A few people know it, but I'm not the first pilot in my family. The first pilot title in my family goes to Grand Uncle Guido. He was an instructor for the AAF before and during WW2. Sadly, he died on duty during 1944 near Independence, KS due to a crash shortly around D-Day along with another pilot.
Sadly, I don't know many details but hopefully I'll find out what happened eventually. I just need an exact date and I found out the location just recently (going through the WW2 records I inherited from my Grandfather). Then I'm going to write to the military and get official records of the crash and whatnot.
From what I've put together, he and a buddy were flying at night during a cross country flight for the weekend and hit a mountain (but in Independence, KS?). Since they were two of them and since he was an instructor, I figure they were flying a T-6.
Independence Kansas airport: http://skyvector.com/#35-20-3-1416-2703
Airport Data for Independence, KS: http://www.airnav.com/airport/KIDP
T-6: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-6_Texan
5/27/08
5/25/08
I'm lazy
Just redo-ing my room. There is too much stuff stuck in the crannies that I need to clean out.
Work has been nuts. Lots of demo flights and people trying to kill me. Thus far, they have failed :)
Work has been nuts. Lots of demo flights and people trying to kill me. Thus far, they have failed :)
5/14/08
Don't pick up the phone!
Often times, we get a call at work that goes like this: "Hi, I'm Mr. Smith. I want to become an airline pilot, can you train me to fly an airliner?" At this point, I've lost interest.
First, do some research. You need to earn your Private Pilot Certificate. Then you need to earn your Instrument Rating. Then you need to earn your Commercial Pilot Certificate. Then finally, you need to earn your multi-engine certificate. Notice, I said EARN.
Second, you just don't show up for a 4 month class, and go off flying airliners. Airline training is 6-8 weeks long, that's about 2 MONTHS! And that is training highly experienced pilots to fly airliners, not going from welder to airline pilot. If you do flying full time, you will get your multi-engine commercial pilot's certificate in a year. That's working your ass off and doing 40 hours a week of aviation related stuff.
Third, this is going to take MONEY. I'm taking $30,000 or MORE. If you are making $25,000 a year as a welder or auto mechanic, that's more than a full years worth of savings! You might be able to get loans, but how to pay them back? You are now an inexperienced pilot and will make less than $25,000 a year for your first 5 years of flying.
Do you have a family? If so, how are you going to support them while you go full time flying? If you do it quickly, do you have the money saved up to support them even if the flying is paid with loans? Will you have time to do this 40 hours a week or will family obligations get in the way? Are you dedicated enough to keep at it?
If you are single, do you have the money to do this? Are you willing to dedicate the time and effort to doing this? I would put aviation as the equivalent of a masters degree. Are you willing to move to anyplace on the planet for a job?
I would say that less than 5% of the people who start on the path make it all the way. It's nowhere near as fun or glamorous as it sounds or looks from the outside. This week, I've been up at 7AM and getting home at 8PM from work. Oh, and the pay sucks.
I wouldn't want you to spend your life savings or emergency fund ($2,000 most likely) and then get nothing out of it, but I'll take your money because I need to pay rent. If you call me up and ask if we train people to fly airliners, you aren't serious about this and while I'll take your money, don't expect much.
First, do some research. You need to earn your Private Pilot Certificate. Then you need to earn your Instrument Rating. Then you need to earn your Commercial Pilot Certificate. Then finally, you need to earn your multi-engine certificate. Notice, I said EARN.
Second, you just don't show up for a 4 month class, and go off flying airliners. Airline training is 6-8 weeks long, that's about 2 MONTHS! And that is training highly experienced pilots to fly airliners, not going from welder to airline pilot. If you do flying full time, you will get your multi-engine commercial pilot's certificate in a year. That's working your ass off and doing 40 hours a week of aviation related stuff.
Third, this is going to take MONEY. I'm taking $30,000 or MORE. If you are making $25,000 a year as a welder or auto mechanic, that's more than a full years worth of savings! You might be able to get loans, but how to pay them back? You are now an inexperienced pilot and will make less than $25,000 a year for your first 5 years of flying.
Do you have a family? If so, how are you going to support them while you go full time flying? If you do it quickly, do you have the money saved up to support them even if the flying is paid with loans? Will you have time to do this 40 hours a week or will family obligations get in the way? Are you dedicated enough to keep at it?
If you are single, do you have the money to do this? Are you willing to dedicate the time and effort to doing this? I would put aviation as the equivalent of a masters degree. Are you willing to move to anyplace on the planet for a job?
I would say that less than 5% of the people who start on the path make it all the way. It's nowhere near as fun or glamorous as it sounds or looks from the outside. This week, I've been up at 7AM and getting home at 8PM from work. Oh, and the pay sucks.
I wouldn't want you to spend your life savings or emergency fund ($2,000 most likely) and then get nothing out of it, but I'll take your money because I need to pay rent. If you call me up and ask if we train people to fly airliners, you aren't serious about this and while I'll take your money, don't expect much.
5/3/08
Pilot Pay - the Realities
I get paid $13 an hour. Per flight or ground hour. Not a bad pay if you are figuring on doing 2,000 hours a year (as in a typical 9-5 job).
The problem comes in when you get down to the nuts and bolts. The typical lesson schedules 2 hours and I get paid for about 3/4ths of it. If it gets canceled due to weather, student reschedules, or any other reason, I get paid nothing. Any preparation/setup isn't typically paid.
For instance, let's take today: a 3 hour groundschool and a demo flight. A solid 4 hours of pay, I'm officially there from 9AM - 3:30PM (at the office 6 hours, 30 minutes). That neglects to mention I have to spend time coming up with lesson plans (90 minutes) before the groundschool (unpaid). So now we are from 7:30AM - 3:30PM, still the same 4 hours of pay. Then the demo flight canceled due to weather. And the person behind the desk tried to schedule me for a sightseeing flight. I can't do sightseeing flights (legal reasons, I'm not covered under the waiver). So I spend 2 hours trying to free up the demo flight from my schedule and put it on someone who can do demo flights.
So the final result was 7:30AM-3PM (7 hours, 30 minutes), and I get paid for 3 hours. Sadly, it doesn't get any better at the airlines or most charter companies. The only time pilots get paid is when they are flying, usually non-flight hours are not paid... It's very easy for pilots to end up working a 12+ hour day and get paid for under half of it.
And people wonder why pilots are fleeing from aviation jobs. With the skills and responsibilities that they have and the hours they work, they can easily make more as a manager of Burger King or another job that has less responsibilities and duties and requires less time.
At times I'm responsible for $100,000 worth of equipment and a million dollar insurance policy plus a 4 year degree and $30k worth of specialized training, do you think getting paid $25k a year is enough?
The problem comes in when you get down to the nuts and bolts. The typical lesson schedules 2 hours and I get paid for about 3/4ths of it. If it gets canceled due to weather, student reschedules, or any other reason, I get paid nothing. Any preparation/setup isn't typically paid.
For instance, let's take today: a 3 hour groundschool and a demo flight. A solid 4 hours of pay, I'm officially there from 9AM - 3:30PM (at the office 6 hours, 30 minutes). That neglects to mention I have to spend time coming up with lesson plans (90 minutes) before the groundschool (unpaid). So now we are from 7:30AM - 3:30PM, still the same 4 hours of pay. Then the demo flight canceled due to weather. And the person behind the desk tried to schedule me for a sightseeing flight. I can't do sightseeing flights (legal reasons, I'm not covered under the waiver). So I spend 2 hours trying to free up the demo flight from my schedule and put it on someone who can do demo flights.
So the final result was 7:30AM-3PM (7 hours, 30 minutes), and I get paid for 3 hours. Sadly, it doesn't get any better at the airlines or most charter companies. The only time pilots get paid is when they are flying, usually non-flight hours are not paid... It's very easy for pilots to end up working a 12+ hour day and get paid for under half of it.
And people wonder why pilots are fleeing from aviation jobs. With the skills and responsibilities that they have and the hours they work, they can easily make more as a manager of Burger King or another job that has less responsibilities and duties and requires less time.
At times I'm responsible for $100,000 worth of equipment and a million dollar insurance policy plus a 4 year degree and $30k worth of specialized training, do you think getting paid $25k a year is enough?
5/2/08
Stability and Flexibility
If you don't like being flexible, don't become a pilot. Your schedule changes on a whim. Planning 5 minutes in advance is planning for the future, planning an hour is long term planning.
I can't tell you the number of times my day has gone to shit and I've spent more time doing what wasn't on the plan for the day than what was on the plan.
I can't tell you the number of times my day has gone to shit and I've spent more time doing what wasn't on the plan for the day than what was on the plan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
