Aviation BS and Photo Thread

One of the jets I flew back in the day.

 

My experience in the military wasn't flying, because I was enlisted, therefore I don't have a first hand account of it, but what I have learned from coworkers/ friends/ other pilots that I talk to is that a military aviator is doing less and less flying these days. Call it what you want - budget cuts, evolution in combat techniques, advances in technology and equipment capabilities... They just are not flying the hours anymore. Some pilots are, but generally speaking they are not. As a civilian pilot I have flown more in five years than what some military pilots will do in twenty years.

Being a pilot in the military requires serious commitments and sacrifices. You have to be on board with all of it, and not just "I'm doing this so I can get to Delta one day." There are numerous ways to get to a major, the military isn't the only one.

 

I'll try to add some additional information and perspective from a civilian career. My path started with flight instructing then I went on to fly cargo in small twin props and jets, passenger charter and then Part 91 private jet flying.

As @justinmbowen said, from starting off as a paid pilot to getting to a career position is typically around 10 years. That career position could be a major airline or a solid Part 91 department and there are various paths to getting there. On the civilian side entry level jobs include flight instructing, banner towing, flying skydivers, or possibly finding a right seat position at a charter company. The next step may be a charter company, small cargo, or regional airline as each of these may require some previous experience. From there a person may move between companies to improve pay and quality of life while gaining more experience to work towards their end goal or even get lucky and get to the end goal without a job change.

Perhaps one of the biggest factors in getting to that career position, regardless if it is airline or Part 91, is networking. A big reason why the military pilots are able to go from enlistment to the major airlines is because of how many people they worked with and know who have advanced ahead of them and can provide a recommendation as well as help get their application to the top of the stack. The same thing happens with regional airline pilots trying to move on to the major airlines. On the Part 91 side of flying, who you know is often the main key in even being able to get an interview as openings often travel by word of mouth before they ever hit a job posting. As a result that side of the industry can be difficult (but definitely not impossible) to break into.

When I mention charter flying, I am referring to operations under Part 135 which are on-demand and cover a variety of flying such as passenger charter or small cargo. Since many of these jobs are "on-demand" they may not provide a schedule and quality of life can be hard. Sometimes it is possible to find one that has a rotational schedule of days on with hard days off. The flying can be in anything from a small single or twin piston to a Gulfstream or Global Express.

The Part 91 operations are typically flying for a corporation or a private individual and the equipment can also range from a small single-engine piston airplane to a long-range jet. The biggest thing with this side of the industry is EVERY job is different. No two are alike. In fact, my job now is different than it was just 2.5 years ago even though it is the same plane and the same person. The other planes in the hangar all have completely different schedules and type of flying. Some jobs I have witnessed will have the plane gone for days to weeks and the crew may have to stay with the plane the whole time. Some places let the crew airline home if the trip is a week long or more. I have seen jobs where the crew flies long-haul flights with a quick stay somewhere and then they come home. One company flies mainly Monday-Thursday and almost never on the weekend and no holidays. Some are gone every weekend and every holiday and never know when they will fly. Others might know exactly when they will fly days, weeks or months in advance. Some pay well and some pay poor. Literally there are as many variances as there are jobs. However the good jobs can be very rewarding and allow you to advance to larger equipment, see new places, and the options for where you can go can be almost endless.

If you are looking into this career, ask lots of questions. It will not hurt to ask several people the same question. Different people will have a different outlook as sometimes the career can be impacted by luck and timing. Where one person has a negative view another can offer a very positive one. And keep your options open. We all start off with a simplistic picture of how we will advance our career and for many that picture changes for the better. I know I never pictured my career to go like it has.

 

Well....this weekend came and went.
I got caught up in some other things including extended time at the gun range and I did not get to fly on "Witchcraft" this past weekend.

Maybe next year.

 

Been absent for a while so I thought I'd give my opinions on the previous topics...

Call up Monarch Air and get it done in one of those snazzy G1000 Cessnas!

That Staggerwing....

This is a great place to ask questions. Just keep in mind that everyone will have different stories so try to talk to as many people as possible. I have many family members who are commercial pilots and some come from military background, and some from civilian background. Any way you do it, you are going to be coming in at the perfect time. Airlines are going to be hurting for pilots in the coming years. PS. I'm in my second semester of college as well

Not sure I agree with the 8-10 year estimate. Looking at Envoy's website, it shows expected time to upgrade to captain at "less than 3 years" and time to move to American is "Just over 5 years" (http://www.envoyair.com/pilots/). My old flight instructor started flying for Delta Connections and moved up VERY fast. He's now flying international on the 767 out of New York. It took him about 5 years to get there. If you are flexible on where you're based out of, you can move up faster than other places. If you bust your ass, you can get done quickly.
My mom as well as my aunt and uncle work for Southwest. It's an amazing company to work for, especially if you are a pilot for them. My uncle is a captain based out of Denver.

No. It's not hard at all. Envoy is offering $20,000 signing bonuses and has industry leading starting pay for regionals right now (http://www.envoyair.com/pilots/). I just saw 3 instructors get hired. One at Sky West, and 2 at Envoy.

Not when you're senior enough and get to choose when and where you fly!

 

I meant that the 8-10 years is fairly normal to get to major starting from day 1 of flight training. There are exceptions to everything of course. I've been flying for 16 years, but only a portion of that has been on a professional level so my timeline just went out the window!

 

Ah, didn't realize you meant day 1 of flight training.

 

TONSSS of good information on here! Thanks a lot guys! It's good hear different perspectives for sure.

 

I knew you were gonna say that I sent a couple guys thru Monarch for their instrument about 8 months ago if I remember correctly... It's on my "list" of potentials

Oh and my SR20 was fixed late last week and the guy ferrying it back had an engine fail just after takeoff... no chute deployment and he landed back at the takeoff airport. Was at about 1500' AGL when it happened. Oil pressure took a dump and the engine failed on him.

 

I knew you knew I would say that! That's unfortunate about your engine....but great that they landed safely without pulling the chute

 

Bob Hoover passed away. I was lucky enough to meet him years ago in Reno. What an amazing life.

http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2016/10/bob-hoover-one-of-nations-greatest-pilots-dead-at-94/

 

Wow.... RIP Bob I also met him @ the Lakeland Fl sun and fun fly in back maybe 17 years ago

 

WOW! So glad I stumbled upon this thread. I just moved to Charlotte, NC from KCMO and am trying to wrap up my Commercial Certificate. The family and I love flying and try to go someplace new regularly; outside of my regular business trips to Centennial (KAPA). I look forward to binge reading this thread this weekend.

 

Welcome!

 

Do you fly into Centennial? I'm trying to think of what companies might have ties between the places aside from Furniture Row and the NASCAR connection.

 

Ya kind of a bummer... really liked that plane... I'm sure it'll be up again just after 2 months and another 30k One of my old Cherokee 180s just finished getting an overhaul after 7 weeks...

I know right? I fly that plane the most out of all of ours... piston singles are dangerous lol

 

No issues landing - he said probably one of his better ones... pilot and pax are good to go.

 

Yeah always Centennial when I'm heading to Denver. I'm not with a large corporate, I fly personally but have a real estate business partner in the area and I always preferred to go to him rather than have him come to me when I was still in KC. Not sure how future trips will go now that I'm in Charlotte...I just hate flying commercial though so I need to figure something out.