Am I getting into the right career?

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recon
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Am I getting into the right career?

Post by recon »

Hello, First I will introduce myself. My name is Brady and I am 17 years old from Medicine Hat Alberta. I currently have 40 hours and will have my private license this summer.

This fall I am registered at my local college for a 2 year aviation program and will graduate with my commercial license and ifr/twin ratings. I am curious to know what the job outlook is for someone like me. Will I be able to find a job after I graduate with this aviation diploma? Where would this job most likely be, and what kind of flying would it include? Where would a good spot be to start looking for a job as my course comes to an end? Thanks,

Brady
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.80@410
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Post by .80@410 »

Brady,

Welcome to the forum. Yes, there is a lot of negative info around, but stay positive.

If you eat / sleep/ and dream flying then you'll make it in this industry. Do your best to find a reputable company "up north" ( northern AB/ SK/ MB /ON that you can work the ramp for during your first college summer. Makea good name for yourself then try and get into a flying position there when you graduate.

Ignore College promises of "plentiful jobs" BS. Remember when you start looking that resumes are worthless- you are one of 10,000. Showing up in person is better than 100 resumes sent. Be careful of companies promising you advancement if you pay them $$ up front ( Regency ) and don't burn bridges.

You'll be in a good spot IMO in two years in this industry.

-.80 :D
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5x5
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Post by 5x5 »

Recon,

there are lots of posts on here with the same question as yours. It basically comes down to doing it if you love it but be prepared for a tough go at first. You can read lots of others about that.

I think the key thing to remember is that right from the beginning, even now, you are building up a network of future jobs. Make friends constantly as you train and hang around airports. Become known as the guy with the smile who's always ready to help out. And never bad-mouth another pilot or critisize others abilities. Your attitude and reputation as a person will get you your first jobs since you have no appreciable skills (read: hours) fresh out of college.

Don't look at the other students as competition but as people who may one day be giving you a recommend or even hiring you. Ensure that when someone aks and they think back they'll say "Oh yeah, Recon. He's a stand-up guy. I'm sure he'd fit in great here." Recommendations are a HUGE part of the hiring process in aviation. (In case you missed it, a HUGE part.)

The industry is changing slowly and education beyond just pilot skills is becoming more valued. It's not a really strong demand yet but it is growing so it won't hurt. Just make sure that your college in the Hat has a good rep for its aviation program or you might be just as well off taking Business or Marketing and doing the flying at a flight school.

All the best and whatever you choose, go for it with gusto.
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groundtoflightdeck
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Post by groundtoflightdeck »

I think that if you are in Medicine Hat and going to the "local" program, then you must be with Bar XH who have a good reputation for hiring their own. So remeber as you go to keep in good standing with everyone there and you may have a good start right at home.

Good luck- GTF
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Post by Yoyoma »

Make lots of friends and few enemies...Hang around this website too for juicy info!! :wink:
Cheers
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RB211
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Post by RB211 »

Expect the worst and hope for the best. :wink:

I think, often it is unrealistic expectations that cause disappointment. If you are doing this for the 'love' of it and you are persistent and adaptable it will work out in the end.

Often people will ask what the best "way" to go is; get PIC, Multi, Instruct, floats etc. Remember there is more than one way to your end goal. Don't worry about where you are in relation to colleagues from school. One day you may think everyone is getting 'ahead' of me and then in short order you get on a roll and catch up/pass them. It is not a smooth even climb to your goal, it is full of ups and downs (no pun intended :D ).

Good luck, enjoy the ride.
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recon
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Post by recon »

groundtoflightdeck wrote:I think that if you are in Medicine Hat and going to the "local" program, then you must be with Bar XH who have a good reputation for hiring their own. So remeber as you go to keep in good standing with everyone there and you may have a good start right at home.

Good luck- GTF
Yes I am at Bar XH. I am going to apply to get a ramp attentand job for this summer there too. We will see how that goes.
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Post by Rebel »

“Fundamental Things”




by Rick Drury



Even he had them, thoughts of what could have been, if only things had been different, but now it was beyond all that. This part of his story was about to end. Yes, even Bogart had mixed emotions as Ingrid shed a tear and then walked through the mist to the tune of old round engines as a studio orchestra played to our hearts. Of course, the ‘usual suspects’ would be rounded up, blamed for everything. They always are. Tomorrow would be another day, a new beginning. What is past is history and we move onward and forward, ideally with positive lessons learned. Wallowing in the mud of what could and should have been is not nutritious fare.

Sooner or later all stories end. And now it is my turn. It has come to this, an old movie fading to “THE END’. I am age sixty and am on my way off stage. So I am now frequently asked, would I like to change that age limit? Absolutely! I wish it were age fifty-five, or less. But that is a personal thing. To explain is to examine the current state of the industry – or ‘demise’ is perhaps a more apt epithet. It is to briefly express what I miss and why.

When I first joined the ‘real’ airlines in 1973, we all knew the fellow with the job title of “Chief Pilot’. He was not twenty or thirty years old, but more like fifty, maybe near retirement age. His office was full of aviation memorabilia, photos of the airplanes he had flown with the company – and that meant all of them – in every venue, in every bit of lousy weather from typhoons to the ice and snow of many winters, from props to jets. He had walked the walk over and again, so when he said something about what we did or how we ought to do it, his word carried the weight of not only authority but true line experience. He knew all the fundamentals, because his flight bag carried the scars of 20 years or more of flight deck life. The stripes on his sleeve were even worn and fading, as the wearing away from thousands of hours doing the real job took the sheen off new gear. In a way, this was a badge of honour.

His office was a fun place to visit. That is if you loved airplanes, because they had been his life. There were models of the company airplanes, and he was an expert in all of them, wall and tables with all those great aviation photos, even some books and magazines on aviation, from history to current times. This place was something like a visit to your grandfather who had done it all, who now resided in some wonderful room of magic, and you were allowed to wander and enjoy. Unless it was your turn to receive his fury because you had done something stupid. Even then, you took it because you knew that he was right and this was not political or windows-dressing nonsense. In fact, he rejected being used in that way. He was <I normal?>real.

In this image, he also had merit above and beyond our respect. He could also let the CEO and his minions – plus the FAA – know when they were wrong, or that something they proposed was dumb, or that their demands were preposterous. He was in a position of honour, gained by years of line service covering every aspect of the flight operations of the company. He stood up for the troops and we knew it. When his type retired, another from the same mould would be there, an anchor in our aviation careers. But those guys are long gone. And I miss them.

The corporate replacement philosophy was simple. A seasoned veteran who speaks up was unacceptable. They wanted someone who would sell his soul for particular financial arrangements, a special retirement package, the opportunity to not fly except on little jaunts of their choosing on pleasant days to enjoyable places, for the illusion of power and prestige, and who would sing the political slant no matter how ludicrous or harmful or even dangerous. Their personal mantra was the invidious, “Up yours, I got mine’.

So the old offices were cleaned out and the new breed moved in. A breed that also perpetuated themselves. At one time, you could never be an instructor of any sort unless you had flown the line for many years as a captain and knew every nuance of life on the line. All that went by the wayside with the New Age. Knowing someone ‘in the office’, whilst having no line experience and never being a seasoned captain, was inexperience and ignorance to be rewarded. As the Samurai sword-maker says: “All the blades are hidden within the metal.” Yes, and the character of the blade certainly depends upon the quality of that metal.

I miss a time when the words ‘in-flight service’ was not an oxymoron. We once had – and this is true – such people as ‘Stewards’ and ‘Stewardesses’. Food was served on plates with real silverware. Stewards poured champagne or mixed drinks. Stewardesses were charming, bright, and helpful, catering to the passengers’ every need and whim. And the food was superb. Passengers even wore decent clothes, actually dressed for the occasion, and were well-mannered and civil.

This is all fiction now. Top executives sold the idea that an airline seat could be had for $24.99 or some other asinine figure. Then seats should be miniaturized so that maximum income could be gained. All that would have to be done is take away the salary and benefits of the company employees, among other ominous schemes. The airport became the new bus station. Everyman should be able to fly. Now we all pay for it with shoddy service, little concern, and certainly no enthusiasm. Why have master craftsmen do something for five hundred dollars when you can get a cheap imitation for $2.95?

And, naturally I miss the time when the professional airline pilot was respected, when he was not the target of the jealous and petty, or of some agency which needs to show a list of how many people have been inspected – and pilots are easy targets. Those of us who love flight and fought to fly have seen the profession deliberately disparaged to the point where we are to be collectively humiliated before the passengers with near strip searches, unable to speak up for fear of job loss, questioned, belittled, probed, drug-tested, and finally blamed for every company problem including top corporate ill-conceived tactics. We have become the popular scapegoat. And now it is not only the wages to be ravaged but retirement that was bargained for and promised. It may soon be common to have worked in the profession for 30 years and come away with absolutely nothing. That is, for the employees. It will be determined to be ‘legal’, which has nothing to do with the reality of honour. At least I am departing at a time when only one-half of my retirement has been confiscated. So far …….

Even as I go, with unimaginable negativity, discord, and turmoil in abundance within the airline industry, the usual suspects are being rounded up. We are all being asked to do far more for far less while the lords and masters reap the personal fortunes of kings, taking absolutely no personal responsibility or accountability for their business decisions. Stealing the 30-year pensions of dedicated professional employees is considered the coup de jour. After all, how can that $30 million personal ski mansion be built, or the executive jet be flown, or the personal box at Monte Carlo for the Formula One Grand Prix be maintained, if that money is not confiscated?

We have clearly seen how these members of ‘royalty’ have placed themselves above and beyond the rules of sane, civilized behaviour with exceptional arrangements to exclude themselves from any possible corporate downfall. Now, putting 20,000 people out of work brings forth a personal $20 million bonus. Fundamentals of dealing with human beings, basics known as ethics and honour and integrity, no longer have any meaning in this corporate world. The concepts are to be ignored at all costs. As I walk out of the door, making my exit from this morass, a huge burden is lifted from my shoulders. In general, morale and spirit are dead issues. The robber barons are fully exonerated for their crimes, while the public has been conditioned to feel that all people should be equal in misery – so the honorable profession of aviator is continually denigrated. Its stature and glory are now long gone, and as a Japanese friend remarked on the Japan of now versus what he knew as a young man, “It is as though the country has lost its soul.” Indeed, this industry has suffered that very fate.

I have experienced great years of flying the big jets around the world. Sunrises and sunsets over the Pacific will play in my mind’s theatre forever. As best as could be done in the fleet of wide-body jetliners, I have played out my story of joy in the sky. Co-pilots have said, “Best trip I’ve had,” and students not only learned the consequential things but enjoyed themselves in the process. Friends made in cities all around the globe will always be with me. I was there when it was not merely a profession but a celebration of flight, performed with quality and excellence, and with a good measure of fun. Now it is time to go and I am delighted that I can. Sure, there is a measure of sadness, but it is akin to grief over someone who has passed away. They are gone and we will miss them. But they are not coming back. We will keep the memories of the best, as they were, whilst realizing that we must carry on with our lives.

The volume of the musical theme rises while the theatre lights dim. The song is playing, but to deaf ears ……. “The fundamental things apply ……. as time goes by.”
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Post by 5x5 »

Interesting article by Mr. Drury. He's quite a good writer and certainly can present his points well.

I would only caution people not to get too caught up in this kind of reflective "good old days" prose. If you replace aviation with almost any other industry the story can be read the same. Certainly there are changes and right now the focus on quarterly returns drives all businesses.

But what drives them? Not the greedy CEOs, but shareholders - you, me, our pension fund investors, our RSP mutuals - all looking for stocks with the biggest returns. We're all part of the problem.

But that's not my point. We have to deal in today and the future. If you want to fly for a living, there's still a career to be made in it. It won't be like the careers of yesterday, but nothing is. Who knows what the future holds. There are bound to be companies spring up that no one can foresee now - new economics drive new business opportunities. Developments in technology also open doors that can't be imagined till the discoveries are made.

I see it as either saying "It's all crap, what's the point" or saying "I want to fly for a living, and I'm going to make the best of it".

Your choice.
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