ATTN: job info on commercial airline pilots

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Joined
Apr 15, 2009
I've been weighing career options as of late, becoming a pilot seems rather intriguing.

i know captains make an annual salary of 100-200k ...

anyone know someone that's a pilot?

the biggest issues id have would be keeping a family with all the travel and time away, and what it actually takes to become one

any info would be great
 
I remember reading on here that getting that job is like becoming an nba player, like it's that hard to get the job.
 
i hear they hire about 5k new pilots a year, but it will get harder in the near future...

i think it's a lot of schooling.. i just need to read this !@+ on my own
 
right now its not good timing for an airliner pilot.

with job cuts & such, no bueno.

my mom works at Walter reed army medical center her position before her current was hiring contract employees, she ran into two laid off pilots, smh, they couldnt even find jobs.
 
Becoming a commercial pilot is not easy at all. Considering that liabilities that come with the job, commercial airline companies recruit people with alot of flying experience.
 
You need:
Money

Preferably Military Experience

4-year college degree

Thousands upon thousands of hours of flight time with smaller planes

And Luck

There is a very long hiring process, which means airlines pickout the best, which means nobody is getting fired from their jobs, which means airlines are almost never hiring. 
 
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I've looked into it, ATP is a good school a few things though. Before you give it any other thought get in touch with your local airfield and set up an introductory flight. its 45min to an HR and you actually hold the controls, it costs about $120 but you will know if flying is for you. If it is you go to school for it, costs about 70K if you go to a commercial geared program. From there you have to start on a smaller regional carrier, like westjet, valujet etc and they only pay about 18k a year. You need to work there until you get 15000hrs of flight time before you can apply for Delta, UsAir, Continental etc. The only constraint on that is you can only fly about 80hrs per month by law. However if you come from a commercially geared program its not hard to get hired by the regional airlines, just no money in the beginning. I talked with an 8yr vet of continental about all of this and he said where he is at now is good. he works 6 days on 6 days off, but he wouldnt do the whole process over again, he said he wouldve been an aeronautical engineer instead, it was only that his father was a commercial pilot too. I'm still thinking about doing it, however I want to fly for Fedex or UPS....because you can fly a little bit more hrs since you don't have passengers.
 
Most commercial pilots come from the air force or other military branches.  It ain't easy to become one in the military either because you need a college degree, 20/20 vision, pass a bunch of screening, and go through flight school which weeds out tons of dudes every year. Not to mention it's mad competitive and a lot of preferences goes to people who graduated from the military academies (Westpoint, Annapolis, etc) or dudes who already have a good 5 years of flight experience on hand.
 
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