the same time see brand new cadets replacing the more experienced crew. I love my
job, It’s fun and it pays well but I can’t see the future anymore and I wouldn’t recommend it to my own son. My 2c worth. You can PM me if you’d like.
job, It’s fun and it pays well but I can’t see the future anymore and I wouldn’t recommend it to my own son. My 2c worth. You can PM me if you’d like.
Thank you redsnail. I don't recall that being the case in the UK airline I flew for at the time, but I might be mistaken. Looking at the state of the industry now though, with some airlines - including the one you mentioned, charging pilots £8,000 to be offered a job in a non UK base, (I am both type-rated and experienced); we don't stand up for very much. I chose to walk away.
There is a big contrast between aviation and broadcasting unions.
There is a big contrast between aviation and broadcasting unions.
