I start my airline career in 2 weeks... does anyone have any good news on things to come in the aviation industry or does it look like im going to be in the right seat working a gear lever for the next 6 to 8 years?

i have never been so bummed and excited at the same time. excited about the job, bummed about the fact that ill be making firt pay and that tommy boy graduated college with a D- faster than i could hope to make captain! (Shade under a decade)

well i think the next few years will get progressively better, i hope AA recalls all these furloughs by the end of 06 start of 07.

charter work, sight seeing, photo shoots and 4 years as a CFI!!! what a ride it has been. looking forward to things to come.

Not finished with ground school so i have not been assigned an aircraft yet. Im hoping for the Saab 340 or the ERJ-145 in DFW or LAX.

here is how i got there: (long read)

I got my private just after graduating high school back in 1998, flew for a year or so just as a hobby and a couple of friends who were going to an aviation school told me how well the airlines were doing and they couldnt graduate guys fast enough so i jumped in head first.

got my commercial single, commercial multi, instrument, CFI, CFII & MEI between 1999 and 2001 started my first flying job as a CFI the day after my check ride at a whopping 380 hours total time just weeks after 9/11.

Then I just built time doing training and helping out some buds in a couple of charter ops when i was able. eventually started ferrying some planes and multi engine equipment.

when my flight times started looking like the regional airline minimums i took the ATP written, got my passport in order, got hold of an FCC radio ops permit and i swamped everyone with resumes. I got 3 bites on the resume and completed the interviews and decided to go with AE in DFW.

Things are gloomy right now. the industry is in limbo. it is plausable for someone get their training done, build up about 1200 hours and get hired by a regional airline, yes... even if you have SOME college and no degree with plans to finish it within a few years. (i had 2100 total time with 200 multi engine at the time of my interview) perhaps as many as 400 pilots will be so lucky in 2006 as to find a job with my company.

getting hired though, in hind sight, isnt the hard part... its the upgrade times (6+ years here), the un-Godly low pay, the uncertainty in general that really get depressing. New hire average income for the first 4 years at ANY regional sits right around 1600 to 2200 a month... period. i have held better paying jobs that were a helluva lot less fun.

if your starting the road to the left seat, there are a lot of ways to get there. so long as the end result is the same, one method is as good as the next if you ask me. Alphajet... if you are serious about the job and have the will to get there it can be done, just be aware that it is a long, difficult and sometimes unforgiving road to the left seat... at least for now. but there is always darkness before the dawn.

I recall at one particular low point in my days as a CFI a retired airline captain and good friend of mine told me this:

"Aviation... she's a fickle bitch. but you have to love her anyway if your going to get anywhere."

God is it true.

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To be fair, I could think of a lot worse situations. If its the way to the left seat, then so be it - 6 to 8 years - you'll only be in your early mid 30s. I could think of a lot worse situations to be in...

Aviation is weird. It has its ups and down hoepfully when I am going in it will be on its way up.  Also remember pilots have a very high divorce rate so if you havn't got married/ or are remember that its yor family before aviation.  Good luck, heard lots of things about AE....

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With any luck it will be.