So what happens when the carriers start having troubles finding decent pilots over the next few decades, because nobody wants to work for so little? I hear there's already a shortage.

So what happens when the carriers start having troubles finding decent pilots over the next few decades, because nobody wants to work for so little? I hear there's already a shortage.

Then they will start hiring FSX pilots, and pay us to simulate..

So what happens when the carriers start having troubles finding decent pilots over the next few decades, because nobody wants to work for so little? I hear there's already a shortage.

There really is no shortage. When you see wages climb significantly you will know there is a shortage. There are a ton of pilots out there willing to work for extremely low wages.Todd

Lol... I love this community. We all have "the itch".My thoughts in the hopes it provides another side of the story.I recently reached a personal milestone in life and started in on a "just past quarter-life crisis" and reflected some on my journey through life so far. I sat at this very computer monitor some six years ago as I began to develop these very doubts about my life. I love flying...should I be a pilot? At the time I had a freshly minted bachelors, a new job with some growth potential, and beautiful girl on my arm I would soon call my wife. Our jobs had already afforded us comfort and financial security and for me to change direction had major life altering implications. Plus, if I did well enough at my job I could OWN an airplane! I chose nay... Fast forward six years. Job went where I hoped it would, got two more degrees (almost a Ph.D), got a great house with a big lawn, two beautiful kids, wife is still hot, and I went and bought myself some German performance saloons to beat the Jones's (they are pretty quick and the Jones's wont race me :( ). Life is good! I can pretty much afford the airplane even though it is NOT EVER a good idea to buy one. Am I happy? Mostly. I hate the job because like ALMOST EVERY JOB OUT THERE there are politics, wringers to be put through, horrible bosses, crappy hours, soul-sapping monotony, and frankly what I do doesn't matter to me. Personal issue? Yes. Probable to happen to others? Research says...likely. So what is the price I pay vs the benefit I reap for not being a commercial pilot (I am a private pilot)?Well the price I pay is not doing what I love. It is hard to put a relative value on that when considering everything else I am blessed with. For those considering this very thing the argument that aviation is a poor choice because of the politics, pensions, lay offs, etc. is moot because even if you do not choose aviation you will likely see this in one form or another in a non-aviation career. The real choice is quality of life and how you assign value to things like having a family, a nice home, nice car, etc. I know for certain that had I not met my wife I would have sacrificed the luxury for a room at mom and dad's and a right seat in an RJ or flying cargo at night and been totally happy with it all. I am sure I would still gripe about the Chief Pilot, the company messing with seniority, furloughs, the union...you name it. BUT... as my family members that are pilots say..."It beats an office job any day".Disclaimer: My ruminations and insights are worth exactly 99.9% what you paid for them. Your mileage may vary. Do not read while operating heavy machinery or while pregnant.

Lol... I love this community. We all have "the itch".My thoughts in the hopes it provides another side of the story.I recently reached a personal milestone in life and started in on a "just past quarter-life crisis" and reflected some on my journey through life so far. I sat at this very computer monitor some six years ago as I began to develop these very doubts about my life. I love flying...should I be a pilot? At the time I had a freshly minted bachelors, a new job with some growth potential, and beautiful girl on my arm I would soon call my wife. Our jobs had already afforded us comfort and financial security and for me to change direction had major life altering implications. Plus, if I did well enough at my job I could OWN an airplane! I chose nay... Fast forward six years. Job went where I hoped it would, got two more degrees (almost a Ph.D), got a great house with a big lawn, two beautiful kids, wife is still hot, and I went and bought myself some German performance saloons to beat the Jones's (they are pretty quick and the Jones's wont race me :( ). Life is good! I can pretty much afford the airplane even though it is NOT EVER a good idea to buy one. Am I happy? Mostly. I hate the job because like ALMOST EVERY JOB OUT THERE there are politics, wringers to be put through, horrible bosses, crappy hours, soul-sapping monotony, and frankly what I do doesn't matter to me. Personal issue? Yes. Probable to happen to others? Research says...likely. So what is the price I pay vs the benefit I reap for not being a commercial pilot (I am a private pilot)?Well the price I pay is not doing what I love. It is hard to put a relative value on that when considering everything else I am blessed with. For those considering this very thing the argument that aviation is a poor choice because of the politics, pensions, lay offs, etc. is moot because even if you do not choose aviation you will likely see this in one form or another in a non-aviation career. The real choice is quality of life and how you assign value to things like having a family, a nice home, nice car, etc. I know for certain that had I not met my wife I would have sacrificed the luxury for a room at mom and dad's and a right seat in an RJ or flying cargo at night and been totally happy with it all. I am sure I would still gripe about the Chief Pilot, the company messing with seniority, furloughs, the union...you name it. BUT... as my family members that are pilots say..."It beats an office job any day".Disclaimer: My ruminations and insights are worth exactly 99.9% what you paid for them. Your mileage may vary. Do not read while operating heavy machinery or while pregnant.

I will add as a professional pilot, I would not take back anything. I went into debt, drove jalopies, couldn't afford a coke out of a machine when I started out. I was blessed to have flown in the military for 10 years and landed a great flying job that actually pays well and I have a great schedule (not an airline or corporate job). It is a real niche market. I will say that there are a lot of flying options out there besides the airlines and even the corporate world. Keep your eyes open and don't rule out any opportunity.Todd

Todd has a real point. He made his choice and no regrets. Without getting too fatalistic about all this...You face your last day... You know the end is near... Do you regret the things you didn't do? I can't take those cars with me...no matter how fast they are! :(

Well I earn more than those salaires posted, and I get to see planes everyday - I get enough time off to fly also for pleasure. My friend as just been accepeted for a major carrier, and as part of that acceptance gets to pay them around 85K(GBP) to be trained and given a Pilots license and job, they then get the 85K payed back over 7 years or so in their salary. at which point the salary will still be less than mine, but liveable and more than those US carrier FO salaries.Plus points I think to pilots, if you do long haul, then you get to see some of the great parts of the workd for free, and get to stay in some gorgeous hotels. My partner is cabin crew and as a great life doing just that, although that said , the length of stay in some of those locations nowadays is cut down to what it used to be, so sometimes a flying vist litterally!Short Haul - hmmm see no joy in that really at all, glorified bus driver always ending back where you started most times, best benefit is being where the sun shines for most of your working day. and due to still working strange hours probably not at home as much as a long haul pilot anyway.I think someone hit the nail on the head, commercial airline flying was well paid and clamorous in the 50.60.70s etc now its not that well paid and apart from the uniform not that glamourous, other than if you get long haul to some nice parts of the world and nice hotels.My advice is get another job, that earns better money, allows you to buy the latest PCs and sims so you can simulate flying, go get your PPL/CPL/IR etc and enjoy flying for pleasure - marry long haul cabin crew for cheap flights around the world. Or look to the world of Business Jet flying if you want the jet set lifesytle and not married, and get to fly to differnet places all the time at the whim of your client/employer.Politics and change is occuring in all proffesions, technology is de skilling many jobs and once safe career paths are not so safe or good as they used to be, and in many areas salaries are no where as good as they used to be in real terms, cadets coming into my proffesion get paid half what I was getting as a cadet(and thats not even taking into account inflation) fortuanlty they still have the potential to eventually reach the same levels at present, but their pensions etc are all no where near as good. You can understand why Kids start to see the only way to make good money nowadays is to get themselves on the Xfactor as it the only proffesiion where you need no skill or talent to make a fortune!

My advice is get another job, that earns better money, allows you to buy the latest PCs and sims so you can simulate flying, go get your PPL/CPL/IR etc and enjoy flying for pleasure - marry long haul cabin crew for cheap flights around the world. Or look to the world of Business Jet flying if you want the jet set lifesytle and not married, and get to fly to differnet places all the time at the whim of your client/employer.!

Am trying to follow your plan...Get job - check, i have one of thoseBuy computer for fsx - check, ninja computer for ngx obtainedGet PPL/CPL- check, working on thisMarry long haul cabin crew for cheap flights - negative, not yet actioned.Perhaps you can help me out with how to sort this last one?:)

Well I have never regretted taking the plunge. ;-) love the view from the top..! :-)

The best way to go about it is if you're young, preferably get a degree in aviation flight management or something similar... It does matter what degree you have regardless of what you've read, they'll put your app right on top of the pile.. It's also who you know, luckily I've always been an avid golfer and met many airline pilots when in my 20's who were golf nuts and gave them golf lessons and got jumpseat rides when it was allowed before the CASS system kicked in.. You also have to ask yourself if you want marriage and family, because especially when you first get started, it can strain a marriage or relationship.. One piece of advice I'd give is to stay single early on in your career.. When I was about 10, my uncle took me to midway and O'hare to just watch and said to him.. that's what I want to be.. I was blessed to have parents who supported me on my decision and sent me to a university that has one of the best aviation programs in the USA.. Lewis University in Joliet IL has structured aviation degrees ( with an airport on the campus), that involve flying while you're getting your degree and you can start instructing when you graduate, or start flying charters/cargo flights which I did in the MU-2 as a co pilot then moved to PIC in just a year at 22 yrs old.. If you seriously want to climb the ladder, you have to put other things in life on hold, because it can be very unpredictable.. Today is much more difficult because there is so much competition and airline jobs are scarce, but this has happend before where the economy tanked and rebounded, we can only hope the dollar doesn't crash or it's going to be chaos.. Don't settle, if you really want to be a pilot, you get one shot at life and I say go for it.. It's not about the money, it's about getting to do something that you love and are passionate about..

HiI cannot answer to this question because I want to become a professional pilot. Simply because I cannot imagine myself in any other job. Currently I hold ppl. I will never forget my first take off did alone. By the way please everyone jitter to me on 15 February because I'm invited to the final selection day to Ctc wingsLaszlo

So what happens when the carriers start having troubles finding decent pilots over the next few decades, because nobody wants to work for so little? I hear there's already a shortage.

I was hearing about the shortage when I was 15 years old in 2004/2005 and besides for the mini regional shortage around 2007/2008 have yet to see anything come yet. There will always be lots of people wanting to fly and right now there are still plenty of pilots looking for jobs.

Well I earn more than those salaires posted, and I get to see planes everyday - I get enough time off to fly also for pleasure. My friend as just been accepeted for a major carrier, and as part of that acceptance gets to pay them around 85K(GBP) to be trained and given a Pilots license and job, they then get the 85K payed back over 7 years or so in their salary. at which point the salary will still be less than mine, but liveable and more than those US carrier FO salaries.Plus points I think to pilots, if you do long haul, then you get to see some of the great parts of the workd for free, and get to stay in some gorgeous hotels. My partner is cabin crew and as a great life doing just that, although that said , the length of stay in some of those locations nowadays is cut down to what it used to be, so sometimes a flying vist litterally!Short Haul - hmmm see no joy in that really at all, glorified bus driver always ending back where you started most times, best benefit is being where the sun shines for most of your working day. and due to still working strange hours probably not at home as much as a long haul pilot anyway.I think someone hit the nail on the head, commercial airline flying was well paid and clamorous in the 50.60.70s etc now its not that well paid and apart from the uniform not that glamourous, other than if you get long haul to some nice parts of the world and nice hotels.My advice is get another job, that earns better money, allows you to buy the latest PCs and sims so you can simulate flying, go get your PPL/CPL/IR etc and enjoy flying for pleasure - marry long haul cabin crew for cheap flights around the world. Or look to the world of Business Jet flying if you want the jet set lifesytle and not married, and get to fly to differnet places all the time at the whim of your client/employer.Politics and change is occuring in all proffesions, technology is de skilling many jobs and once safe career paths are not so safe or good as they used to be, and in many areas salaries are no where as good as they used to be in real terms, cadets coming into my proffesion get paid half what I was getting as a cadet(and thats not even taking into account inflation) fortuanlty they still have the potential to eventually reach the same levels at present, but their pensions etc are all no where near as good. You can understand why Kids start to see the only way to make good money nowadays is to get themselves on the Xfactor as it the only proffesiion where you need no skill or talent to make a fortune!

I was always told, Don't listen to all those people who tell you not to bother with University/College, make sure you get the best education you can.I am beginning to wonder.

Edited February 1, 201214 yr by wanabflyer

Well this just plain sucks.http://www.click2houston.com/news/money/American-Airlines-plans-to-cut-13-000-jobs/-/1735962/8578330/-/14prjhr/-/index.html

Well this just plain sucks.http://www.click2hou...hr/-/index.html

What really sucks are the people getting screwed out of their pensions. The 50 and 60 somethings. Of course everyone should have seen this one coming and planned as best they could... And then there's the talks of US Airways acquiring AMR. That'd be a proper cluster considering US Airways hasn't cleaned up it's act since the America West merge. Don't get me started.

Edited February 1, 201214 yr by ZachLW