at my wits end.. job search is from HELL!

[scubabri]

I've got 507TT and 23 ME time, I'm about at my wits end to try and find a job.

I've been told, I need to have experience and time to find a good paying job and that my options are as follow,

instruct (most that I've found want 1000TT and 500 given, yah right)

fly photography (ok, it's winter, and the one place I did find, 2000TT 1000 ME, yah right).

Fly skydivers (do you have any X time where X=whatever aircraft I haven't flown, oh.. and by the way, do you have an A&P, Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Note from the President, oh.. and you'll need 1000TT )

Fly checks, well, that would be fine if I met part 135 minimums

Fly pipeline patrol, pipelines?? yah.. for the one pilot in the whole US who is probably doing this.

Fly Tours (did I mention minimums?)

Traffic watch (anyone doing this in fixed wing??)

Deliver Aircraft (ok.. lets just try and find an insurance company that will cover me in that new Mooney or the 206, and I don't think that there is a big demand for flying 172's anywhere, besides, that furloughed UAL pilot with 8 gazillion hours would be more than happy to fly it)

Did I mention that Air Vegas would hire me.. oooh.. but watch out, I need to give them $5000 bux for 5 hours of BE99 time. Of course, should you require more, that will be $750/hr... um.. the last I recall... aren't they suppose to pay ME to work for them? We, at least I meet the minimums.. beggars can't be choosy.

Lets, see... OH!! I should go to Alaska to build time.. hehe that's a funny one.. what's the old saying?? It takes time to build time?? If I could meet the alaska minimums, do you think I really would want to risk my life in alaska??

Have I left anything out?? I think i am gonna go cry and see if 7-11 is hiring



Sigh.. sorry, it's late.. I had to vent.


brians

[extrakt]

Hehe, you are just one of thousands, we all are looking for airline jobs but are flipping burgers instead....

[Touch'n'oops]

Ouch!!!!

I hope that once I stroll out of flight school with that bar on my shoulder, I don't go through what you have!

I'm sure that if you keep your head up, one will land in the lap.

Good luck!!!

[mjbow2]

Lets be honest, one wont land in your lap! You will have to go out and find it.....

I dont want to shoot you down for having a bad attitude and blaming the rest of the aviation world for you not having a job....I feel that you really were just venting and thats O.K.

I feel your pain (felt) as most (all) of us go through that bitter frustration. If I could endevour to cheer you up I would say that despite the disposition you may think you are in, there is always some-one worse off.

The fact is the U.S. airline industry is in metamorphesus right now. The fact that UAL and USAir are in bankrupcy at the moment is not really suprising given the airlines (read pilots also) resistance to RJ flying.(I dont wish to get into this debate so try and resist posting ANY replies to these statements unless you wish to bring it up yourself in another forum) But the reality is the the industry is in a period of market readjustment. There is less and less 737 flying available and more and more RJ flying. The regionals dont want to hire the furloughed major pilots (some exceptions noted) and there needs to be 2 RJs to replace the capacity of a parked 737......which means more pilots. There is movement in the industry and there will continue to be so.

Did you realize that Great Lakes has hired almost 100 pilots in the last 7 months? the majority of them had less than 1000 Hrs....almost all of them had a recomendation from a line pilot.

Find out how many pilots Air wisconsin, ACA, ASA, Sky West, Conex etc anticipate hiring over the next 12 months! I garuntee you that the likes of great lakes and other small commuters will be loosing pilots left right and center over the next 12 months.

You need to decide that
1) you WILL do whatever it takes to have that dream job before next xmass OR
2) I really dont want to fly for a living that badly....I can sit this career out.

Dont forget you live in the land of milk and honey.....I am an OZZI flying here in the states......I have over 2000 hours of wich 1500 is Turbine 121 time......Back home i couldnt even get a freight dogs navajo gig with this time......

Ive been in your shoes, I never took no for an answer and I networked my way into the right seat of anything I could just to meet pilots who I knew would be going to a regional soon.

Hell I spent more time in the right than the left seats of aircraft I couldnt even log the time for....just to get experience and contacts.......


Get creative friend....the jobs are there....you just have to harness that frustration and grief and turn it into a job.

Good luck!

[Cypher]

Quit complaining..
I have 450 hours and a snowballs chance in hell flying anything remotely as complex as a BE99... hell I had a hell of a time trying to convince someone to let me lose in their C150 teaching students!!!!

I get sick and tired of all these people overseas, born in the right country (being any country other than the one I was born in) complaining that there ain't opportunities around. You got to go out there and make it happen... ask any newbie trying to get a gig flying in countries like Australia or NZ...

I have mates I trained with who were born in a different country than I was, with the exactly the same training. Here I am in a C150, here they are in a B777...
Here I am, after spending 1000s of dollars, with @#ck all to show for it...

I'm at my wits end.. with no chance of progression and every other man and his dog with 1000s of hours more than me....


Sorry.. it's really late, I had to vent....

[LeadingEdge]

dont give up,mate!

507TT doesnt sound too bad-i got out of flight school with 210hrs and about 22ME-that was it.
I sent out hundreds of applications-to africa,middle east,asia,etc.
No chance,no job.
It took me about two and half years to convince the boss of my flight school to hire me as a CFI.
Suddenly,after about one year,i got an offer to fly B737s as a FO with a major company in europe.Bang!I just had a US CPL,no national licence...
Now i got around 3500TT and more than 2600 on the 737,and got a call for an upgrade recently.

I tell you,keep calm,get to the flight schools and ask them for jobs.Do you have your CFII and MEI?If not,offer to get it at the school you want to teach at,if they hire you afterwards.That what i did,and it worked.

Never give up,its just not the right time and season-things will change,it just takes some time,mate!

[Freak On A Leash]

Yep, it is tough. Here`S my question; you say that it takes time to build time - well no sh** Sherlock! And you don`t want to risk your life in Alaska... Well, been there as CFI and pipeline patrol pilot and 135 VFR and never had any problems whatsoever. The thing is, you need to go there, spend some time and meet people (who happen to be a lot friendlier than the in the rest of the US) and you`ll soon be off flying some 1400 hours a year. Let`s put it this way; the only reason I`m not there today is because I`m a foreign national and obtaining a work permit nowadays is mission impossible.

You could also try Africa or the Carribean - possibly Asia. Don`t put so many limitations on yourself, and go out and meet people - there`s a bigger chance of getting a job that way.

[Bluebaron]

took me 5 years and 1700 hours to get my first job. spent the rest of the time as cabin crew and all my money renewing my licences, expensive in the UK (plus as a uk pilot it cost $100,000 to get my licence in the first place!)

All wannabes take note, the money and licence is useless without a job.

BB

[superpilot68]

took me 8 years for my US ATP. back in europe to transfer to JAR.
hard work, bad paid, kicked out from most of US schools due to bankruptcy. Paid 8 buck/hour or 450$/month. slept in my van for one year.been all over the USA without work permit for 5 years(was the hell!!!).
did part 135 on turboprop. flown as a cfi with worldwide students.
Now I am back in the real business and I will apply to majors airline in england or all over Europe.
watch for me , I will take your job.
oh!, i didnt tell, i dont have a life.no house, no car, no girlfriend actually, no dog.but at least I have no debt and nobody will ask me to be a flipper burger in a Mac Donald or a flight attendant to serve coffee!
so, man, do not complain and keep going!
I too, I have the right to complain and to hate aviation, but I don't , becasue it s the life, and if you do not like what you, do not do it.there are hundred of jobs outside which pay much more than to try to become a pilot.
make sens???
anyway, good luck to you. maybe I will be you captain in a few years.

[Hap Hazard]

Scuba, aviation is one hell of a job to get into at the best of times, unfortunately we are our worst enemies.
I cant think of many other industries where people are as dedicated and willing to spend so much money in getting qualified.
Unfortunately it is a gamble and we play into employers hands, but with persistance most people win out in the end.
I cant comment on the US scene right now, but your situation is pretty typical here too.
I know its not what you want to hear right now, but hang in there.
I truely hope you will find something soon, good luck to you all.
Heres to a better 2003.

[scubabri]

mostly, I was just venting. I love to fly, I love aviation. I am, retired, for lack of a better word from the IT world. I would rather starve to death trying to find a flying job that pays enought for me to eat, than to go back into computers.

I really wasn't complaining, I was just pointing out the irony of all of the stuff I was told in the year I was getting my CPL. I was painted a picture of the almost limitless low paying, crappy jobs that I could obtain to build time. Oh how excited I was, because the low paying, crappy jobs are what flying is all about. I can't think of anything more exciting than flying cargo, in icing conditions over montana, or flying pipline patrol 300' AGL, or flying in Alaska. How niave. My fault.

So, I will continue to send resumes out, make phone calls, talk to people, fortunatly, the flying job that I do have, skydivers in the Bahamas, started to pick up. And even though it just pays rent, it's better than a kick in the arse, for at least the next couple weeks at least. So, we'll see how things go.

Peace and Luv to all.

[Ramathorn]

To all those who think its all too hard and that a full time job driving twins is a pipe dream...relax! It will sneak up on you when you least expect it then in a years time or so you'll look back and go "wow, remember when I was flying that 206 around, that was a cruisie job". I was no different to you guys, couple of hundred hours, the thought of flying a Navajo or whatever a million miles away. Now, even though I'm still very junior in the industry, I am the chief pilot flying twins full time for a good charter company in Australia that is going to start RPT eary next year. If I hadn't botched my Qantas sim ride early this year, I would be checked to line on the 400 or 76 by now. I assure you I'm nothing special but things do happen if you stick to it. If somebody had said this to me (and they probably did) 5 odd years ago, I would have said "yeah thats all well and good, but give me a job will ya!", can't really do that but what I've just said is very very true, take it or leave it......

By the way, you fellas really don't do your selves any favours, there is nothing that wastes more energy than low time pilots complaining that they can't find work. Relax, relax, relax!

[J-Heller]

Super pilot 68

Ronchonner?

Sounds like you...same style. Where are you training in Europe?