Matt,

If it is in your heart to fly for a living, then do so. Regardless of
the job prospects or industry downturn. Don't let the industry's
cyclical nature affect what for you will be a major life decision. If
it is in your heart, do it. I meet people every day that tell me "I
wish I had become an airline pilot, but now I am too old". Don't be one
of those people if flying is in your blood.

However...

You won't make as much money as you think you will. There are too many
people with ratings and hours who are willing to fly for free, and
companies take advantage of that. You will most likely be furloughed,
fired, or laid off more than once in your career. You may be on
unemployement, and you may have to take a low paying job (flipping
burgers) to survive future downturns. Downturns in this industry are on
a 10 year cycle, by the way.

You need to accept the fact, right now, that nepotism is a huge part of
the flying business. The best person does not get the job, it is about
who you know. I am not saying this is good or bad, I am saying that
this is how it works. Nobody will hand a stranger an expensive airplane
to fly, so hone up your social skills, because all pilots with their
Multi-Comm-IFR ratings have a minimum of flying skills, but not all know
how to make friends and influence people.

Don't go into this career for the glamour, you will spend years being
treated worse than the janitor at your flight school (janitors at ERAU
make more than CFI's). You may be asked to work for free, to vacuum
floors, to answer phones, to wash the bugs off of airplanes, to clean
lavatories, all for the priviledge of flying for peanuts (sometimes
literally peanuts).

You will find that you will be competing with rich kids that bought all
of their flight times, and rich 50 year olds who fly "for fun" on the
side. You will have captains that are younger, less experienced, and
less able than you, and you will have to make them happy (remember what
I said about social skills ?)

You will be flying in an airspace system that doesn't always work as
advertised. You will need to avoid running into pilots who don't look
out the window because they are playing with the Garmin GPS in their
Cirrus, and you will need to look out for controllers who are "weak" and
lose control when things get hectic (although most controllers are
professionals who do a damn fine job).

You may be asked to fly crappy planes in crappy weather, and will need
to find a diplomatic way to resolve such conflicts (social skills
again).

You will need to know your craft well, because knowing the mechanics of
flying, and the academic side of it, only get you to the starting line.
After that it is your wit and your social skills that will get you
through.

After all this, your career could be ended at any time by failing a
medical examination, or by making a mistake that gets your ticket taken.

Don't think that being a pilot will get you the respect that society
gives to brain surgeons. There are reasons for this, some valid, some
not, just deal with that fact.

I suggest getting a degree in something other than "aviation
administration". You will need something to fall back upon when you get
furloughed or lose your medical. Get a business or law degree, anything
outside of aviation.

If you go into this career with your eyes open, you can have a blast.
There is a reason why so many people want to get paid to fly, this stuff
is fun, challenging, and statisfying. The people I know that are burned
out are the ones that know nothing else, and have done nothing else in
their life (they flew from high school all the way to 737, then got
burned out).

The people that really love this career are the ones that worked the
tough jobs, because those people know what a crappy job is, and they
have a sense of perspective.

If you have read this far, you are probably feeling a bit down. Good, I
have shaken your world-view a bit and have gotten you thinking. Now
think back to the reasons why you want to fly, if you are thinking, "I
am willing to put up with the bs because I love to fly", then you will
do just fine.

I love flying, I get paid to fly, and I am facing some of the things I
have mentioned above. After weighing all of the minuses, I still think
getting paid to fly is the best job in the world !

Just go into it with your eyes open kid.




(Matt Cummings) wrote in
om:

Hello All!
My name is Matt Cummings and I am thinking about pursuing an Airline
Pilot Career for my future goal. I was wondering if anybody in the
group would answer some of my questions regarding this topic. My
first question is do Airline Pilots need any college credits or a
degree to make it into commercial jobs such as Delta, Comair, United,
etc? I currently have an associated degree in Aviation Administration
and I am finishing up my Bachelor's degree in the next two semesters.
I am a private pilot that is on the edge of receiving my instrument
rating with about 200 hours of flight time. I put my flying on hold
for the time being because I am trying to get my schooling out of the
way. Does this sound like a good idea to everyone? Please send me a
response I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
Matt Cummings