airline pilots!?

Question

im 18 years old and i just got my ppl, im thinking of going to embry riddle. if your an airline pilot can you tell me all about the job, pros/cons, hours, pay, also how much time does it take to move from first officer to captain and to move up to bigger planes. just tell me everything about what your job is like

Answer 1

-Pro/cons?

Too many to list!
Pros- travel benefits, office with a great view, getting paid to fly, constantly seeing new places.
Cons: being away from home, missing holidays, low pay initailly, living out of a suitcase, debt incurred from flight training.

-Hours?

It varies by the hours flown in each pilots flight schedule but generally between 70-100 flight hours per month and as many as 350 hours time away from base every month.

Pay?
Very little to start! Expect to make well under $25K your first few years. You won't see above $100K for several years. Pay is only for flight time, not for time away from base too (that is a often paid a measly < $3/hr).

-How much time does it take to move from first officer to captain and to move up to bigger plane?

That totally depends on the airline (it's attrition & expansion) and the state of the industry when you get hired. It varies by quite a bit between airlines due to a variety of factors and it always subject to change. Could be a few months for upgrade to captain at a regional or a few years depending. It may be decade or more at a major.

Check out my site Flight Training & Pilot Career FAQs, where I address the common career questions, here-
http://www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html

Re: ERAU
Consider it very carefully. I did back in the day and chose to go another route (ERAU Extended Campus for academics and flight training via an affordable flying club). It is VERY expensive and one does not need a degree in aviation to become a pilot. Loans on $100,000 are hard to pay off when you are eating Top Ramen as your last paycheck is under $500. I know a first officer who told me they wouldn't chose to go via ERAU again if they could. After graduation, the pilot had to instruct to get flight time just like the pilots from the local FBOs. It ended up being irrelevant where they attended school. Airlines are more interested in quality flight time. Plus, if you ever end up getting laid off (which can happen in a downturn- look at the airlines post 9/11), an aviation degree is useless.

Read more about pilots and college degrees here- http://www.jetcareers.com/content/view/22/44/

The host site of that page will also be very informative as it was created by a Delta pilot for aspiring airline pilots.

Answer 2

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings,
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The poem High Flight was written by a young fighter pilot during World War II. Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr., was an American citizen who was born of missionary parents in Shanghai and educated in Britain's famed Rugby School. He went to the United Stated in 1939, and at the age of 18, won a scholarship to Yale. Like other Americans of the time who wished to aid in the cause of freedom, he decided to enlist in the services of a nation actively engaged in war. Magee enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in September 1940. He served overseas with an RCAF Spitfire Squadron until his death on active service in December, 1941.

His poem, composed in September 1941, was scribbled on the back of a letter which he mailed to his mother in Washington. Pilot Officer Magee was killed a few months later when his Spitfire plane collided with a bomber-pilot trainer on approach to the airport over Lincolnshire, England. He was 19 years old.