Pilots- would you recommend aviation as a career?
 

I suspect that this has been discussed before.

Would you recommend a flying ( pilot) career to your children ( or anyone)?.

Has whatever motivated you been tempered by automation, cost- cutting, management attitudes or lack of esteem for the profession etc.

Thanks

My son showed absolutely no interest to my intense relief. When I entered the career, we felt like the astronaut core- we were stars. Over the years I saw the career change gradually to slavery with young entrants being treated appallingly. Now, you spend up to £100k getting yourself trained up and treated like dirt, and when you can finally get a stable job in a second rate louse of an airline and treated like dirt, your pay to settle your debts is pathetic and you are likely to be let go on a whim.

Does that answer satisfactorily? I came up through BA and another cowboy set. Unless you can get straight into BA, you are unlikely to have a satisfactory career.

The son earns far more in a fascinating, self-employed IT career than he would ever get flying, even in the left seat.

The forum you want is probably this one: Interviews, jobs & sponsorship - PPRuNe Forums

No, absolutely not for all the reasons Notso. mentioned. Self funded training, massive over supply of pilots for the forseeable future (despite what the FTOs and aircraft makers are saying) erosion of T&Cs, being treated as totally expendable sub contractors by management in some companies.

Went through this the other day on the thread Paxboy mentioned, got the usual "Live the Dream" rebuffs...but I'll still stick with my response..

Although I still believe that flying for a living beats the hell out of a 9 to 5 office job, I will be having a very serious talk with any offspring I have about any decision to enter the industry.

To be honest, the "dream" is not worth the crap that young pilots have to put up with. Commercial pilots and their licenses are professional qualifications, and while not quite akin to a profession like medicine, it non the less requires a life long attention to your field in order to stay current and safe; a fact that many companies take for granted.

Pilots, unfortunately, have done this to ourselves. By that I mean the second we began to take flying jobs for free or agreed to work for a lower wage than the other guy just to get the job is when management noticed it had monkeys to work with. This won't change either because to a junior pilot just the idea of flying, never mind being paid for it is intoxicating.

The issue is only getting worse too as pilots coming from school have an understanding that it is their god-given right to command an aircraft without first gaining experience which compounds the issue when management tries to rein them in through "performance management."

Long story short, it would take a massive change in both the culture of management and pilots for me to actually suggest to any child that they consider aviation.

It's a bit "hit and miss" with regards to the quality of employer but you could get that with just about any job. I don't disagree with much of what has been said on these forums, but there are still excellent jobs to be had out there.

I have a great employer, I get paid very well (I have done since day 1), fly well maintained aircraft to some interesting places, the management do a great job and respect us as professionals, we in turn have the same attitude towards them leading to a very pleasant working environment. Stress levels are low, we're are never under any pressure to "go", in short I've now had almost 2 years of "flying nirvana".

Yes I self-funded my training, but I never got beyond my means in terms of debt. I saved hard for a few years and borrowed a small amount to finish the training. That unsecured loan will be paid off within the next few months. Certainly no "lifetime of debt" for me, but that is because I was careful early on and saved.

I'm one of the lucky ones who looks forward to work every single day.

Thanks for all the replies and the different perspectives. Is fying still fun in automated aircraft? I heard a veteran pilot say that the last time he had fun was with a BAC 1-11 :sad:

The job of flying an airplane is still fun, however that is alas only a small part of being a commercial pilot.

If i had a son i would discourage him from going into aviation, only exception if he would be accepted by Lufthansa into their cadet program. Apart from that it is better to go to university, get your masters and then earn some nice money in another job. With around 30.000 open places for engineers alone over here in germany and an increasing demand on academically trained personal the future looks quite bright. And one can earn enough money to fly some real fun airplanes on the side, those that do not complain if they are flown upside down, or without an engine, or both ;)

That said i would encourage him to start glider flying at 14, since it is an absolutely superb and pretty cheap hobby.

Not to be forgotten is that after all that work, your licence depends on acceptable medicals every 6 or 12 months. Without them, you are back to square 1. Many are the former pilots I've seen over a long career having to forcibly change direction into something completely new and not their desired route. To me the profession has been incredible- I have travelled the world and seen so much, and had the pleasure of flying turboprops up to all 747 models. Priceless memories and incredible pleasure- I was never one to look out of a window at a passing plane without getting 'the feeling', but there are times I think I would have been far better off as a doctor/dentist/banker! Trouble is....I know I would never have been satisfied! The nice thing is it has been a delight to work in an industry crawling, indeed absolutely infested, with without doubt the best totty in any industry with the possible exception of pole dancing.