Flying Job; how did you get your "break"?

[NJP_MAN]

I enjoy hearing storys about how commercial pilots get their "break". Did you instruct for a while then build time and apply for another job? Did you meet someone (another instructor or student) while instructing that you were able to grow your career with? Did your father own a small charter op that you started flying with?
How did you get your career rolling? Let's hear it.

 

[Velocity173]

12 yrs and over 3,800 hrs flying in the Army. Got my commercial through the typical crash course they give military aviators. Retired and applied for an EMS spot near family and got hired two weeks later. I've been Earning Money Sleeping for a couple years now and I am quite happy.

 

[Rex Kramer]

No one in my family flies and I currently work for a 121 airline.

PPL before college.

Got all my ratings and flight instructed while still in school.

Was the late 90s and big hiring then. I had worked up enough flight time to go to a regional after graduating college.

Sat out the fallout of 9/11 as a captain at the regional.

Sometime later when things turned around I went to a job fair where a bunch of the majors/major players were meet and greets. I wound up getting an interview at my current employer due to dropping off my resume with one of the recruiters at the fair. Passed the interview and here I am.


So, there's some drive (getting my ratings and instructing, upgrading ASAP at my company to get the quality time) and some luck (getting the interview).

That's the short version, anyway. Assuming you want a career flying, what do you want to do? There are pluses and minuses to any of the different career paths in aviation.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Got all the ratings & 4 year degree. Happened to be in the right place at the right time (or wrong place wrong time, depending on how I look back) and lucked into a non-CFI job to build time. Jumped to 135 once I had the ATP

 

[Busflyer]

Worked as a lineman during high school, CFII During college along with flying skydivers and whatever else I could scrounge. Graduated with an engineering degree and decided to give the commuters a shot. Spent 5 years flying commuters during the late 80's and early 90's before getting hired at the majors. Presently an Airbus Captain.

Can't say as I would change a thing, it's worked out pretty well.

 

[NJP_MAN]

Assuming you want a career flying, what do you want to do? There are pluses and minuses to any of the different career paths in aviation.

I'm not really sure what I want to do. I'm sure it's in a airplane though. I worked at one of the premier hangars in Scottsdale and got a good long look at corporate. That is where I would like to go right now but things could change in the future . I wouldn't mind working as a instructor for a good long while either.

I'm getting a later start though. I started flying at 29 and now I'm 31. I have so many contacts but I don't have the time. There are so many people with the time but don't have the contacts. This has been a fun ride and I can't wait to see what comes next.

 

[DeeG]

Right place at the right time. Ink still fresh on my Multi-Comm-IFR ticket, I was working in the office of a 135 operation at BUR. Met a guy at the airport who needed a back up pilot for the company B200 King Air. Studied his Flight Safety manual on the plane, and then we went for a ride. He liked how I flew. Flew off and on for about a year or so, until the company bean counter decided that the plane was too expensive.

I had about 430 total hours (and a whopping 26 hours of multi) in my logbook when I got the job. I logged about 100 hours of turbine time during that year. Not too shabby.

 

[JHW]

Showed up on-time and sober. Followed instructions. Didn't complain about every little thing. That's how high the bar was to work up in 2 years from C337 flying pipeline inspection through the various freighters to a 4-engine turboprop flying south africa to northern europe. Is that a big break? I guess not, I got bored pretty quick and went back to college to get a real job.

 

[jonnyjetprop]

Worked one full time and one part time job to pay for flying lessions while in college (maybe why I didn't do well). Bailed out of aeronautical engineering but had a commercial, instrument ticket.

Moved back to Southern California. Got my multi, CFI, CFII, MEI. Worked as an independent instructor while going to community college aviation program.

After 1200 instruction given, 1800 TT, I got my first 135 cargo job. Lasted 4 months and got hired on at Amerflight in Burbank. After 20 months there, I left AMF for an air ambulance job. They lost their contract after 6 months.

I was recruited as a direct entry captain at a commuter in 1990. That lasted about 6 months before Eastern shut down and took out the commuter airline with it. I got another DEC at a New England commuter and stayed almost four years. This is when I got an AS degree from Embry Riddle. Had to stop my BS program when the airline shut down.

I did a pay for training gig to become a DC-8 FO and worked for a defunct DC-8 operator as a FO and upgraded to captain at 29. As I could see the writing on the wall, I applied for and was hired by my current employer in 1996.

Over the last 18 years, I seen my company's fortunes go up and down. We're again in a big down mode. I will be downgraded to FO next month and will be at the bottom of our active seniority list.