How can I get a job ?
 

Guys , I am gonna tell you my story here ,
When I was 6 my parents divorced, I had hard life to growing up , After graduation from university i accepted in iran air as FA I paid for my training and done with training and got my certificate but then Iran air didn't hire any of their cabin crews , then I left my country and went to Philippines, that country was like hell , Heat & Humid plus monkeys ,
I started Getting my Flight Licenses there
PPL+CPL+IR+ME (50k$)and then I got offer from a someone who was a King air instructor he took some money from me and then nothing ,
I went through A320 Type rating in Philippines
(PAAT) they getting 33K for it ! And then they will tell you , Someday you will get job with Cebu Pacific Air , it will take at least 1 year to go inside
Cebu Pacific , they will charge you for Everything, I mean Every thing , recurrence, medical , paperwork, id, and again extra paper work , visa and Renew of visa (because they always delay ) ok
I passed Standardization and all sim checks from this company and start flying , after 6 month I just got only 33 Hours from them and then they will tell you now it's time for Recurrence and they will charge you again 5500 dollars for Recurrence , during Recurrence they will Fail you and then Bye bye with text message : Contract Terminated , This Philippines is center of Scam in Sout east Asia even they immigration office will charge you 3times for renewal and Penalty for expiration of Visa ( They get your passport for renewal and it will take 1 month for one stamp ! then after passing expiration date they will give your passport back ) about renting rooms you will never ever get back your deposit money , guys I lived there for 6 years !
I am tired Like **** , After 6 years of Sacrifice and having Lot of stress which result of getting Autoimmune Disease, now it's 1 year that I am jobless , I am down ...
Well maybe I need to go for Line training and buy a job , This is aviation if you have any suggestions for me then your turn , just don't tell me go for Flight instructor.

Are you in the Philippines or in Dallas? If Dallas, do you have a visa with work rights in the US? Do you have an EU or US license?

Philippines: heat and humid + monkeys!

If that's not a T-shirt, I don't know what is.

Welcome to Professional Aviation!

Why do you not like the advice to go flight instructing? Surely, anything that will give you a little return on your investment will be welcome to you?

Do not focus on the bus. Drop parachutists, tow gliders, train students and get hours to keep your licence alive while earning some money. And while you do that, keep a lookout for other jobs.

And whatever you do, do not pay to fly. Your work is worth a salary you can live from.

What's the point of dropping parachutists or the likes? Piston time, even tons of it, brings one no closer to an airline.

I am in the same situation as A320sharklet. I see no solution to the 500-hours requirement that all airlines have today.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Piston time will count towards those hours needed to keep your license valid though. And if you have someone else pay for them like parachutists, glider pilots or students, this might be helpful to you while you look for that elusive first job.

In the end, it is your choice. You can of course sit and wait for someone to hire you, or pay up for a rating that may or may not be of use to you lateron (what point is there in getting rated on a bus when the first job offer that comes up is on an ATR?), or you can fly whatever you can get your hands on and get a wider experience along the way.

Sounds like there's a couple of people here who feel a sense of entitlement!

With my current profession (software) I earn per hour more than I would save by instructing/dropping parachutists. Maintaining the ratings on my own expense is just economically better for me. I know I'm not the only one with such situation.

I would immediately change my mind if I knew for fact that a ton of piston time makes a way to Airbus. TangoAlphad, could you please elaborate how you got there?

You have already spent money and time, but honestly, having been in the business for 17 years in two airlines, I personally would not try to become an airline pilot if I were starting today. The glory days of aviation are over. There will be a handful of individuals in each airline who make it through to the few remaining good jobs, but most of us will either not make it or will end up constantly tired and stressed, possibly living away from home for long periods, and not really enjoying life or work.

You will have to start in Low cost and this is not much fun any more, and it is not glamorous. The skies are busy, ATC is busy, the ramps are busy, everything is done at the lowest cost, so your working environment and support will be poor. Fatigue is never very far away, no matter what anybody says.

If you are determined to continue, I don't know much about them but have you tried Wizzair in Budapest? Send your CV to every A320 operator in the world, (check first your eligibility to fly in their countries), and send it again every three months. If you can, go and actually knock on doors and ask to speak to the chief pilot for 2 minutes, and give them your CV in person.

Unfortunately, the farthest point on this way one gets to is the receptionist. She will politely advice to send your CV to [email protected] which they never read.

Here and there I see posts that someone got to the cockpit having only piston time, but when asked to elaborate those people either disappear or tell fairytales. Others advice to keep hoping. The fact that low-hour pilots are rejected for economical reason is consistently ignored.

I've been told that airline's insurance cost goes way up if any of their pilots have less than 500 hours on type. This is the economical reason I mentioned. If it is true (actually, can anyone confirm/disprove please?) then it explains why no-one can get a job these days.

So my question is: how can I get 500 hours of A320 time? I need it to plant a job on A320. All advice is much appreciated!

Neboskreb, European night freight TP operators looking for crews. They actually do take guys and girls with 500hrs SE time. So it does help to fly para's or to instruct etc.

@Kim Jong Il: Can you name some of these operators. I'd love to love to drop them a line.

Virtually EVERY airline has SOME pilots with less than 500 hours in type. Either you've "been told" a tall tale, or most airlines pay the higher insurance rate.

LOTS of people are getting jobs these days!