For many aeronautical hopefuls, the idea of securing a spot in the left seat of a widebody airliner represents the golden ring of career attainment.
To be in command of an airliner and draw the platinum plated paychecks that come with that position is so appealing to some of us that we miss the opportunity to smell the flowers along the way. Or the Jet-A.
Whatever floats your boat.
This isn’t a new issue. For as long as I’ve been involved with aviation I’ve been astounded by the number of pilots I meet who want nothing more than to amass as many hours as they can, as quickly as they can, in order to qualify for an opening at a major carrier.
Currently, the goal is 1,500 hours. A number so tantalizingly attainable, yet so far away. As a result, many hopefuls, including active CFIs, devote their entire being to finding opportunities to climb into the cockpit where they can log another hour.
I’ve been there. I get it. The urge to move up can be strong. The desire to establish a lucrative career in aviation outweighs the formerly proud achievement of obtaining a job that is merely dependable. Yet the shortsighted focus on flying, flying, flying, misses the larger objective by a mile or more.
Career advancement isn’t just a numbers game. Those 1,500 hours may seem like the be all and end all of the industry requirements. And maybe it will be someday. But truly successful people in any industry can tell you that the real key to long-term success involves the ability to develop and foster relationships.
I’m lucky. I know that. It’s been my good fortune to establish and build a tremendously satisfying career in general aviation. One where I make a good living, enjoy the work I do, have a significant amount of input into the direction my work takes, and generally feel good about myself at the end of each day. I’m not a number. I’m Jamie.
That’s not a quirk of fate. It is the result of an intentional pursuit of a specific career track. I sought out a position that didn’t even exist when I began this journey. Although that may seem hyperbolic to some, I will suggest it has been far more methodical. You see, sometimes the stars align just right, maybe only for a moment or two. That’s what I was shooting for, an alignment that was just a dream, but a predictable dream that I believed I could bring to fruition.
If you’re ready to leap when that magical opportunity appears, all is well. If not? Well, as I have often related to my students and network of friends, opportunity knocks but it does not linger.
Truthfully, I’m an introvert. Given my druthers, I’d just as soon stay home and write, or play guitar, or fuss with the fruit trees in the yard than go to a gathering of people. Any kind of gathering. I’m happy to be alone. But being alone isn’t likely to get me very far, so I’ve learned the skill of networking.
I would strongly advise anyone who wants to establish a career of real value to do the same. Look for opportunities to meet and interact with others. That may be your best route to wherever you want to go, whether you’ve got 1,500 hours in your logbook or not.
Over the years I’ve noticed a disquieting percentage of CFIs who fall into the category of folks I described in the early paragraphs of this story. They fly, but they do little else. They see little value in doing one-on-one ground school with their students. They avoid safety meetings and other get-togethers hosted by their employer or other flight schools and businesses in their area.
In an effort to focus all their efforts on building time, they miss the opportunity to build relationships. To meet people that wouldn’t come into their orbit under normal circumstances. Yet, it is those people who may have the most profound impact on our ability to find and be hired for a position that really works for us.
Whether an incremental move up the ladder, or a permanent position that satisfies all our career goals, the likelihood of us finding it all on our own is small. The potential for others to act as our eyes and ears is far greater, not to mention the power a recommendation from that networking connection might make to the hiring process.
So, with all that in mind, maybe it’s time to rethink where we put our efforts, how laser-like we drill into the act of building hours to the exclusion of all else. Do it for selfish reasons if you must, but do it. You’ll become a better pilot and a better person as a result.
The next time the local flight school hosts a safety meeting, go. Introduce yourself to your fellow attendees. Strike up a conversation with the staff from another flight school, or staff from the local FSDO, or the person brought in to actually carry out the presentation.
As your networking connections become more numerous, your awareness of upcoming opportunities will increase dramatically. Which may lead you to the job of your dreams.
Along the way you may even learn something of value from those safety presentations. Which may serve you well one day when that pivotal interview opportunity comes along.
At the very least you’re likely to make a friend along the way. That alone is a pretty good reason to get out there and circulate. Because in the long run, we’re not really looking for a great job. We’re looking to establish a great life, and as everyone who pays even the least bit of attention knows, all of life is better when it’s being lived with friends, family, and folks with which we’ve established mutually satisfying relationships.
Jamie, very nice article as always but I think it misses one important point and that is that on the way up to that coveted left seat you are basically starving to death and, unless you are an Uber driver while not flying, only God knows how you are going to pay your bills. Hence why people want to move up so quickly.
About 8 years ago, at 49, I realized my lifelong dream of becoming an airplane pilot when I obtained my multi ATP (by flying GA). I made it. I got a FO position in a big name regional flying small jets. When I joined I knew the pay was really (REALLY!) bad. But when you are about to realize a lifelong dream you forget that you will still have to pay bills and you go for it (and literally hope for a miracle, like airlines caring to pay a little more if they really are badly in need of pilots).
Needless to say, I was able to do it for only one year. During that year I pretty much had to get money out of my savings every week to pay bills (most older pilots like me have a family to support). I was being told by the airline that you could make captain in two year, which I had no interest in doing until I had good experience flying these things. But if you don’t move up, the pay remains so low that once your bank account is almost depleted you only start wishing you moved up sooner.
In my case that didn’t happen so I went back to my lucrative, but boring former career and that is where I will spend the rest of my working life. BTW, not complaining. I have three experimental aircraft in my hangar home in a nice fly-in community so fun I do have flying airplanes almost daily. I just miss the airline job which is what I wanted to do until retirement. Was it fun while it lasted? heck yeah! and I’m never going to forget that experience for sure.
So, I think the rush is actually imposed by the industry. In my “other” career you don’t make big money right out of school but it is a living wage. In the airline I was making less money than my son was making in his part time job in college. I understand it may be getting a little better now but the salary gap between left and right seat is still huge, fueling the climb urgency.
Chris
Very sound advice, Jamie. Relationships are priceless. Ever since the teenage me read “Fate is the Hunter,” all I wanted was an airline career. Thirty years later I was in that wide-body left seat. But nineteen years into the airline career I came home from a trip one day and, at 52, hung up the Captain’s hat. For reasons too numerous and personal to go into, it was time to move on.
I reinvented myself in another field
of aviation, and for 12 fulfilling years built a broad network of colleagues, while contributing to the safety and success of my home town airport. That network ranges from the “alphabet aviation organizations” to the military, aircraft companies, and, yes, even the Friendly Aviation Administration.
And what’s meaningful is that those folks are also friends. We smile when we meet and enjoy reminiscing, story telling and problem solving. And as pages of the calendar go by, we come to realize just how special those personal connections are.
Don’t get me wrong; I still keep In touch with pals from the airline days, and wish them well as they ply the airways, carrying their precious cargo (human and otherwise) from point A to point B. Theirs is a vital and high-paying profession. Just don’t lose sight of the value of relationships in that quest for a seniority number.
And BTW, thanks for including my photo from 2019 of the Pietenpol seminar at Brodhead Airport. That’s another perk of reinventing yourself later in life. You get to contribute to a great publication like GA News! And the network grows…..😎