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Last updated 12/28/2012
I am creating this website so that people who are choosing to enter the airline pilot profession have a place where they can receive relatively unbiased, factual information. I hope they will be able to consider these suggestions before they make the very big (and expensive) decisions necessary to start a career in the profession. I do have a few sentences concerning professional military and corporate flying, but the emphasis of this site is on the airline pilot profession. Also, this discussion assumes that the aspiring pilot is a U.S. pilot seeking employment in the United States, although some of the points in this narrative hold true across all borders.
Twenty years ago, when I started making the important decisions about flight training and choosing which college to attend, resources such as the internet did not exist. Today, there are many resources available, but I have found them to be widely scattered and frankly sometimes very misleading and usually extremely biased. I am hoping that career changers, young people (and their families), can read this site and get accurate information on which to help make decisions upon and/or supplement the facts they have obtained on their own from other resources. With the information on this site, combined with information obtained from their own research, I hope they can then make informed decisions that will ultimately shape the next decade of their life as they lay the foundation of their professional airline pilot career.
Speaking of bias, as you read this pages, you must know the bias of the author as well. I'm an airline pilot for a major carrier, and have been for 2 decades. I came up through the ranks by attending a major aeronautical university, flight instructing, flying freight, and then finally obtaining a flight officer position with a major airline. I have seen much change over the years, some good, and some not so good. I hope to describe all of this to you.
As you read these pages, view them with the same "jaundiced eye" you should examine other sources with. For all you know, I could be a 13 year old kid typing on his dad's computer publishing nonsense, a disgruntled airline employee, or an airline management shill! :) Talk to other professionals. Read other sites. Go to active aviation internet forums with large pilot populations and read what those participants have to say. Gather as much varied information as possible, and make educated decisions.
If flying is your dream, then pursue it like I did......but I hope you and your supporting family members pursue it with eyes wide open by using resources such as this website. I'm always happy to answer questions if you're thinking about entering the profession, and if I don't know the answer, I probably can find someone who does. Feel free to contact me if I can be of help.
I hope you find this site useful. If you have any comments, positive or negative, or have ideas for improvements to this site, feel free to contact me at globalexpress123 at comcast dot net. For those who wish to add their own narratives and advice** to the "Some Final Advice from Those Currently in the Profession" section of the website, please feel free to contact me at the same address.
**If you're submitting advice to include on this site, please keep it to 200 words or less. I reserve the right to edit your narratives. You have the right to request your comments be removed from this site if you are not happy with any editing done by me.
Last updated 12/28/2012
I am creating this website so that people who are choosing to enter the airline pilot profession have a place where they can receive relatively unbiased, factual information. I hope they will be able to consider these suggestions before they make the very big (and expensive) decisions necessary to start a career in the profession. I do have a few sentences concerning professional military and corporate flying, but the emphasis of this site is on the airline pilot profession. Also, this discussion assumes that the aspiring pilot is a U.S. pilot seeking employment in the United States, although some of the points in this narrative hold true across all borders.
Twenty years ago, when I started making the important decisions about flight training and choosing which college to attend, resources such as the internet did not exist. Today, there are many resources available, but I have found them to be widely scattered and frankly sometimes very misleading and usually extremely biased. I am hoping that career changers, young people (and their families), can read this site and get accurate information on which to help make decisions upon and/or supplement the facts they have obtained on their own from other resources. With the information on this site, combined with information obtained from their own research, I hope they can then make informed decisions that will ultimately shape the next decade of their life as they lay the foundation of their professional airline pilot career.
Speaking of bias, as you read this pages, you must know the bias of the author as well. I'm an airline pilot for a major carrier, and have been for 2 decades. I came up through the ranks by attending a major aeronautical university, flight instructing, flying freight, and then finally obtaining a flight officer position with a major airline. I have seen much change over the years, some good, and some not so good. I hope to describe all of this to you.
As you read these pages, view them with the same "jaundiced eye" you should examine other sources with. For all you know, I could be a 13 year old kid typing on his dad's computer publishing nonsense, a disgruntled airline employee, or an airline management shill! :) Talk to other professionals. Read other sites. Go to active aviation internet forums with large pilot populations and read what those participants have to say. Gather as much varied information as possible, and make educated decisions.
If flying is your dream, then pursue it like I did......but I hope you and your supporting family members pursue it with eyes wide open by using resources such as this website. I'm always happy to answer questions if you're thinking about entering the profession, and if I don't know the answer, I probably can find someone who does. Feel free to contact me if I can be of help.
I hope you find this site useful. If you have any comments, positive or negative, or have ideas for improvements to this site, feel free to contact me at globalexpress123 at comcast dot net. For those who wish to add their own narratives and advice** to the "Some Final Advice from Those Currently in the Profession" section of the website, please feel free to contact me at the same address.
**If you're submitting advice to include on this site, please keep it to 200 words or less. I reserve the right to edit your narratives. You have the right to request your comments be removed from this site if you are not happy with any editing done by me.
