job related rant

[GoldenRivet]

I had this student pilot. Eat, breathe, sleep and defecate aviation type of guy. knew all the airliners, knows the route structure for most major airlines, what cities they serve what cities they don't.

started flying when he was 16 years old. I got him soloed, we became fast friends. he got his license and i was super proud because I had mostly worked with the weekend warrior types and this kid was on his way to the tippy top.

He got his private and instrument ratings. headed off to school and spent 4 and a half years getting an aerospace degree. Got his commercial single engine and multi engine under his belt. Finished his flight instructor certificate and instrument instructor certificate. graduated with that degree in hand.

he had this dream that one day he would be a major airline pilot.

after he got his school finished up, we worked together on a number of "charter flights" all over the south central and southwest USA. really knows his stuff. great pilot.

today he walked away from that dream after dedicating all that time and energy to it.

I think it finally occurred to him that he would be much better off - financially speaking - if he went out and worked in the mud of the oil field with his brother.

his brother spent the weekend with him, apparently he earns a six figure income doing some job out in the field. which job im not sure. and whether my buddy can get the exact same job and whether or not it will take him 10 years to get to that earnings potential - I dont know. but with looming school loans to pay back and absolutely ZERO job prospects for pilots of his age/experience/flight time he made the decision to do what he felt like he had to do.

I understand why he did it.

you cannot expect a man to go to work for $18,000 a year in this country doing a job that cost him well over $100,000 in school loans to get into, flying hundreds of thousands of passengers a year all over the United States, on that wage... 240+ days a year away from home barely able to afford to feed himself let alone any family he may or may not have.

i cant blame him either - this time next month i will very likely be entering the insurance business at the recommendation of a family friend. My fairly long and varied career in aviation becoming an occasional weekend hobby.

I just hate to see it come to this for the guy. I know how frustrating it can be.

I have told him 3 things he needs to do over the next 12-18 months to get an airline job.

1. get a flight instructing job as there are a couple of positions to be had around here.
2. build about 500 more hours over the next 12-18 months
3. get about 100 hours of multi engine flight time over that same period and apply for any regional airline job - he'd be sure to get ONE at least.

but he wont have it.

I guess it says a lot about our country and the aviation industry itself when a young man would be better off to squat in the mud and bore scope pipelines than fly multi million dollar aircraft all over the country.