DPE shortages and AGE

Not even a question.

Yarden (and many others) were (are) “bright” enough to know what they wanted to do (and pursue it!) early in life. You see I waited till I was almost 39 to get started. While not old, I did have to (and continue to) be aware of the limitations age places on this career and be realistic about my goals. While I still believe even a short career in aviation can be a wonderful thing, I’ll NEVER achieve the seniority (and thus the benefits that carries as far as aircrafts, salaries and benefits) someone like Yarden (and the other young people) on this forum will. People often ask if I have any regrets relating to my career? My answer is I only wish I had started sooner.

Adam

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Yes, Me TOO!!! How long does it take to get fully vested retirement status with the regionals? the majors?

Well, I guess you are smarter than I am because you started even younger than myself! I put a husband through Medical School. Divorced. Put myself through Nursing school with the intent of going to anesthesia school. Did travel nursing instead. LOVE LOVE to fly and travel. Just recently had foot surgery and couldn’t do anything for about 6 months so I had plenty of time to figure out what I really wanted to do with life and you all tell me to hang it up! LOL

No one is telling you to hang it up, just trying to be realistic.

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So is it realistic to think I could have a nice career with the Regional airlines flying jets? Also, how much do you earn as a CFI with the ATP school and how many days a week are you instructing. Would it be possible for me to work as a nurse 1 day a week to have some income and insurance? Thank you!

Kimberly,

It is realistic for you to become a regional pilot and have a decent career doing it. If that is what you truly want to do, go for it and don’t let anything stop you. But just be aware of the fact that you might not make it to a major carrier.

As far as pay as a CFI, check out this post. It has some numbers that you can work with.

Yarden

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major carrier as in the Majors Delta, etc…
what does your salary start with in the regional areas? Honestly, how do they decide who is flying the props vs the jets? Is it the company you get with and what they have or is it seniority again. I don’t mind flying the props to learn but honestly… I avoid them when I’m going somewhere. Maybe after this training I won’t but I love jets. :slight_smile: Thanks so much for all your help!

Kimberly,

Yes, majors as in Delta/United/American.

My starting pay here at SkyWest is $36.50/hr. A rule of thumb that you can use is to multiply the hourly rate by 1000 to get a yearly estimate.

Believe me, when you will finish your 1500hrs and want to get hired at an airline, you will want to fly turboprops as well… I still want to get my hands on a King Air.

Yarden

lol why will I want to fly them?

It’s just something that grows on you…after flying Cessnas and Seminoles for a while, you’ll want something bigger.

Yarden

I like the E jets. Do regionals ever have airbus 300s?

Kimberly,
Here is a link to a great website that gives more info on airlines.

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com

I know this forum is intended for questions and answers but I am a strong believer in self help as well. Some of the answers you seek can be found with a simple internet search. I know I have not always asked the best questions on here but I try to do my research prior to find answers I seek. I think that is a very important part in the ATP program since a large portion is done through self study.

Also, as mentioned many times, seniority determines everything such as your schedule. Having a job through the ATP program is not going to be possible since it does require a huge commitment to self study to prepare for writtens and flying itself and the program is only 9 months so a lot of information will need to be processed in a short amount of time (mentors or current students please correct me if I’m wrong).

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Airbus A300 is a large wide body aircraft from the '70s. It’s not even in production anymore and not many airlines use it because it is so old. As the mentors have stated, most US regional flying is done on ERJ and CRJ aircraft with a few Saab, Embraer, Bombardier, etc turboprops thrown in the mix. I feel like if you ever make it to that point of choosing an aircraft, you will like whatever aircraft you get a check to fly. :wink:

To my knowledge no US Regional carriers fly any wide-body aircraft, the larger ERJ and CRJ’s plus large turboprops such as the Dash-8 are as big as they get.

Evelyn,

Thank you for your input and not just in regards to your answers (which are correct) but you assessment of this forum and how it relates to ATP (and by extension the airlines). When I instructed at ATP there were obviously students who progressed at different levels (and again as an instructor for the airlines). While it’s easy to say one person is “smarter” or has natural talents that was actually seldom the case. The truth is the few (ok 2) students I worked with that were unsuccessful were not stupid or lacking in coordination, they were simply lazy. They showed up day 1 with the attitude “I paid my money now make me a pilot” and that just doesn’t work. At least not at ATP and CERTAINLY not at the airlines. While I truly enjoy participating in this forum and would never discourage ANYONE from asking ANYTHING, it does surprise me how many people will post a question (that doesn’t require a discussion or opinion, but simply a fact) and then wait for an answer when that information could be obtained IMMEDIATELY with a single keystroke. Just an observation.

If there were an “Easy Button” to be a pilot I would’ve pushed it too, but there ain’t!

Adam

??? Did you mean to send this to an Evelyn? It reached a Kimberly.

I didn’t send anything to anyone.

Also this is a forum, everything on here reaches every other member who chooses to read it…

There are no financial retirement pensions with the airlines. Typically it takes five years to fully vest in a 401k and ten years to get pass travel benefits in retirement.

Kimberly,

Also, regarding your question about working as a nurse, are you talking
about your time as a student or as a CFI?

If you’re talking as a student, no. You will need to devote yourself full
time to training.

As a CFI, you will have your weekends off, you can do with them as you
please…

Yarden

401K vesting was what I meant. And, the passes of course. Thank you that is very helpful! Is it the same with the Regional carriers?