Introduction

[KenA-TX-609]

Hello Chris,

My name is Ken, I'm a 22 year old college student in Waco, Texas. I recently took a trip from Austin to San Francisco and while flying and dealing with all the airport drama I realized my ambition of earning a pilots license was not complete, let alone even started.

My love of flying began with my father who all but raised me around planes since he worked for the FAA as a maintenance supervisor in Kansas City overseeing much of TWA's maintenance at KCI.

I am a semester or so away from completing my associates degree and plan to continue on to finish a bachelor's in Political Science. My plan until I re-found my love of flying was to pursue law school but now I am not sure.

My initial questions are:
1. How easy once trained properly is finding a solid job with a company.
2. What is a usual schedule like for a first officer? Since that's where I would begin.
3. I've seen that for the most part pay stinks starting out. Is this true?
4. Is it hard/stressful on a family as a pilot? I figure the amount of time spent away from family as a lawyer is about the same as a pilot.

Any and all information is appreciated. It is just nice to have answers coming from a real pilot.

Thanks Chris!

[Continental Chris]

Ken,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for posting! My grandfather was actually the pilot in charge of the maintenance base in Kansas City for TWA in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

To get to your questions:

1. The amount of time and experince it takes to get hired with an airline after completing training varies greatly with the situation at the time. It took me 12 months to get hired, I have heard of it taking a few years, to a mere six months, it just really all depends.

2. Schedules for first officers and captains are the same. If you look under my sub forum you can find all of my monthly schedules. I recommend looking at the other coaches schedules as well. I usually have between 12-16 days off per month.

3. Pay does stink starting out, no way around that. I made $20,000 my first year at XJT, but I will make $80,000 with CAL this year. Pay gets better the longer you are at an airline. You can go to www.airlinepilotcentral.com and check out pay rates for all the different airline. Remember, pilots can only work about 80 hours per month.

4. Family life is definetly different when one person is a pilot. I am lucky in that I have a great wife who is very supportive. You do spend alot of time away from home, but when I am home I have no work at all, which is great.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask any and all questions that you might have, I will do my best to answer them. I look forward to working with you as you explore this new career possibility.

Chris

[KenA-TX-609]

Thanks for the answers Chris. I'm looking over the pay rates and I'm just wondering, not that I intend to get too personal, but is the pay rates truly enough to support a family on? It appears based on your May schedule (imagining it as my own as a pilot) that I would feel I were home enough.

Another concern is your home. I have always assumed your home will be dictated by the airline? For example, flying for American Airlines will likely force one to have to live in the Dallas area or live in one of their major hub cities? I wonder this as my fiance' is a very driven woman and hopes to have a fruitful career and her dream is a home in Los Angeles, with me as a pilot this would be a hard life to live am I correct?

Also, back to the pay questions. I know pilot unions are very powerful, are they increasingly helping make the pay better? Secondly, is the field of pilots in demand? Or is it one of those fields that is overpopulated? I just worry about job availability once I complete training and as far as pay goes wondering how comfortably my family and I will be able to live, like the possibility of sending my children to private school and college saving for them.

Besides the obvious love of flying, what made you decide on a flying career over that in business?

[Continental Chris]

Ken,

As far as pay and supporting a family is concerned, it just really depends on what your standard of living is. On first year regional pay it is going to be tough, but as a captain it's not so bad. It isn't lawyer pay though either. My wife and I survive off of our incomes pretty comfortably, but we are not extravagant either.

The airline can dictate where you are based, but not where you live. For example, I am based in Newark, but I live in North Carlina. This means that I am a commuter who flies in to work everyday, as does about 70% of the EWR base. It is not as easy as living in base, but it is worth it to me. Plenty of airlines have bases in LAX.

To be honest, pilot unions have been weekened in recent years, it is only now that they are finally starting to stand on their feet again. Things are slowly getting better. Currently no airlines are hiring, but qualified pilots well definetly be in demand when things turn around here.

I chose to fly because I realized that I could make $100,000+ per year and have alot of time off, simple as that. Many people chose the career for a love of flying, I looked at it more from the business end of things. I enjoy flying, but I also enjoy days off and my time at home.

Chris