Hey everyone...
I noticed there's a lot of Real Life pilots in this game, so I wanted your opinion on pilot career and lifestyle...
I'm finishing a 4year college degree, so I'm now debating whether to do that (accounting/bussiness), or to start with the 200 flying hours in order to start the pilot career... I know major carriers are now increasingly seeking for college graduated pilots, so the degree should be more of a plus than lost time...
As if I love flying or not, I was one of that many little guys that went to the airport every weekend just to watch planes landing and taking off, I buyed every aviation game I ever saw (even Airline tycoon 2 =S), I own several gemini jets and phoenix in my bedroom, and I love everytime I fly as a passenger, and everything that every people who loves planes does...
So, would you (pilots), recommend this profession ? how's the lifestyle ?... is it rewarding enough ? How hard is it to reach the top ?? (I wanna fly those incredibly amazing 787s or 350s)... How hard is to mix a pilot life with having a family, and children ?... What if you have to make a 12hs trip with an incredibly annoying captain ??... Do airlines take care of their pilots ?... do you have any particular advice ? Would you prefer flying planes or do bussiness and earn more money ???... etc etc...
Basically I'm debating whether to fly planes (which I love), and earn decent money, or do bussiness (which is more like a chore), and earn a considerable higher ammount of money...
I already read some blogs online, but any personal opinion about the profession would be very very useful to me...
Thanks !!
Greets !...
Based on the experiences of the 50% or so of my school that was there to get a pilots license, I'm still glad I never elected to go that route. I don't know where you're from, but I write from the American perspective.
To start with, weigh the cost of your training. Now a school offering a degree is probably not the option that most people go, but I know aspiring pilots graduating with most of their ratings but with 100K of student debt. Having your ratings generally doesn't mean much either, because of airline minimums for hours. Even if you don't go the full school route, you'll still be charting tens of thousands of dollars of debt. I'm north of 10 grand, and I don't even have my PPL.
So what will you be doing unless you have unencumbering financial support? Towing banners, flight instructing. You're not going to even see a CRJ for a few years. If you can't find a way to get paid to fly, then you're left with using the income from another job to try and support something that is probably up there in cost with drug addiction.
So what happens when you finally gain enough hours to command an RJ? You get taken on by the regionals. Mesa is known for taking bright eyed new pilots and exploiting them for around 18,000 dollars a year. That's enjoy your s***ty 89 Oldsmobile for the next 5 years kind of money. Some of the regional pilots, you know, the ones operating multimillion dollar pieces of equipment that fly through the air at hundreds of miles an hour, use food stamps to make their meals at home.
So what comes after dredging through the regionals? Your actual career. The majors, or what's left of them through the continued consolidation that marked recent years. You get to restart at the bottom of the seniority list, once again flying to the places that no one else really cares to at the crappiest times of day. You're making some money, but still probably a half of what you would be making if you had stuck with business. Want a promotion? Wait your turn, you're filling the shoes of the person above you who retired or died. Your family is antagonistic towards you being gone half of the month. Your job is in question every 9 months when you do your recurrent. Your union represents you, and generally have to pay due diligence to the activities of the collective. Your pension is gone, it was needed to pay one of the other costs, and bankruptcy means the airline can shed their obligation to you.
Yeah, you can get to the 787, but its going to be 20 years of damn hard work, if you don't get merged and stapled to the bottom of a seniority list again. But frankly, you're a pilot, you're to some extent a replaceable commodity. There's thousands of other people who want to get in the cockpit, and if flying is your life, then you'll probably leave the same legacy as the guy that drove the crew shuttle bus, with the difference being your bus is bigger and you have those awesome looking epaulets.
I understood relatively early that being a pilot was far from the glamour of the 50's and 60's, and I subsequently got my degree in aviation business administration. While I'm miserably unemployed (READ: CAN I HAVE A JOB, SOMEONE?), I know from my internships that being given the opportunity to show you are worth more to a company than simply moving metal from A to B is invaluable, and for every pilot job, there's probably 5 or more people behind them in supporting functions. You can think creatively, gain proficiency, and work to an audience that can appreciate what you do.
I'm not a pilot, but have had the chance to fly by a friend of my father who was a 767 Captain, that owned his own personal Bonanza. My father also worked for Delta for 38 years as a mechanic and has seen many of the changes. I wish I could say follow your dreams but in my case I had to follow what was reasonable and that I could afford.
I've been a truck driver even though I got a bachelors from Texas A&M (Economics). As stupid as it sounds, these fields are getting more comparative IMO. Plus as you get more experience you get to make more decisions on the routing and fuel locations. I had to drive altitude sensitive loads even, and plan routes based on altitude, most common, bags of potato chips lol. Plus where I worked we had letter services, don't know why they didn't just call them letter checks. You do pretrips, like a walk around on an aircraft. Some stuff even you have to do via radio where I know of some convention show drivers, where they had to radio trucks into the docks. Personally I've been lucky in never having to blind back into a building.
Starting wages seem similar and it is hard to get hired on by most companies without experience but the training is a lot cheaper. With experience you can move up to the larger oversized and heavy haul making well over $100,000 a year or to more specialized like intermodal/ports or cross border. However most truck driving involves being away from home for long periods till you get experience and can run regional or local.
As far as being a pilot, I know my university offered discounted lessons, not as a degree but as an extra curricular. Another thing to look into would be the military for becoming a pilot. Or finding a basic job at a flight school where you can get discounted lessons and learn while you work.
So my honest opinion is check out all the options, and balance passion vs what can be afforded at the time.
Hey there. In Argentina, college degrees are not as important as in USA if you want to become an airline pilot. To apply for LAN Argentina, Aerolineas Argentinas, Andes, Sol, Macair etc you need 900hs and First Class Commercial Pilot License (PC1), that only exists here (typical), and a big hook.
The usual career is to become a Private Pilot and start to build hours until you're at 200-500. At 200h you can become a Commercial Pilot, which here is not as important as it looks as nobody would hire you with such low-time for a Part 135 (non-scheduled ops, charter, medevac, cargo, corporate, etc) - EXCEPT you have a golden hook hidden. Main reason is insurance companies. So you end up begging for hours here and there in a very slow paced process. It could be made by towing gliders, carring parachute nuts, banner-towing, Lo-Jack surveys or doing "Bautismos de Vuelo" in your local Flying Club.
That stage is the filter usually as if you end up not having enough passion, then I guarantee that the road will be so tough that you'l feel it's not worth the hassle. So the main mental attribute here is passion for flying, love for the airborn feeling and desire to progress. If you have that, you can become what you are wishing for. I waited 9 years for my first flying job and I'm loving it despite having unfulfilled debts yet. And I'm not flying for an scheduled airline.
The 200-500 region covered, now comes the after-500h stage. With 500h you can become a Certified Flight Instructor. That license is a hour-building machine. Once you got that license, go to a nearby Flight School and show your Resumé (preferable over a Flying Club as the're sadly fading away because ANAC doesn't care about them). You will be flying 80h a MONTH. Period. That's how it works here. So then you can get the PC1 at 900h and apply for the airlines IF they're hiring.
Market for pilots here in Argentina is slim. Only two majors (if we can call LANar and ARSA majors - they have a total of 70 airplanes in all). And everybody want to work there, so there's the bottle-neck. Not enough jobs for everyone (like in USA, Europe...).
That was the most common career path here.
Having said that, in Latin America there's (still) a big shortage of pilots. Fliyng Schools here tend to instruct people from countries like Perú, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and when they reach 200hs they apply for the airlines (little known names like LAN, Avianca-Taca, Copa, etc). I've known guys with 200hs getting off a C152 (which they could barely fly) and go to Miami to have a 767 rating! True story.
So that's another path for you, but mind you that you will not enjoy the flying as you'd do in a C182 over the mountains or in a Piper Cub doing TO-Landings. If you're passionate of flying, finding yourself checking at the displays while the airplane flies itself right up to touchdown would be quite unencouraging. Yes the paycheck is great and all, but what we do is not mainly for the paycheck.
I always encourage new pilots to enjoy flying while they can, give your family a beautiful ride, depart from an airstrip and go to another and have Mate and facturas, feel the beauty of feeling free as a bird. You won't feel exactly that in an airliner.
Sure it's great to fly at 460kt at 36,000ft in a shiny jet and all, but your responsabilities will be big, and sometimes no time for sightseeing. I have a frined flying for AR and when I asked him whether he liked flying in or out of Rio de Janeiro he told me that he didn't know, that he was with concentrated in his instruments the whole arrival and departure, because you ought to.
That's why IMHO you need to enjoy it while you can, and then those beautiful experiences will enable you to be an airline pilot and actually enjoy the ride.
Quote from: ezzeqiel on February 01, 2013, 10:50:14 PM
Basically I'm debating whether to fly planes (which I love), and earn decent money
That link has been broken years ago. I don't know how it is in Argentina, but in Europe and America pilot salaries are ever spiraling downwards now and have long reached levels which, in some cases (yet none too few, sadly), require social security aid.
Taking the pitiful state in which the argentinian airline industry is, especially AR, I would not be rash to spend a ton of money on a career path that might prove a dead end.
You must think about the fact that some day in the not too distant future, you might want a family or something along that line, and being an underpaid pilot does not well combine with that.
There are still some very attractive pilot positions available, in every part of the world, but they are now very, very few and obviously, as a result, very sought after.
If you want to become a pilot to fly a big long haul airliner, forget about it as soon as possible. Most jobs are on the short haul. If you couldn't stand that for all your life, don't do it. It's very likely you will stay on a small aircraft forever. Most pilots now are very lucky to get their hands on a 737 or A320 job.
If you were in Brazil maybe things would look brighter, but with that crappy economy Argentina has...
Thanks very much for the replies guys..!
I know that working in a job you love should be awesome, but if I can't make decent money, it may not be worth it...
I'll go around and speak with some flight schools, to see how are they doing...
Also, I'll go for sure for the private pilot license (40hs), and see if flying is really worth the effort ;).. then I'll be able to decide...
If you have the passion, then the money will not be the problem as long as there is a roof over our head and bread on the table. So I would say do not let it deter you if you really want to do it. Although the biggest problem is getting the money to start training, maybe working in a high paid salary and saving up is the best option (depends if you have the patience :laugh: ).
To put things in perspective, financially, in the UK pilots have now become the highest paid job in the country (despite Euro crisis). This means average salary is even above that of CEO.
Quote from: ezzeqiel on February 08, 2013, 07:18:44 AM
I'll go around and speak with some flight schools, to see how are they doing...
Do that, but remember they all are primarily interested in your money and your personal welfare is to them a distant second, if any.
Quote from: alexgv1 on February 08, 2013, 10:07:56 AM
To put things in perspective, financially, in the UK pilots have now become the highest paid job in the country (despite Euro crisis). This means average salary is even above that of CEO.
What's your source here? It's very difficult to believe with all the FlexiCrew contracts out there.
Quote from: saftfrucht on February 08, 2013, 01:42:16 PM
What's your source here? It's very difficult to believe with all the FlexiCrew contracts out there.
Read it in a newspaper last novemer, possibly the Telegraph.
You will be hard pressed to find a pilot on under £20k here. To give perspective, even a low hours Ryanair F/O can earn up to 45k, cadet pilots at BA and FlyBE have starting salary of £22k and £28k respectively. Plus not to mention all the silver foxes on six figure salaries.
I like the fact my job has a higher wage that a pilot! ;D
Quote from: alexgv1 on February 08, 2013, 03:30:19 PM
Read it in a newspaper last novemer, possibly the Telegraph.
You will be hard pressed to find a pilot on under £20k here. To give perspective, even a low hours Ryanair F/O can earn up to 45k, cadet pilots at BA and FlyBE have starting salary of £22k and £28k respectively. Plus not to mention all the silver foxes on six figure salaries.
I don't believe that, and the British press have a terrific ability to report the opposite of the facts.
http://www.pilotjobsnetwork.com/jobs/Ryanair
I see 26,000 pounds after four years and the abolishment of a high level FO pay grade. I've seen UK internships make more than that a year.
And the six figures at the top of the ladder are seriously the last few years before retirement, 30 years away, if they'll even exist by then.
Nobody has to believe it 8) Darwinism took a long time to catch on
I'm sure money isn't the motivation for most people with a passion for flying at any rate.
Quote from: Admiral Flight Commander Major General Chad Studdington KBE on February 10, 2013, 01:24:15 PM
I like the fact my job has a higher wage that a pilot! ;D
I don't think you'll like it anymore the next time you'd find yourself in the middle of a heavy storm aboard a 70tons metal tube at 10.000 meters above the ground going at 800km/h, and you start wondering: Are this two guys in the cockpit well trained ?? Did they sleep well last night ?? Are they capable to do the job ?? Are they happy in the company they work for ?? Are they doing their jobs reluctantly ??
1) that was interesting to read. what about ATC and electronic communicatins engineer?
2) what about preparation in estonia academy? FYI - in estonia there are no airplanes in airforce, and just one airline, which is or was going bankrupt. about 10 airplanes.
i mean - i know that cheif engineer from indonesia at sea doesnt know even how to start the main engine, the seaman from nigeria or cabo verde - doesn know anything. will the graduates of the estonian air academy be the same? or is it just impossible to prepare a person substandart?
wbrgds
I can tell you that a Lufthansa captain with 15 to 20 yrs of experience and rated on smtg big like an A330/340 or B744/748 earns around 320,000€ gross/year. Pilots at SWISS earn a bit less in absolute terms, but taxes are lower in Switzerland, and in the end the net monthly salary is perhaps above the one of a capt at LH. The hard thing is getting into those companies...
Thanks again to all that replied... (I'm surprised this is still "active")
So I update this thread... I went to pursue my dream, and I can tell you guys, from the moment you grab the airplane controls, you know there's nothing else in the world you would wanna be...
I can't describe how beautiful flying a plane is (actually flying it, not as a passenger)... it's a mixture of adrenaline, joy, fear, respect, excitement, proud... all in the same moment... I really really enjoy it...
Now, I can tell you this.. any carrier could pay me a million or the minimum wage... I'll be still happy doing what I like... I won't trade it for a boring office job for any salary... (yes, of course I'd trade it for a 50.000.000usd salary, cause with that I'd be able to buy my own airbus, but we talk about real salaries :P)...
(thanks for the data EYguy, of course it's always nice to know big carriers current salaries ;))
And special thanks to ArcherII ;)
PS. I'll update with some pics if I ever get any
Quote from: ezzeqiel on July 18, 2013, 01:10:44 AM
I can't describe how beautiful flying a plane is (actually flying it, not as a passenger)... it's a mixture of adrenaline, joy, fear, respect, excitement, proud... all in the same moment... I really really enjoy it...
Congratz to you. It was my childhood dream to be a pilot, too. But I was not in the condition to pursue it :-\
Quote from: ezzeqiel on July 18, 2013, 01:10:44 AM
And special thanks to ArcherII ;)
De nada che!
Hopefully we can cross our paths one day.
Quote from: Mr.HP on July 18, 2013, 02:04:36 AM
Congratz to you. It was my childhood dream to be a pilot, too. But I was not in the condition to pursue it :-\
Sorry to hear that... I don't know your situation, but I'd say it's never late, and there's always the possibility of flying just for hobby (maybe on weekends in a nearby aero club ??)
I hope I could make my way into the big leagues, but it's a though ride...
Quote from: ArcherII on July 18, 2013, 03:06:46 AM
De nada che!
Hopefully we can cross our paths one day.
Hojalá nos crucemos en LAN, y no en un fumigador :P... Anyway, flying is flying... whether it's a brand new jet or an old 80' prop (like FC ones :P)
Quote from: EYguy on July 17, 2013, 03:44:08 PM
I can tell you that a Lufthansa captain with 15 to 20 yrs of experience and rated on smtg big like an A330/340 or B744/748 earns around 320,000€ gross/year.
No. That is a time long gone. Today, Lufthansa Captains top out at 210k € gross, and it is questionable whether somebody joining now will be able to enjoy this when it comes to it.
on eurocontrol webapage they offer atc training. did not find price and age limit. in usa - 30 years max.
if i pass the tests - is everything bright and shiny? aand 2k EUR after graduation in UIR?
or - expencive living for 2,5 years of studies? (damn, if for 2,5 years i can have a PART TIME job to support me - why stduy ))) )
Quote from: sergio on September 18, 2013, 06:09:03 PM
if i pass the tests - is everything bright and shiny?
Yes, until they impose Single European Sky and around 40-50% of controllers become obsolete.
Quote from: saftfrucht on September 19, 2013, 04:10:32 AM
Yes, until they impose Single European Sky and around 40-50% of controllers become obsolete.
understood, thank you.
oh no, 25,0 years old deadline. and i am 29,8.
to usa - also late in 0,2 years.
40-50% - that is UIR only, right? tracon guys should remain?
Quote from: alexgv1 on February 08, 2013, 10:07:56 AM
To put things in perspective, financially, in the UK pilots have now become the highest paid job in the country (despite Euro crisis). This means average salary is even above that of CEO.
I'm going to have to question your source on that one. This is complete bs
Quote from: Nlgravity on October 28, 2013, 06:23:26 AM
I'm going to have to question your source on that one. This is complete bs
Hi, thanks for your kind post. I read it in The Mirror last year.
Things you read in a tabloid...
... are almost never true.
Quote from: saftfrucht on October 28, 2013, 02:16:36 PM
Things you read in a tabloid...
... are almost never true.
s***, you telling me the Iraq war was a ruse?
As far as the United States, the airline industry is actually picking up considerably. The regional airlines are ALL needing pilots and the majority of them are creating gateway programs. These gateway programs are actually hiring current university students (well before they have even their commercial certificate) and paying them while they are in college. They even get flight benefits.
With the mandatory retirement exodus here in the states at the major "legacy" airlines, there is a LOT of movement in the industry. And to put it simply, there are not as many qualified candidates than there were even 10 years ago. Because the supply of pilots is going down, while the demand is increasing, the wages and quality of life is going to need to increase in order to attract more pilots to certain companies.
I work as a CFI-I at a flight school and we are constantly hiring large classes of new hires in order to make up for the large amounts of instructors leaving for regional airline jobs.
While I worked at United Airlines a year and half ago, they were talking about loosing over 1,000 pilots a year. One year (I don't remember which one) had more than 2,000 pilots leaving. And these are only forced retirements, so they don't include voluntary retirements. With in 10 years, something like 80-90% of the pilots at United Airlines will be forced to retire due to age. (If I remember correctly, these numbers included both COA and UAL). And these are only UAL numbers!
The industry is certainly looking much brighter here in the states than 10 years ago. Also, don't forget Asian airlines. There is a huge demand for pilots out there because their (relatively) new airline industry is exploding. And many Asian nations don't have enough local pilots to satisfy demand, so they need to hire foreign pilots.
As the saying goes, a pilot's office has the best view! Best of luck to every aspiring pilot out there!
Zoom
CFI-I, CSEL, CMEL
Quote from: Zoom on October 28, 2013, 07:27:03 PM
As far as the United States, the airline industry is actually picking up considerably. The regional airlines are ALL needing pilots and the majority of them are creating gateway programs. These gateway programs are actually hiring current university students (well before they have even their commercial certificate) and paying them while they are in college. They even get flight benefits.
WTF airline is doing that? Because it isn't Mesa, Republic, Skywest, Chautauqua, American Eagle, Great Lakes, or Compass. The Cape Air/Expressjet/JetBlue setup isn't all that grand because you still have to be a CFI to qualify, and if you're building hours that way you'll have just as much hope at any of the others.
I for sure know of Skywest and American Eagle. They both are a partnership style setup with various universities throughout the country.
Ameriflight has a pretty good pathway for CFIs to get hired into the right seat of a E120.
EDIT: Republic has also hired many CFIs to work as ground instructors for two years, while the CFIs continue to build their last few hundred hours (instructing at the local airport), while building seniority with the company. They fly right seat after two years.
What a romantic thought :-[ being in debt with a college loan AND a flight school loan. How can life get any better at a young age?
Quote from: saftfrucht on October 29, 2013, 06:37:15 AM
What a romantic thought :-[ being in debt with a college loan AND a flight school loan. How can life get any better at a young age?
I suspect that we will see airlines helping to pay for student flight training to encourage more trainees. Otherwise, the industry will run low on pilots at the current rate.
Doubt it. America is full of un- or underemployed pilots, just like Europe. The only upside is that, unlike Europe, America now has new demand for at least some of them.
Quote from: saftfrucht on October 30, 2013, 07:53:08 AM
Doubt it. America is full of un- or underemployed pilots, just like Europe. The only upside is that, unlike Europe, America now has new demand for at least some of them.
We will, we already are. BA, city jet, Fly be. All are doing some form of sponsorship for commercial pilots. BA requires NO upfront payment if you meet their credit standards. So yes we will see airlines pay for flight training, and we already are seeing airlines paying for flight training.
Please don't call flexicrew-type arrangements a sponsorship.
Quote from: saftfrucht on July 26, 2013, 08:30:20 AM
No. That is a time long gone. Today, Lufthansa Captains top out at 210k € gross, and it is questionable whether somebody joining now will be able to enjoy this when it comes to it.
Hi, I have to disagree... I had the chance of meeting some top management personalities at DLH while writing my master thesis and they (all included, and also two chief pilots) told me that the top salary is 320.000€...
Quote from: EYguy on November 05, 2013, 03:57:23 PM
Hi, I have to disagree... I had the chance of meeting some top management personalities at DLH while writing my master thesis and they (all included, and also two chief pilots) told me that the top salary is 320.000€...
And do not forget the free travel as well. Space available or not, it certainly does add up.
Quote from: EYguy on November 05, 2013, 03:57:23 PM
Hi, I have to disagree... I had the chance of meeting some top management personalities at DLH while writing my master thesis and they (all included, and also two chief pilots) told me that the top salary is 320.000€...
3 possibilities here:
1) You mistook USD for EUR
2) You were told the salary of a senior captain who also has management duties, which is not the regular case
3) You were told the salary of captains just before there retirement, who are on very old contracts from when Lufthansa was still state owned. The salaries have eroded since, and justly so. A pilot starting today tops out at 210k gross, as I already pointed out.
Quote from: Zoom on November 05, 2013, 07:13:27 PM
And do not forget the free travel as well. Space available or not, it certainly does add up.
Staff at Lufthansa, be it Captain or else (the only thing that counts is the yellow staff ID and, when deciding who of all ID tickets gets to fly, seniority), don't fly for free. They fly for a set amount (confidential) of the regular published fare. A low amount, but as it is based on the regular published fare, it is not so much lower than a normally booked ticket say a month or so in advance.
Saftfrucht, just talked to a friend of mine (Cpt on A330/340 at DLH, MUC based, Italian like me): he is also representative of pilots for "Cockpit" and he is grossing 250.000€/year gross with 18 yrs seniority... Are you sure you are not talking about guys flying A320? Btw, the base contract at LH has a 74 flight hrs/month base, and therefore as soon as you go above that threshold you start earning lot of ding ding. So that's probably why lot of pilots are flying around 80-85 hrs/month and grossing around 320.000€/year when they have more than 20 yrs seniority.
And talking about staff travel: ID 50 (there's a set amount of ticket of the "Saver" fare -not the lowest, but still affordable!) that is a confirmed ticket (no seniority) and ID 90 (90% off the same far as before, subject to availability)
Regards
I am not sure if the ID-classifications have anything to do in a public forum, but that's just my personal opinion.
Quote from: EYguy on November 06, 2013, 04:41:30 PMAre you sure you are not talking about guys flying A320?
Lufthansa's pay is only subject to seniority, it does not matter in the slightest which plane you fly (unlike most US carriers).
Quote from: EYguy on November 06, 2013, 04:41:30 PMBtw, the base contract at LH has a 74 flight hrs/month base, and therefore as soon as you go above that threshold you start earning lot of ding ding. So that's probably why lot of pilots are flying around 80-85 hrs/month
It will be hard to find anyone flying 85 hours, monthly schedules at LH very rarely exceed 80.
Additional duty pay will also not make anyone earn +100k over the base salary, that's impossible. 250k at 18yrs seniority is not possible according to the CBA, as is 320k for max seniority.
So I expect he either earns an addon salary for management duties or wasn't entirely truthful.
Quote from: Zoom on October 28, 2013, 07:27:03 PM
As far as the United States, the airline industry is actually picking up considerably. The regional airlines are ALL needing pilots and the majority of them are creating gateway programs. These gateway programs are actually hiring current university students (well before they have even their commercial certificate) and paying them while they are in college. They even get flight benefits....
Zoom
CFI-I, CSEL, CMEL
I know i was born in the wrong country. I wish i was born in USA, would got to USAF, go on war or two, the americans dont just leave their pilots behinds behind the lines, go away, then to flying boeing 747.
ok then. i saw a video on youtube, Can I be an airline pilot if I start flight training in my 30's.
aand, just yesteday i read in the manual of my X-Plane 10, that X-Plane can be considered as log hours. of course not with mouse and home copy, but with Prfessional X-Plane, and professional hardware which costs 500 000 USD, all must be FAA approved. My qyestion is - what company can offer such thing, how much cost. may be if i need 300 hours, i can fly 2000 on simulator like for 10 hours a day 7 days a week...
extract from X-Plane manual
Note that FAA certification of a simulator requires not only that the user has X-Plane 10 Professional but also the appropriate hardware (cockpit and flight controls) available through the X-Plane Hardware page and companies such as Precision Flight Controls and Fidelity Flight Simulation. This is because flight-training systems can only be certified as a complete package (a software and hardware combination). The commercial, FAA-certifiable software is available for $750 to $1,000 per copy and the hardware runs from $5,000 to $500,000. The retail version of X-Plane purchased at X-Plane.com is not certified for flight training right out of the box, since certification requires a software and hardware combination. However, the software available for about $80 at X-Plane.com is almost identical what is found in the $500,000 full-motion, FAA-certified platforms. The biggest difference is that the FAA-certified versions have custom aircraft files with larger instrument panels, which are set up to work with hardware radios like those found in the physical cockpits. The FAA-certifiable version also has some of the purely fun stuff (like space flight) removed even though those situations are simulated accurately in X-Plane, just like the FAA-certified subsonic terrestrial flight.
X-Plane 10 Global
The standard X-Plane simulator is the retail copy of X-Plane. It requires one X-Plane 10 Disc 1 DVD for each copy of X-Plane on the network.
This simulator is what users get when they purchase X-Plane from the X-Plane.com site and use it for whatever they desire. It requires no USB key to be plugged in. Many copies of X-Plane on many computers can be networked to act as external visuals, external cockpits, instructor stations, and the like. One X-Plane Disc 1 DVD is required for each computer networked together running the simulator. This system cannot be certified by the FAA or any other authority for logging flight training, due to the fact that it does not self-test for the presence of flight controls or a usable frame rate. However, since only one X-Plane Disc 1 DVD is needed for each computer, this setup is amazingly affordable and easy to assemble at almost no cost, even though a user could never certify the system.
Quote from: sergio on June 01, 2014, 10:14:33 PM
I know i was born in the wrong country. I wish i was born in USA, would got to USAF, go on war or two, the americans dont just leave their pilots behinds behind the lines, go away, then to flying boeing 747.
ok then. i saw a video on youtube, Can I be an airline pilot if I start flight training in my 30's.
aand, just yesteday i read in the manual of my X-Plane 10, that X-Plane can be considered as log hours. of course not with mouse and home copy, but with Prfessional X-Plane, and professional hardware which costs 500 000 USD, all must be FAA approved. My qyestion is - what company can offer such thing, how much cost. may be if i need 300 hours, i can fly 2000 on simulator like for 10 hours a day 7 days a week...
Hate to burst your bubble, but it can't happen. You will need to complete the ratings, and spend the money. There is no way around it I'm afraid. Do you think they'll let someone who has never flown an aircraft before into the flight deck of an airliner? Never... Sorry.
Quote from: Pilot Oatmeal on June 02, 2014, 05:17:54 PM
Hate to burst your bubble, but it can't happen. You will need to complete the ratings, and spend the money. There is no way around it I'm afraid. Do you think they'll let someone who has never flown an aircraft before into the flight deck of an airliner? Never... Sorry.
Tks yr last.
If never flwn - then for sure no. i mean i need three thousand hours to qualify. and according to video on youtube - that can be done by retirement. so may be for one hundred hours in real aircraft i can do two more thousand in simulator.
actually that sounds rediculous to me too on the one hand, but that what X-Plane wites, and secondly, I read a book of one Russian Pilot, he is angry with bad preparation of pilots today; once he was on examination, and an active military pilot who wanted to fly TU was passing exam on simulator. then young guy came. the examiner said that the young guy was flying better, so where did he learn. the young pilot said - on simulator at home. the examiner said, that the old was flying much worse, did no track the airspeed for example.
as to bad preparation the book author said the old Captatin who does not care, will not let the young one land or lift off. the good old guy, will let the young one land in good weather and, and in bad weather - he will personally, with words - look how it's done. and there are more bad captains than good ones.
the preparation of author himself before big aviation was in small aviation in Siberia, which now nonexistent, because the goverment was payig for such small aviations. he got in weather situaations, calculated weights, fuel, navigation in Siberia, etc. and where to get thousands of hours on Cessna today? ))) alaska is too small!
so the book author offered that at least part of preparation be done on simulator.
I understand it is a stupid dream of simmer to get to fly, but unreal.
Things have changed so dramatically in the US in recent years that it is a far different world for pilots now.
The Airlines are still hiring from the College programs directly, and subsidizing your hours build, but only if you meet the right racial and gender guidelines. If you don't, you're screwed. The Administration has raised the barrier to entry so high, that only the richest will be able to afford to fly as a job. (Which, I believe, is EXACTLY the plan)
The best place to build hours now is to "Pay-to-play" with one of the fractional operators. Even GA is slowly being strangled in America now, so Instructor time is becoming harder to find. Or, you do as some I know have done, head to the Middle East or Asia to build time.
As for myself, I have the background, experience, and certifications to be able to write my own ticket. I chose to play airplane on the ground, only flying for fun, and luckily, I learned in a good environment early on. I really do feel sorry for some of the kids sitting in my new hire classes. Minimum wage, no advancement, no passes, pay for their own parking, etc., for jobs that used to pay well, and came with incredible benefits.
understood. hm, why is this policy implemented, strange.
How much costs one hour of pilot instuctor in you country? (teraching me to fly on microlight or cessna)
In Russia central i read now - 7000 - 10 000 rub per hour, that is 203-290 USd/ hour. In Estonia - I willc check.
JetBlue to Recruit Two-Dozen Non-Fliers to be Pilots
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/jetblue-recruit-two-dozen-non-fliers-be-pilots-n471991
Quote from: Infinity on October 28, 2013, 02:16:36 PM
Things you read in a tabloid...
... are almost never true.
Turns out it was the Guardian, not sure whether that's considered a tabloid or not, but same as last year it is simply reporting the Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures. Pilots are down this year, from first position to fourth :( Check it out!
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/02/highest-paid-jobs-2015 (http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/02/highest-paid-jobs-2015)
Is it worth trying?
"JUN 03 easyJet Information Session by CAE Oxford Aviation Academy
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I am not doing ad, I am asking for advice.
Quote from: alexgv1 on December 03, 2015, 12:14:16 PM
Turns out it was the Guardian, not sure whether that's considered a tabloid or not, but same as last year it is simply reporting the Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures. Pilots are down this year, from first position to fourth :( Check it out!
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/02/highest-paid-jobs-2015 (http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/02/highest-paid-jobs-2015)
it says "shipping brokers,". Well, you dont study, and then get hired. most probably you inherit it from your family. another thing, this is not clear, trnasparent activity. brokerage fee goes to (often!) corrupt logistician, a gratutude from "shipowner". and it is based on persona relations, even bimco wrote about it.
Worldwide Pilot Shortage [2019] Is the pilot shortage real?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5aE97LGgOw