US Airlines Hiring Canadians

This forum has been developed to discuss aviation related topics.

Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog

bcflyer
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1304
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:35 am
Location: Canada

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by bcflyer »

There is zero reason to go on strike. We seem to have forgotten the power we have on the everyday operation. If pilots would just fly their schedule to the letter of their contract things would change pretty quickly. No overtime, no extending for UOC, no flying fatigued, no hurrying to get to their next flight, no helping out crew Sked when things fall apart, no checking in for work early.. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately pilots love to bitch but then climb all over each other to work overtime and help out. Until that mentality stops nothing will change….
---------- ADS -----------
 
goingmissed
Rank 4
Rank 4
Posts: 292
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:06 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by goingmissed »

bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:57 am There is zero reason to go on strike. We seem to have forgotten the power we have on the everyday operation. If pilots would just fly their schedule to the letter of their contract things would change pretty quickly. No overtime, no extending for UOC, no flying fatigued, no hurrying to get to their next flight, no helping out crew Sked when things fall apart, no checking in for work early.. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately pilots love to bitch but then climb all over each other to work overtime and help out. Until that mentality stops nothing will change….
Maybe, just maybe, people are picking up OT because they cannot afford not to.

But there is never an excuse to fly fatigued... that's selfish and dangerous.
---------- ADS -----------
 
bcflyer
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1304
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:35 am
Location: Canada

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by bcflyer »

goingmissed wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:35 am
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:57 am There is zero reason to go on strike. We seem to have forgotten the power we have on the everyday operation. If pilots would just fly their schedule to the letter of their contract things would change pretty quickly. No overtime, no extending for UOC, no flying fatigued, no hurrying to get to their next flight, no helping out crew Sked when things fall apart, no checking in for work early.. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately pilots love to bitch but then climb all over each other to work overtime and help out. Until that mentality stops nothing will change….
Maybe, just maybe, people are picking up OT because they cannot afford not to.

But there is never an excuse to fly fatigued... that's selfish and dangerous.
I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
schnitzel2k3
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1456
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 11:17 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by schnitzel2k3 »

Not trying to shoot the messenger, just saying, look at more data points and less for profit media. Doom and gloom tends to be a mental state and self fulfilling. The more people think economy is slowing, more likely they are going to mattress their money out of fear, instead of just going about their day and spending on normal items.

A note: recession just means negative economic growth compared to the last quarter, which has to happen to reign in this runaway economy. 2019 was a 1.95% year, 2018 2.15%. This year is forecast to be an average of 5.14%, it's higher than 5% for sure, but it looks like its halted. We need to lose 3-4% of the spending going on in the economy (groceries, travel, gas, housing, vehicles, toys, etc) that was heavily supported with stimulus and near 0% loans.

BoC will likely overshoot rate adjustments to aggressively tamp down growth. Will likely taper back to neutral 2023/24. What this does it take 'free' investment money out of the stock market, hence why stocks have been tumbling, but it will bottom out shortly once the free money bubbles are sorted. Some people made lots of money, many others lost. Nature of the business.

As I see it, airlines might be given a slight chance to catch up with demand, but demand isn't going anywhere, particularly in the U.S. Essentially we are catching up on 2 years of doing nothing, which is why the economy peeled rubber coming out of 2021, and going through 2022.

Steady as she goes, and as fun as it is to be Nostradamus, it does absolutely nothing to help.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Last edited by schnitzel2k3 on Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
goingmissed
Rank 4
Rank 4
Posts: 292
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:06 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by goingmissed »

bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
You do realize how much the landscape has changed in the past three years, right?

Bank of Canada states that inflation has been over 11% since 2019, but we all know that the cost of living has increased more than that.

Now, compare that with the 6% that our starting salaries have increased. Add in the extra debt carried by those who were laid off and now you're just starting to see why there are so many pilots who were barely okay before COVID with the starting salaries and who are drowning now. Ask your first officers how many jobs they're working right now.

My starting salary was great compared to the salary I was making before. Before COVID I was living paycheck to paycheck, but level... after COVID I am in the decline again.
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
schnitzel2k3
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1456
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 11:17 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by schnitzel2k3 »

bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am
goingmissed wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:35 am
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:57 am There is zero reason to go on strike. We seem to have forgotten the power we have on the everyday operation. If pilots would just fly their schedule to the letter of their contract things would change pretty quickly. No overtime, no extending for UOC, no flying fatigued, no hurrying to get to their next flight, no helping out crew Sked when things fall apart, no checking in for work early.. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately pilots love to bitch but then climb all over each other to work overtime and help out. Until that mentality stops nothing will change….
Maybe, just maybe, people are picking up OT because they cannot afford not to.

But there is never an excuse to fly fatigued... that's selfish and dangerous.
Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
Correction: Pilots not taking the sh*t package to begin with is a much faster way to increase starting pay.

That being said, when the "only company worth flying for" is big Red, and they pay what they pay, well...not much you can do.

The union has failed that pilot group so hard, they are absolutely oblivious to the train wreck of an industry they've left in their wake.

We need more high level competition in Canada. This industry is full of ULCC garbage and it's exhausting watching it spit off the copier.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Last edited by schnitzel2k3 on Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
FelixGustof
Rank 1
Rank 1
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:42 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by FelixGustof »

bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am
goingmissed wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:35 am
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:57 am There is zero reason to go on strike. We seem to have forgotten the power we have on the everyday operation. If pilots would just fly their schedule to the letter of their contract things would change pretty quickly. No overtime, no extending for UOC, no flying fatigued, no hurrying to get to their next flight, no helping out crew Sked when things fall apart, no checking in for work early.. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately pilots love to bitch but then climb all over each other to work overtime and help out. Until that mentality stops nothing will change….
Maybe, just maybe, people are picking up OT because they cannot afford not to.

But there is never an excuse to fly fatigued... that's selfish and dangerous.
I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
Is it a bad time to get into aviation then?
---------- ADS -----------
 
bcflyer
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1304
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:35 am
Location: Canada

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by bcflyer »

goingmissed wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:19 pm
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
You do realize how much the landscape has changed in the past three years, right?

Bank of Canada states that inflation has been over 11% since 2019, but we all know that the cost of living has increased more than that.

Now, compare that with the 6% that our starting salaries have increased. Add in the extra debt carried by those who were laid off and now you're just starting to see why there are so many pilots who were barely okay before COVID with the starting salaries and who are drowning now. Ask your first officers how many jobs they're working right now.

My starting salary was great compared to the salary I was making before. Before COVID I was living paycheck to paycheck, but level... after COVID I am in the decline again.
You know what? I’m done. It’s fu#ki#g ridiculous that instead of embracing ways to put pressure on companies to raise wages and improve working conditions, people would rather make excuses for why they won’t do it. It’s absolutely pathetic. No wonder we can never get ahead…..
---------- ADS -----------
 
goldeneagle
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1177
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:28 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by goldeneagle »

bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
32 years ago I had an offer from a regional, couldn't see how to make ends meet on that wage, I said no. I left aviation and went into engineering, turns out the pinky ring is worth WAY more than an ATPL ever will be.

A few years later, I was headed to an overseas client location, walking up to the terminal at YVR the boys from that regional were walking a picket line, I know most of them. They were hollering at me 'hey goldeneagle, you know how bad it is, dont cross the picket line, support us'. My response to them.

'You took the job in spite of the low wages. I had to leave flying because folks like you were willing to whore yourself out for next to nothing just to get some hours on a bigger airplane. You made your bed, now go lay in it'. With that I walked thru the picket line and went inside to check in at BA for a flight to London.

All the folks here whining about low wages and suggesting 'if only the other guys wouldn't take the job at such a low rate, then I could make more money'. What many of you dont seem to understand, you are 'that other guy' to everybody else. If you took the low paying job, then YOU are the problem.
---------- ADS -----------
 
NovaBoy
Rank 4
Rank 4
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:36 pm
Location: down east

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by NovaBoy »

---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
Ash Ketchum
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:52 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by Ash Ketchum »

goldeneagle wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:20 pm
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
32 years ago I had an offer from a regional, couldn't see how to make ends meet on that wage, I said no. I left aviation and went into engineering, turns out the pinky ring is worth WAY more than an ATPL ever will be.

A few years later, I was headed to an overseas client location, walking up to the terminal at YVR the boys from that regional were walking a picket line, I know most of them. They were hollering at me 'hey goldeneagle, you know how bad it is, dont cross the picket line, support us'. My response to them.

'You took the job in spite of the low wages. I had to leave flying because folks like you were willing to whore yourself out for next to nothing just to get some hours on a bigger airplane. You made your bed, now go lay in it'. With that I walked thru the picket line and went inside to check in at BA for a flight to London.

All the folks here whining about low wages and suggesting 'if only the other guys wouldn't take the job at such a low rate, then I could make more money'. What many of you dont seem to understand, you are 'that other guy' to everybody else. If you took the low paying job, then YOU are the problem.
Just wondering which branch of engineering you went into? I am looking at leaving this industry to go back to engineering (software) myself.
---------- ADS -----------
 
We_tu_lo
Rank 1
Rank 1
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:20 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by We_tu_lo »

goldeneagle wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:20 pm
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
32 years ago I had an offer from a regional, couldn't see how to make ends meet on that wage, I said no. I left aviation and went into engineering, turns out the pinky ring is worth WAY more than an ATPL ever will be.

A few years later, I was headed to an overseas client location, walking up to the terminal at YVR the boys from that regional were walking a picket line, I know most of them. They were hollering at me 'hey goldeneagle, you know how bad it is, dont cross the picket line, support us'. My response to them.

'You took the job in spite of the low wages. I had to leave flying because folks like you were willing to whore yourself out for next to nothing just to get some hours on a bigger airplane. You made your bed, now go lay in it'. With that I walked thru the picket line and went inside to check in at BA for a flight to London.

All the folks here whining about low wages and suggesting 'if only the other guys wouldn't take the job at such a low rate, then I could make more money'. What many of you dont seem to understand, you are 'that other guy' to everybody else. If you took the low paying job, then YOU are the problem.
Thank you for getting out rather than licking management boots like you would be if you had stayed.
---------- ADS -----------
 
mmm..bacon
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:19 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by mmm..bacon »

While it might be too late in my career to take advantage of working for an American carrier, I have just opened a twitter account, and have fired off a couple of tweets to the US Secretary of Transport (Pete Buttigieg) and to the VP Flight Ops of Envoy suggesting that a partial solution to staffing woes might be to hire Canadians. I would humbly suggest if you have a dog in this race (most of us do, I feel) that you do the same...
---------- ADS -----------
 
Everything has an end, except a sausage, which has two!
User avatar
‘Bob’
Rank 7
Rank 7
Posts: 704
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:19 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by ‘Bob’ »

We_tu_lo wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:58 pm
goldeneagle wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:20 pm
bcflyer wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:47 am I’m not defending low pay in any way. I’m embarrassed by the starting pay where I fly. Having said that, everyone knows the starting pay before they accept a job. If it’s not enough to survive on without doing OT then don’t take the job. Shortage of pilots willing to work for crap wages combined with nobody doing OT is the quickest way to get a pay raise.
32 years ago I had an offer from a regional, couldn't see how to make ends meet on that wage, I said no. I left aviation and went into engineering, turns out the pinky ring is worth WAY more than an ATPL ever will be.

A few years later, I was headed to an overseas client location, walking up to the terminal at YVR the boys from that regional were walking a picket line, I know most of them. They were hollering at me 'hey goldeneagle, you know how bad it is, dont cross the picket line, support us'. My response to them.

'You took the job in spite of the low wages. I had to leave flying because folks like you were willing to whore yourself out for next to nothing just to get some hours on a bigger airplane. You made your bed, now go lay in it'. With that I walked thru the picket line and went inside to check in at BA for a flight to London.

All the folks here whining about low wages and suggesting 'if only the other guys wouldn't take the job at such a low rate, then I could make more money'. What many of you dont seem to understand, you are 'that other guy' to everybody else. If you took the low paying job, then YOU are the problem.
Thank you for getting out rather than licking management boots like you would be if you had stayed.
Hahaha!

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAAA!!!

Someone with the fortitude and ingenuity to pursue a real professional career… and to call a spade a spade… would be the LAST person licking management boots.

That’s what you’re doing and you don’t even realize it they have you so good.

If not? Vote with your feet. Vote to strike. If it doesn’t work, or you don’t get what you want, leave.

Start your own better paying professional career where only your own creativity is your and aversion to risk is your limit.

But no.. you and everyone in this thread wants to move to where the work has already been done.. and likely start licking management boots and putting downward pressure on WAWCON over there.

Ten Canadian pesos says you’d eagerly cross this picket line for existing WAWCON at this US Carrier.
---------- ADS -----------
 
TELL THOMPSON WE’RE COMIN’ IN HOT!!

http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/answer ... _FAQ_.html
goldeneagle
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1177
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:28 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by goldeneagle »

Ash Ketchum wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:05 am Just wondering which branch of engineering you went into? I am looking at leaving this industry to go back to engineering (software) myself.
I went to school in the 70's and 80's, my field was aerospace. Back then, a lot of flying jobs were seasonal, while my compatriots all joined the UIC Ski Team for the winter, I went off to school and learned to design the airplanes we flew in the summer.

One thing about various aspects of a career, a lot boils down to timing. My timing to go flying was really bad, it was tough getting that first flying job in the early 80's. Much like the last 2 years, the talk was more about furloughs than it was about hiring. But i too fell for the carrot and stick mantra, that 'shortage' was going to be just around the corner because the ww2 vets were all going to imminently retire. blah blah, heard various excuses over the years about the pending shortage, was always based on 'x generation is going to be retiring imminently'. These days the mantra is that the boomers are going to retire. blah blah, more of the same.

My timing on the move to engineering was excellent, the digital process control field was exploding, as was the pc industry. A hobby of mine during the flying years was fussing with code on the pc, specifically doing projects where the pc was controlling some external hardware. I spent the early 90's working at a couple of places, first was a video chipset design office where I wrote video drivers for a new video chipset. From there I moved on to an avionics company who poached me for the flying experience, and worked on the software inside autopilots for a few years. Those projects were interesting and fun, and the companies were great to work with. The video folks was an 'in the cubicle' type of place, the avionics was 'work from the home office, quarterly meetings at head office' kind of place, with occasional trips out to the airport to run flight tests on new product revisions.

During the late 90's I switched it up a bit, hung out the shingle and started taking on more clients, and tried to steer the company away from being wholly focussed on aviation as it's a perpetual boom and bust business cycle. Again the timing was good, my aviation clients had terrible times for a few years after 911.

What is today the 'bread and butter' of our operations came along as a fortunate meeting up. In the early 2000 timeframe wifi routers for the home were the up and coming fun gadgets to play with, and I was experimenting with writing firmware for some of them. Then one day got approached by a potential client, could we do a consumer level product in partnership with them, they would provide the hardware expertise for designing and building the boards, we would provide the software to turn it into a consumer product for home networking. And so a new journey began again, there wasn't a lot of spare cash available, so we took 'percentage of sales' instead of cash payment. That partnership is alive and well today, and going on a percentage of sales basis was eventually the golden goose for us.

Today I am the CEO of a Canadian software engineering firm, we do embedded systems process control and network routing software. I am also a managing partner in an international firm that mass produces consumer products for the retail market. I still dabble in aviation as a 'hobby job', involved in a 703 owned by an old friend. And for my other hobby, I own and operate a small farm, where I live and am slowly working my way into retirement here.
---------- ADS -----------
 
EdgarAllanPIC
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:31 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by EdgarAllanPIC »

goldeneagle wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:44 pm
Ash Ketchum wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:05 am Just wondering which branch of engineering you went into? I am looking at leaving this industry to go back to engineering (software) myself.
I went to school in the 70's and 80's, my field was aerospace. Back then, a lot of flying jobs were seasonal, while my compatriots all joined the UIC Ski Team for the winter, I went off to school and learned to design the airplanes we flew in the summer.

One thing about various aspects of a career, a lot boils down to timing. My timing to go flying was really bad, it was tough getting that first flying job in the early 80's. Much like the last 2 years, the talk was more about furloughs than it was about hiring. But i too fell for the carrot and stick mantra, that 'shortage' was going to be just around the corner because the ww2 vets were all going to imminently retire. blah blah, heard various excuses over the years about the pending shortage, was always based on 'x generation is going to be retiring imminently'. These days the mantra is that the boomers are going to retire. blah blah, more of the same.

My timing on the move to engineering was excellent, the digital process control field was exploding, as was the pc industry. A hobby of mine during the flying years was fussing with code on the pc, specifically doing projects where the pc was controlling some external hardware. I spent the early 90's working at a couple of places, first was a video chipset design office where I wrote video drivers for a new video chipset. From there I moved on to an avionics company who poached me for the flying experience, and worked on the software inside autopilots for a few years. Those projects were interesting and fun, and the companies were great to work with. The video folks was an 'in the cubicle' type of place, the avionics was 'work from the home office, quarterly meetings at head office' kind of place, with occasional trips out to the airport to run flight tests on new product revisions.

During the late 90's I switched it up a bit, hung out the shingle and started taking on more clients, and tried to steer the company away from being wholly focussed on aviation as it's a perpetual boom and bust business cycle. Again the timing was good, my aviation clients had terrible times for a few years after 911.

What is today the 'bread and butter' of our operations came along as a fortunate meeting up. In the early 2000 timeframe wifi routers for the home were the up and coming fun gadgets to play with, and I was experimenting with writing firmware for some of them. Then one day got approached by a potential client, could we do a consumer level product in partnership with them, they would provide the hardware expertise for designing and building the boards, we would provide the software to turn it into a consumer product for home networking. And so a new journey began again, there wasn't a lot of spare cash available, so we took 'percentage of sales' instead of cash payment. That partnership is alive and well today, and going on a percentage of sales basis was eventually the golden goose for us.

Today I am the CEO of a Canadian software engineering firm, we do embedded systems process control and network routing software. I am also a managing partner in an international firm that mass produces consumer products for the retail market. I still dabble in aviation as a 'hobby job', involved in a 703 owned by an old friend. And for my other hobby, I own and operate a small farm, where I live and am slowly working my way into retirement here.
Never been to Fort Bragg
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
Ash Ketchum
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:52 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by Ash Ketchum »

goldeneagle wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:44 pm
Ash Ketchum wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:05 am Just wondering which branch of engineering you went into? I am looking at leaving this industry to go back to engineering (software) myself.
I went to school in the 70's and 80's, my field was aerospace. Back then, a lot of flying jobs were seasonal, while my compatriots all joined the UIC Ski Team for the winter, I went off to school and learned to design the airplanes we flew in the summer.

One thing about various aspects of a career, a lot boils down to timing. My timing to go flying was really bad, it was tough getting that first flying job in the early 80's. Much like the last 2 years, the talk was more about furloughs than it was about hiring. But i too fell for the carrot and stick mantra, that 'shortage' was going to be just around the corner because the ww2 vets were all going to imminently retire. blah blah, heard various excuses over the years about the pending shortage, was always based on 'x generation is going to be retiring imminently'. These days the mantra is that the boomers are going to retire. blah blah, more of the same.

My timing on the move to engineering was excellent, the digital process control field was exploding, as was the pc industry. A hobby of mine during the flying years was fussing with code on the pc, specifically doing projects where the pc was controlling some external hardware. I spent the early 90's working at a couple of places, first was a video chipset design office where I wrote video drivers for a new video chipset. From there I moved on to an avionics company who poached me for the flying experience, and worked on the software inside autopilots for a few years. Those projects were interesting and fun, and the companies were great to work with. The video folks was an 'in the cubicle' type of place, the avionics was 'work from the home office, quarterly meetings at head office' kind of place, with occasional trips out to the airport to run flight tests on new product revisions.

During the late 90's I switched it up a bit, hung out the shingle and started taking on more clients, and tried to steer the company away from being wholly focussed on aviation as it's a perpetual boom and bust business cycle. Again the timing was good, my aviation clients had terrible times for a few years after 911.

What is today the 'bread and butter' of our operations came along as a fortunate meeting up. In the early 2000 timeframe wifi routers for the home were the up and coming fun gadgets to play with, and I was experimenting with writing firmware for some of them. Then one day got approached by a potential client, could we do a consumer level product in partnership with them, they would provide the hardware expertise for designing and building the boards, we would provide the software to turn it into a consumer product for home networking. And so a new journey began again, there wasn't a lot of spare cash available, so we took 'percentage of sales' instead of cash payment. That partnership is alive and well today, and going on a percentage of sales basis was eventually the golden goose for us.

Today I am the CEO of a Canadian software engineering firm, we do embedded systems process control and network routing software. I am also a managing partner in an international firm that mass produces consumer products for the retail market. I still dabble in aviation as a 'hobby job', involved in a 703 owned by an old friend. And for my other hobby, I own and operate a small farm, where I live and am slowly working my way into retirement here.
That's a great story, thanks for sharing. Definitely more opportunities for entrepreneurship in software as compared to aviation. I love flying but the pay, work conditions, and instability of aviation in Canada has me thinking of going back to my previous career in the software industry. I was hoping to get a job flying in the US but it still isn't easy for Canadians to go over.
---------- ADS -----------
 
FlightInstructionGTA
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:03 am

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by FlightInstructionGTA »

Hi,

Yes I think there would be plenty of reason to strike.


1) We actually have no idea what would be the consequences because the last strike in Canadian aviation was in 1765.
why would the company would negociate anything if they do not have anything to lose? I would not negociate anything if I was in the shoes of management.

2) Essential services : i am really not sure it is still a thing. But, if it is the case, All the unions together (pilots, FA, mechanics etc) could argue that it is essential for Canadian to travel within the country....but not internationnaly.

3) trying nothing will give us nothing anyway...

4) If it is not already the case. Work all together to remove this nonsense has the no strike policy.
A real shame as we all saw during the pandemic that we were absolutly not "Essentials"

What a joke, come on :D
---------- ADS -----------
 
TeePeeCreeper
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1016
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:25 pm
Location: in the bush

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by TeePeeCreeper »

EdgarAllanPIC wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 7:11 pm
goldeneagle wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:44 pm
Ash Ketchum wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:05 am Just wondering which branch of engineering you went into? I am looking at leaving this industry to go back to engineering (software) myself.
I went to school in the 70's and 80's, my field was aerospace. Back then, a lot of flying jobs were seasonal, while my compatriots all joined the UIC Ski Team for the winter, I went off to school and learned to design the airplanes we flew in the summer.

One thing about various aspects of a career, a lot boils down to timing. My timing to go flying was really bad, it was tough getting that first flying job in the early 80's. Much like the last 2 years, the talk was more about furloughs than it was about hiring. But i too fell for the carrot and stick mantra, that 'shortage' was going to be just around the corner because the ww2 vets were all going to imminently retire. blah blah, heard various excuses over the years about the pending shortage, was always based on 'x generation is going to be retiring imminently'. These days the mantra is that the boomers are going to retire. blah blah, more of the same.

My timing on the move to engineering was excellent, the digital process control field was exploding, as was the pc industry. A hobby of mine during the flying years was fussing with code on the pc, specifically doing projects where the pc was controlling some external hardware. I spent the early 90's working at a couple of places, first was a video chipset design office where I wrote video drivers for a new video chipset. From there I moved on to an avionics company who poached me for the flying experience, and worked on the software inside autopilots for a few years. Those projects were interesting and fun, and the companies were great to work with. The video folks was an 'in the cubicle' type of place, the avionics was 'work from the home office, quarterly meetings at head office' kind of place, with occasional trips out to the airport to run flight tests on new product revisions.

During the late 90's I switched it up a bit, hung out the shingle and started taking on more clients, and tried to steer the company away from being wholly focussed on aviation as it's a perpetual boom and bust business cycle. Again the timing was good, my aviation clients had terrible times for a few years after 911.

What is today the 'bread and butter' of our operations came along as a fortunate meeting up. In the early 2000 timeframe wifi routers for the home were the up and coming fun gadgets to play with, and I was experimenting with writing firmware for some of them. Then one day got approached by a potential client, could we do a consumer level product in partnership with them, they would provide the hardware expertise for designing and building the boards, we would provide the software to turn it into a consumer product for home networking. And so a new journey began again, there wasn't a lot of spare cash available, so we took 'percentage of sales' instead of cash payment. That partnership is alive and well today, and going on a percentage of sales basis was eventually the golden goose for us.

Today I am the CEO of a Canadian software engineering firm, we do embedded systems process control and network routing software. I am also a managing partner in an international firm that mass produces consumer products for the retail market. I still dabble in aviation as a 'hobby job', involved in a 703 owned by an old friend. And for my other hobby, I own and operate a small farm, where I live and am slowly working my way into retirement here.
Never been to Fort Bragg
EAPIC,

Although funny word play, your comment is douchenozzle like. How about trying to contribute rather than putting down someone whom is?

TPC
---------- ADS -----------
 
FelixGustof
Rank 1
Rank 1
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:42 pm

Re: US Airlines Hiring Canadians

Post by FelixGustof »

What is the best way to the US so I can be a pilot there?
---------- ADS -----------
 
Post Reply

Return to “General Comments”