Kent Ashton Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I talked to a friend this week, about 45--maybe late '40's--, who thinks he can get a job at a regional airline. He has an ATP and a lot of cropdusting hours; also owns a Velocity, so he thinks it will be easy to get hired. Since the FAA required more hours for regional first officers, they are crying for pilots with hours, apparently. It does not seem to be a great life, flying for the regionals, but I expect he would move up to Captain pretty quickly and on to a major airline. I am a Vietnam-era pilot although I never flew for the airlines. My contemporaries who split for the airlines are all retired now. Ha! I was Sully Sullenburger's Flight Commander at Nellis. I suppose there are a few middle-east war military pilots who are flying with the airlines now but the military is not training nearly the number of pilots they trained during Vietnam. It seems like a good time to get a flying job, if you can acquire the hours and have no history of suicidal depression. :-) The decline in ATP numbers in this article is really striking--about 8500 in 1990 down to 3000 today. http://www.nafinet.org/whitepaper.aspx 1 Quote -KentCozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnum Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Pretty interesting. I think a lot of it is the cost of getting a ppl now and still the economy is playing a big factor in the amount of new pilots. College is getting beyond the reach of most and a pastime with any kind of expense is just out of the question. I'm just getting started in getting mine and its a sea of info to take in and thankfully I have a pretty good grasp on it so far. I have spent a lot of time reading and going to the forums over the years and it's paying off for me. I can see where it could be very intimidating for some. I tell people what I am doing and the usual response is, " I'm scared of, (insert adj. here)" etc. I have a great instructor and it really makes it a lot more enjoyable. The decline of military pilots makes sense as a lot of guys use to take advantage of the military for a career training. Its just not like that now with the younger generation walking around with with a computer in front of their face. Add to that all the ever changing policies and the stress of commercial public anything and its not as desirable as it once was to get paid to fly. I wish I had started a long time ago. I have missed so much now that I am finally doing it. Everyone is right. Don't wait to build, get started! ~~~tg~~~ 1 Quote "Time flys when your building" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Matcho Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 A common theme of accomplished builders/flyers, and one for which I am guilty of, is, "I wish I started building/flying earlier." 1 Quote Jon Matcho Builder & Canard Zone Admin Now: Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E Next: Resume building a Cozy Mark IV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CutieDarkFae Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I certainly wish I had, but I was too busy trekking the world and enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchntx Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I wish I had started younger. Even so, it is really expensive. My dream is to break out of retail and into aviation but at the rate I am going, I will get my PPL about 4 days after my retirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breister Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 The kids today don't seem to have the attention span to be pilots. I'm a bit younger than you, maybe flew some of the F-4s you flew back when. My friend got an RV thinking his kids would love to go up to their cabin in it with him; his girls said "hell no" and his boy would rather play Nintendo than fly. They simply aren't interested. Maybe there is something in the water causing brain damage? I am a Vietnam-era pilot although I never flew for the airlines. My contemporaries who split for the airlines are all retired now. Ha! I was Sully Sullenburger's Flight Commander at Nellis. I suppose there are a few middle-east war military pilots who are flying with the airlines now but the military is not training nearly the number of pilots they trained during Vietnam. It seems like a good time to get a flying job, if you can acquire the hours and have no history of suicidal depression. :-) The decline in ATP numbers in this article is really striking--about 8500 in 1990 down to 3000 today. http://www.nafinet.org/whitepaper.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AeroTesla1 Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Pretty interesting. I think a lot of it is the cost of getting a ppl now and still the economy is playing a big factor in the amount of new pilots. College is getting beyond the reach of most and a pastime with any kind of expense is just out of the question. I'm just getting started in getting mine and its a sea of info to take in and thankfully I have a pretty good grasp on it so far. I have spent a lot of time reading and going to the forums over the years and it's paying off for me. I can see where it could be very intimidating for some. I tell people what I am doing and the usual response is, " I'm scared of, (insert adj. here)" etc. I have a great instructor and it really makes it a lot more enjoyable. The decline of military pilots makes sense as a lot of guys use to take advantage of the military for a career training. Its just not like that now with the younger generation walking around with with a computer in front of their face. Add to that all the ever changing policies and the stress of commercial public anything and its not as desirable as it once was to get paid to fly. I wish I had started a long time ago. I have missed so much now that I am finally doing it. Everyone is right. Don't wait to build, get started! ~~~tg~~~ Could not agree with you more about the cost! I started training in 1998 and total cost was under 5300.00 to get my PPL. It is my understanding, that 8500.00+ has become tje norm for a PPL.?. No wonder not so many Student Pilots and Instructors around the local FBOs anymore! We are trying to fix this issue. Regards, Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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