From: jkubic@reed.edu (Jan Kubic)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.piloting
Subject: Pilot Wannabe Carreers (Not!)
Date: 3 Oct 92 19:40:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Oct3.194002.15409
Distribution: usa
Organization: Reed College, Portland OR

I am writing this article for all of those people out there who are
thinking of getting involved in aviation as a career.  I have three
simple words for you: DON'T DO IT!!!!  This said let me give you a
little personal background and then some figures on the state of
the industry. If after all this is said and done you still decide
to pursue aviation as a career don't say you weren't warned.

During the summer between my sophmore and junior year in college I
found myself with the time and money to get my private pilot's
license (ASEL - Airplane Single Engine Land).  For the next two
years of my undergraduate career I flew on the weekends and with
friends around the Northwest (I was going to Reed in Portland, OR).
By the time I graduated I had ammassed a whopping total of 200
hours and decided that I would pursue my fortunes in aviation.  This
was 1985 and I found that for $20,000 I could in less than a year
add on to my private the following:  Instrument, Commercial, CFI,
CFII, AMEL, and CFII-AMEL.  In plain English this translates to the
ability to fly a multiengine airplane (up to 12,500lbs gross
weight) in the clouds and teach people to do the same in a single
or a twin.  The next step for 99.9% of CFI (Certified Flight
Instructor) certificate holders is to find a job teaching.  This is
good for two things: 1) developing your skills (often at the
student's expense) and 2) building flight hours (at this stage one
generally has around 300 to 400 hours).  Don't even think of the
money, a good month teaching might gross you about $900, instead
think of all the money you are saving by not paying for aircraft
rental.  I was lucky, I worked for a flight school that was busy
pulling in students from all over the country and did a lot of
multiengine training (twin time is critical for the next step).  So
from July of 1986 till February of 1988 I worked as essentially
slave labor, but in that time I ammassed about 1200 hours of total
time and a little over 250 hours of twin time.
Luckily, the hiring boom was on, and even though I was just barely
qualified I got a job flying bank freight in CE402 (cabin class
piston twins).  The company I worked for paid better than the local
commuter did (or does) and I gained truly valuable experience
flying all over Oregon in all kinds of weather.  This single pilot
experience (no copilot, no autopilot, no fancy toys in the cockpit)
was critical to the development of my piloting skills and
confidence level. This work paid $71 per day with $14 per day per
diem, no benefits, no sick leave, no nothing - but it did double my
previous instructing income and I gained about 800 hours of twin
time.
After 10 months of this I left Oregon for the east coast and got 
a job flying a CE208B for FedexFeeder operation.  This was my first 
turbine job (another critical logbook entry).  Here I was paid $425
a week, with medical insurance that I could buy, and 5 days of sick
leave a year.  I worked Monday night through Saturday morning from
8pm till 5am, this makes for an interesting family life.  Luckily
for me after 8 months of this (August of 1989 - the last year
aviation was moving in a positive direction) I was hired by a
charter company in the upstate NY town were I was living.  They had
just lost a bunch of people to the airlines and needed to replace a
captain fast.  I was the only person around who had the type of
experience they needed.  I was hired and immediately typed at
Flight Safety in their Citation.  I had finally made it, I was
making over $30,000 per year, a captain on a business jet, working
three days a week (on average) and doing only about two overnight
trips a month.  Then the bubble burst, the Gulf war and the
recession hit.  The charter end of the operation fell. In the first
of a series of RIFs my copilot, myself and two other support staff
members were laid off.  This was Christmas of 1990.  I had over
3500 hours of flight time, of which 1000 was turbine, and all
except 100 hours were PIC (pilot in command) time.  This and
$0.50 will get you a diet soda.  For the next seven months I looked
for work, my unemployment ran out, my morale ran out.  The airlines
had started their layoffs and even if you have no intention or
desire to work for the airlines, when they are not hiring no one is
hiring.  Four thousand airline pilots were out of work, and an
indeterminate number of other (like me) commercial pilots were out
of work.  Finally, in the summer of 1991 I moved back to Portland,
my wife was hired as an associate at a top notch law firm here and
so could support me.  I went to see my old boss at the bank freight
operation.  He had nothing, but kept me in mind.  A month later
they needed somebody and I got the slot.  
Now, a year later I am still here, still doing this.  I have taken
two steps back in my career, a 30% cut in pay and have near tripled
the hours I am away from home. Most days, I work from 5am to 630pm.
But at least I am working.  I know people who are not,
and in all likelihood will not find ANY kind of
aviation work for the near future.  I applied for work with the
major airlines (they are not hiring), with corporate operations
(they are not hiring, or they are downsizing), with charter
operations (see corporate operations), the only people I am not
interested in working for are the commuters.  This matters not all
since they are not hiring now, and when they are, $14,000 a year is
simply unacceptable.
For the foreseeable future things are grim.  Today there are nearly
5,000 airline pilots out of work.  America West is about to fold,
TWA is about to fold, Delta has started layoffs, Alaska will be
furloughing pilots, Northwest is making noises about laying off
1000 pilots, USAir still has 250 pilots on furlough, the list goes
on and on.  Until a major economic turnaround occurs, more
importantly a SUSTAINED economic turnaround, we can only expect to
see more of this.  Don't fool yourselves, aviation is not what it
used to be and will probably never be again.
By all means, learn to fly.  But do it for fun, not for profit.


Jan Kubic
CE500 ATP
CFII-ASMEL

jkubic@reed.edu
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.ifr