Pilots Wanted! - Career Research Paper

[mahoolywazit 0]

Hi everyone,

 

This is my first post on AVSIM, but I've been reading around on the forums a lot anonymously :D

 

My name is Howard Yang, and I'm currently a Sophmore in high school. As an assignment for English class, I am to choose a career I would want, and write a twelve page paper on it . I have chosen a pilot as my career path, and as hoping if any commercial pilots on these forums (I've already seen at leas a dozen) could help me with the interview section. This would only take thirty minutes of your time at most, and can be done on this forum, through, email or any other method you prefer. Alternatively, if anyone had considered this career path as well but chose not to become a pilot for some reason, I would be very interested to hear your thoughts, because I've read enough online to know that this career path is not without its caveats.

 

Ever since I was young, I have always dreamed of being a pilot. I remember this first started when I was waiting for my sister's flight to land from London (she had been doing a study-abroad program) at KSFO. As I watched the huge triple sevens and 747s coast by on final, I realized that I could only barely see the tiny cockpit windows that controlled these monolithic aircraft through the skies and hundred of miles an hour. It was from then and there I realized I wanted to be a pilot. That night, I begged by parents to get me a copy of Microsoft's FSX, and have been flying the virtual skies every since.

 

Thanks :)

-Howard Yang

 

 

 

 

 

"No one can realize how substantial the air is, until he feels its supporting power beneath him. It inspires confidence at once."

 

— Otto Lilienthal

[ibanez737 3]

Hey Howard, I'd be happy to help you out. I haven't gotten into the airline game so far (I fly a Cessna 206 doing aerial mapping for a living, and previously worked as a flight instructor), but I'd be willing to provide what insight I have, for what it's worth :) Feel free to send me an email at scottarmstrong87@gmail.com.

 

Cheers,

Scott A

[mahoolywazit 0]

Awesome Scott, thanks :D I'll shoot over some questions ASAP

[Cessnaflyer 56]

Post some questions here and I am sure I can answer a few.

 

I've taught for a college, flight school, started my own instruction business, flew as a corporate pilot and now work at an airline.

[mahoolywazit 0]

Awesome, Chris :D Thanks

 

1. I plan to go to an engineering college for a degree in aeronautical engineering, in case somehow the aviation industry does not work out for me (whether it be an issue of money, job availability, etc). Do you think this could be a suitable fallback and/or point in my favor in the view of potential airline employers?

 

2. How long would it take for someone to start from scratch and attain licenses all the way up to a multi-engine rating, instrument rating, and attain enough hours to become eligible for a job at a regional carrier? How much money would it cost?

 

3. Are the hours for as a corporate pilot (I'm guessing that means business jets or charter jets....please correct me if that's not the case) better than that of an airline pilot? I've heard that low level airline pilots often get bad hours and even worse pay. Is that the same for corporate aviation?

 

4. How are the hours and working conditions at your airline. Did it take a lot of flight hours for you to be eligible for a job there?

 

 

Thanks again for the help :)

 

-Howard

[Cessnaflyer 56]

1. Your plan of obtaining an Aeronautical Engineering degree is a great one! Commercial Pilot degrees do not furnish you with an advantage in the industry and would be completely useless outside of the industry. You always want a back up job plan because of how volatile the industry can be. Another risk is of losing your medical certificate and not being allowed to fly.

 

Now, some are saying that it would be advantageous to get a Commercial Pilot degree because of the up and coming Airline Transport Pilot license rule which simply put, keeps low time Commercial licensed pilots out of an airline cockpits and requires them to have an Airline Transport Pilot license and 1500 hours before they are even considered for a job. The bill which was passed into law and coming into play soon has a section in it that will allow lower hour minimums for pilots if they graduated from an accredited four year Commercial Pilot degree program. You can search "1500 hour law" in google and it will give you many opinions on how this will change the industry. In my opinion I feel it will have no change to the industry because those hours used to be the absolute minimums anyways. I was quickly able to gain enough hours by going the traditional route and being a Certified Flight Instructor and teaching. In a nutshell stick with your Aeronautical engineering degree! :)

 

2. It all depends on how quickly someone learns, time they are able to devote to studying and the money they have available. I did mine at a slow pace enjoying life and going to school. It took me 16 months from 0 hours to Commercial, Instrument Single Engine Land with a Certified Flight Instructor certificate. I was then asked by the chief instructor to come back and teach at the college. I did this for another year and concurrently added on my Commercial Multi-Engine and my Instrument Instructor ratings. If you want to devote the time I have had students go from 0 hours to being a Commercial pilot and Flight Instructor in 6 months. It all depends on your personal situation. I also advise you to work a job to keep your student loans down. I've worked since I was 14 (27 now) and I exited flight school and college with only $13,000 in debt. If I worked more which I wish I did now I probably wouldn't have had to take out any loans. The college I went to had free ground instruction and I took full advantage of that and was able to save multiple tens of thousands of dollars instead of going to the larger flight universities around (ERAU, UND) My total cost for flight training was ~$22,000 the rest of the college around that was near $15,000.

 

3. They say, "hours are hours" I would have to disagree a bit. Airlines (which is a lot of pilots end goal, not mine but I am here now which I'll explain.) look for you to have a lot of Pilot in Command time, multi-engine and the coveted multi-engine turbine engine time. My pilot in command time came mostly from being an instructor. Any time I was working and flying in the airplane, I was PIC. I was then approached by a local company that was looking for an additional pilot to fly their Beechcraft King Air B200. I jumped at the opportunity because this was a one in a million chance for a pilot who had 0 turbine time and only 14 hours of multi-engine time. I worked with this company for nearly two years and got to see some amazing places and met even more amazing people. The only problem was that we were bought by another company and our new parent company cut down the amount of flying we could do. I worried that they were going to cut the whole program so I started looking for other jobs. Just under a week after the announcement I was offered a job by a friend I met while working as a flight instructor. He became a Chief Pilot of an airline and they were looking for pilots. I told my previous employer I found a job and a week later I moved out of my place and was headed to Hawaii for training.

 

The King Air job I had a ton of time off and was able to take my wife on a few of our trips. It made for nice paid vacations but I didn't like only working a couple times a month as well. It sounds nice but you get very bored with so much free time. The problem with most airlines is that you are working too much. Typical schedules in the regional airlines have you gone for 4 days out of the week and then home for only 3 days. The reason that I chose my airline is that I am paid a good wage with great benefits in a place we love and I come home every night. Quality of life should always be taken into account first and not what aircraft you fly. I would fly a Cessna 152 if it paid me well and I got to enjoy life.

 

4. Sorry I am breaking up your questions here. It didn't take me very much to get to the airline I am at now. I even took the slow route and I got to this job after 3 years of leaving college. When you are younger time seems to take forever and when you get older you wonder where all that time went. Slow down, enjoy life and you will eventually get to where you are going. You seem to be well on the right track though!

 

Good luck on the paper and let me know if you have any more questions you want me to babble on!

[mahoolywazit 0]

Thanks for the quick reply :D

 

I'm relieved to hear that the engineering degree is a good idea, because I've read up on some posts that say otherwise

 

Wow...three years out of college and into an airline sounds fantastic! I'd seen some posts that said you would need to wait around five or even ten years

 

Just one last, quick thing......it sounds like you went to an engineering college...is that correct?

 

 

Thanks again for the help :)

[Airbus Commander 563]

Hi everyone,

 

As an assignment for English class, I am to choose a career I would want, and write a twelve page paper on it .

 

Hey Howard,

 

Feel free to contact me at ronan_kyne@yahoo.ie, I'm a Commercial Airline pilot based on the A330 and A320. Feel free to fling some questions my way for your paper.

 

Capt. Rónán O Cadhain.

[Cessnaflyer 56]

Thanks for the quick reply :D

 

I'm relieved to hear that the engineering degree is a good idea, because I've read up on some posts that say otherwise

 

Wow...three years out of college and into an airline sounds fantastic! I'd seen some posts that said you would need to wait around five or even ten years

 

Just one last, quick thing......it sounds like you went to an engineering college...is that correct?

 

 

Thanks again for the help :)

 

I've actually been to many colleges as I moved around for jobs.

 

Started at Big Bend Community College where I got all my ratings, went to Central Washington University where I got some more aviation classes and worked on more of the standard set of classes and then I went to Eastern Washington University for a Geography degree. In between there I also went to Summer classes at Embry-Riddle for math and Bellevue College for some history classes. As my grandpa told me before he passed away, "Never stop learning"

 

It shouldn't take you very long to get to an airline if you work at it. I've had friends that went straight to airlines after about 6 months of instructing non-stop at schools like ATP and other flight academies.

[mahoolywazit 0]

It shouldn't take you very long to get to an airline if you work at it. I've had friends that went straight to airlines after about 6 months of instructing non-stop at schools like ATP and other flight academies.

 

Hopefully! As I read online through some of the stories of pilots racking up huge amounts of debt and starting at very low-paying jobs I feel some misgivings about the career path.

[Cessnaflyer 56]

Hopefully! As I read online through some of the stories of pilots racking up huge amounts of debt and starting at very low-paying jobs I feel some misgivings about the career path.

 

The biggest thing is to always have a job or two if you teach at a smaller school with less students. The thing is most of the people that rack up debt don't save their money and instead take out loans when they decide to be pilots. Start saving as much money as you can and try to find a reasonably priced school. Start a savings account and put some money away to gain interest. I use an internet bank that gives me ~1% and it really adds up once you get some into it,

[mahoolywazit 0]

The biggest thing is to always have a job or two if you teach at a smaller school with less students. The thing is most of the people that rack up debt don't save their money and instead take out loans when they decide to be pilots. Start saving as much money as you can and try to find a reasonably priced school. Start a savings account and put some money away to gain interest. I use an internet bank that gives me ~1% and it really adds up once you get some into it,

 

I'm still in high school and haven't quite started my savings yet, but I'll definitely keep that in mind, as I'm not sure my parents will be willing to fund my training

[japascoe 98]

I'm still in high school and haven't quite started my savings yet, but I'll definitely keep that in mind, as I'm not sure my parents will be willing to fund my training

 

The earlier you start saving the more your interest will add up. Even if it's as little as $1 a month. Will also help you get into the right mindset. Here in the Netherlands you can definately get more than 1% per annum in interest on a savings account, but things in the US might be different.

 

I can't help you with the other questions but engineering is definately a good fallback. One caveat: you need to enjoy doing lots of maths and physics, if you don't you probably won't get through the course, and won't be well suited to an engineering degree if you do manage to graduate.

If you do graduate with an engineering degree (and make sure it is an actual engineering degree, not just a fancy sounding name with 'engineering' or 'aviation' thrown in somewhere) the world is your oyster. All my friends who recently graduated with an engineering degree (not just aerospace) had a job within 2 months, in the middle of the current financial crisis and without any prior work experience. Quite a few even already had their job lined up before they graduated. I've been told the employment rate for alumni of my faculty (Aerospace Engineering) who graduated between something like 1970 and now is well over 95%, with the 5% mostly being caused by people being disabled or taking early retirement. Having an aerospace engineering degree can also help you land jobs as a test pilot either for a manufacturer or an airline (post-maintance check flights, acceptance & delivery flights for new planes, etc).