Hey fellas, I will keep it short I am 29, have been an airline pilot for the past 5 years, with the exception of the great people and cool places, the hours are long, the pay is shitty, the industry has been degraded for some time, with a continuing downward spiral, I honestly can't stomach going to work anymore. The sad thing is I have put so much effort and time & money into pursuing this career, but I feel like I have so much more talent as a person then to be a slave to a stupid seniority system

Anybody just get tired of the BS one day and decide to switch careers?

 

maybe start flying private jets? (i know nothing of the industry, this is merely all I could come up with)

 

Airline pilot pay is shitty?? Honestly? I thought they made 100k+.....I wouldn't think they get any average joe to fly those things....i've always wanted to fly somit

 

yea, much like Walmart they have found a way to enslave lower paid regional pilots for 40k a year in hopes of one day landing a job at FedEx or UPS (they do make a lot of money), but the road to that job is EXTREMELY difficult and requires so much financial sacrifice, I just dont want to deal with it anymore.

My typical work day is 14hrs long for maybe 5-6 hrs of pay.........

 

wow...learn something everyday I guess, that is pretty shitty....did you want to move away from airports, etc? Have you looked into air traffic controlling? They make a really good living. My uncle is one and they are really flexible when it comes to break-time

 

You know as an airline pilot you really cash in when you are 50 years old. But I don't know what gives man. First you are writing a book about how cool and interesting it is and now you hate it. What happened?

My job is totally lame, but it also gives me about 10 weeks of paid vacation a year and the potential for early retirement with a pretty healthy monthly check, so I will probably go on hating it for a long time. But props to the people that just say screw it and find something better.

 

I totally understand what you going through. I just took a 15k a year paycut due to "economic hardship" as a paramedic. I feel you though, some days I love my job, others days I feel I picked the wrong career. The only thing I can say is find a secure job before you leave your current job. It seems that even the "secure" jobs aren't safe because they can replace you with someone who has been out of work and will accept half your pay greatfully. Most employers know this info and are using it to their advantage. Thank god I'm grandfathered in to the old pay rate, new medics make less than people flipping burgers at mcyd's which is crazy considering your have someones life in your hands. Good luck!

 

Honestly, our management team is full of scumbags that don't want to hire more pilots due to cost, so this is what happens

I am gone for 4 days and on my last leg I get back to Newark, call the wife tell her I am going to be home in a bit. i get off the airplane and standing there is a "crew tracker", they tell me I am not going home (even though that was my schedule and I am not on "reserve" , I am going to Dayton ohio for the night and wont get back until late tomorrow night, all for an extra 3 hrs of pay

happens all the time, and this is just one small aspect of the shitty things we have to go throughn on a day to day basis

 

Are you flying the small regionals or the big jets? It can be seriously tough. I was told that some of the entry pilots for Mesaba (which was a regional small plane carrier for Northwest/Delta) were paid $27k to start. But the top guys flying big jets to Hawaii pull a cool $175k and don't have to work much.

Just make sure you are SURE becuase you don't want to miss it and get back in and be in the back of the line again. And also, the grass is always greener. You are not likely to find a gig you love and that has no bullsh*t involved. Its just different job, different bullsh*t. Everybody has crap they hate about their job.

If I had you training I trade you my gig and you'd increase your pay and I'd cut mine, but I'd be getting the better deal. Trust me, my gig BLOWS.

 

^ Yea I hear ya, and the starting pay at Mesabah is more like 20k the first year. I made 16k my first year at Colgan. I do work for a regional, the better of most of them "Expressjet". The average F/O makes 40-50k a year if they bust there asses, and the average Captain makes 70-90k a year. The problem is when you get hired at lets say Continental mainlike aka "the big jets" you start back at 30k a year with no health insurance and dont get paid during training, its ****** criminal.................

The fact that pilots know we cant leave without starting back at the bottom is what keeps us working in these shitty condition's, management has us by the balls and they take full advantage of it

and I sued to think I would rather work at a job i liked and not make as much ,oney, but living in the northeast I can no longer bust my ass and make 40k a year for the next 5-10 years.

If I am miserable, I might as well be getting paid........