Success Stories from Employed Pilots.

January 7, 2011

I've opened up this thread so that people can share their successes in aviation so that those entering the field have a bit to raise our hopes and learn from. Personally every time I hear or read a story about someone spending their life savings and ending up without a job I grow more and more discouraged. Then I turn around to read and reread "Everything you've ever wanted to know about becoming a Helicopter Pilot" only to see that the people who do make it are not getting paid for it. I see choppers overhead everyday so clearly people are making it happen. We could all use a little encouragement and optimism, so if you are living your dream let us here about it!

Where did you start? How did you pay your way through? How did you land that first job? How did you advance in your career? What is the best part about pursuing your passion? Have you been able to establish yourself financially with a place to say? Do helicopters put food on your children's plates?

Everything and anything that you can give to inspire and encourage is greatly appreciated. I'm saying thanks in advance for all the posts I hope this will receive from the people who've seen the light at the end of the training/funding tunnel.

January 9, 2011

I've opened up this thread so that people can share their successes in aviation so that those entering the field have a bit to raise our hopes and learn from. Personally every time I hear or read a story about someone spending their life savings and ending up without a job I grow more and more discouraged. Then I turn around to read and reread "Everything you've ever wanted to know about becoming a Helicopter Pilot" only to see that the people who do make it are not getting paid for it. I see choppers overhead everyday so clearly people are making it happen. We could all use a little encouragement and optimism, so if you are living your dream let us here about it!

Where did you start? How did you pay your way through? How did you land that first job? How did you advance in your career? What is the best part about pursuing your passion? Have you been able to establish yourself financially with a place to say? Do helicopters put food on your children's plates?

Everything and anything that you can give to inspire and encourage is greatly appreciated. I'm saying thanks in advance for all the posts I hope this will receive from the people who've seen the light at the end of the training/funding tunnel.

Flew airplanes with my dad growing up.

Worked in telecom after college and started flying helos in 2003.

CFI in 2006.

Part time CFI-I on weekends to build time.

Full time ENG pilot (R-44) in 2009-2010.

Civilian Law Enforcement pilot 2010 in a B-407.

All without leaving my hometown! (not typical!)

I consider myself LUCKY to have come so far with a second career. With some perserverence and luck, my career has worked out great. Right place at the right time. Attitude is everything in this business!

January 10, 2011

Where did you start? How did you pay your way through? How did you land that first job? How did you advance in your career? What is the best part about pursuing your passion? Have you been able to establish yourself financially with a place to say? Do helicopters put food on your children's plates

Hello to everyone, it has been a great while since I have posted on here, but I saw this topic pop up and felt I would chim in, as it has been a long time coming since there really has been any inspirational words here. So here goes I hope my story helps! I'll try and keep it short

After many life changing experiences in 2007 I managed to begin my Flight Training in 2008. I was able to attend school full time and with the help of family was able to finance the entire 70K it was going to cost me. Little did I know the full dim outlook on the industry at that time. As we all know the demize of silver state in 08 occured just after i started and my hopes of becoming a fully employed CFI started to fall by the waiste side.

I flew ahead in my training and completed my commercial instrument rating in June of 08 and then moved on to my CFI. During which time, i worked as the recruiting officer and operations manager of the flight school. Granted it really comes down to attitude and work ethic but that started my full time position in the aviation industry. I also began working closely with the law enforcement agencies in the county and began flying LE Missions in the summer of 08 with as little as 150 hrs as the program was a beginning program, which grew month after month. By the end of 08 I was full time recruiter for the compnay and not flying very much at all.

April of 09 opened the opportunity to fly for a farm located here in the central valley that needed frost protection and they had a R44 that needed to be a pilot. Luck of the draw, sitting in the office answering phones was about to pay off. Over the next year i continued to fly corporate transport for the farm on a contract basis all the while still working full time as the flight school and flying about 75 to 80 hours a month, between flight instruction, charter flights and law enforcement.

April of 10 the company had offered me a full time position as the company pilot with little over 700hrs TT and have been flying non stop for the last 9 months. To say the least persistance, great attitude and hard work ethic paid off. From barely able to pay the bills in late 08 and single to married and kids in 2010 with all bills being paid and extra has been a blessing.

So, for those who read post after post of frustration there are those few that break into the industry. was i lucky, was i in the right place at the right time, did i know the right people, who is to say, but keep working your dreams will come true in time and when it does you will know all the struggle was worth it.

January 12, 2011

Flew airplanes with my dad growing up.
Worked in telecom after college and started flying helos in 2003.
CFI in 2006.
Part time CFI-I on weekends to build time.
Full time ENG pilot (R-44) in 2009-2010.
Civilian Law Enforcement pilot 2010 in a B-407.
All without leaving my hometown! (not typical!)

I consider myself LUCKY to have come so far with a second career. With some perserverence and luck, my career has worked out great. Right place at the right time. Attitude is everything in this business!

Wow! You never had to uproot yourself? That is great. How did you land that first CFI job and how did that get you to ENG and Law Enforcement? Thanks for the post!

January 12, 2011

Where did you start? How did you pay your way through? How did you land that first job? How did you advance in your career? What is the best part about pursuing your passion? Have you been able to establish yourself financially with a place to say? Do helicopters put food on your children's plates

Hello to everyone, it has been a great while since I have posted on here, but I saw this topic pop up and felt I would chim in, as it has been a long time coming since there really has been any inspirational words here. So here goes I hope my story helps! I'll try and keep it short

After many life changing experiences in 2007 I managed to begin my Flight Training in 2008. I was able to attend school full time and with the help of family was able to finance the entire 70K it was going to cost me. Little did I know the full dim outlook on the industry at that time. As we all know the demize of silver state in 08 occured just after i started and my hopes of becoming a fully employed CFI started to fall by the waiste side.

I flew ahead in my training and completed my commercial instrument rating in June of 08 and then moved on to my CFI. During which time, i worked as the recruiting officer and operations manager of the flight school. Granted it really comes down to attitude and work ethic but that started my full time position in the aviation industry. I also began working closely with the law enforcement agencies in the county and began flying LE Missions in the summer of 08 with as little as 150 hrs as the program was a beginning program, which grew month after month. By the end of 08 I was full time recruiter for the compnay and not flying very much at all.

April of 09 opened the opportunity to fly for a farm located here in the central valley that needed frost protection and they had a R44 that needed to be a pilot. Luck of the draw, sitting in the office answering phones was about to pay off. Over the next year i continued to fly corporate transport for the farm on a contract basis all the while still working full time as the flight school and flying about 75 to 80 hours a month, between flight instruction, charter flights and law enforcement.

April of 10 the company had offered me a full time position as the company pilot with little over 700hrs TT and have been flying non stop for the last 9 months. To say the least persistance, great attitude and hard work ethic paid off. From barely able to pay the bills in late 08 and single to married and kids in 2010 with all bills being paid and extra has been a blessing.

So, for those who read post after post of frustration there are those few that break into the industry. was i lucky, was i in the right place at the right time, did i know the right people, who is to say, but keep working your dreams will come true in time and when it does you will know all the struggle was worth it.

Thanks for taking the time to make the thoughtful response. I'm sure others will find it as encouraging as I have. It seems you did get a lucky break seeing that the local county law enforcement was just beginning to use choppers. None the less you did scope it out and pursue it, so was it really about luck or diligence? I imagine these types of "foot in the door" jobs are rare with such low hours. Your story shows that while they are rare, they are out there and people are actually getting them. I'm glad to see that you've had a good opportunity to enter and develop your career. Thanks again. Great post!

January 12, 2011

Funny, I just wrote something about that on Facebook the other night when I found my road map from earlier last year and I had to laugh about the craziness of ever entering this profession... This might sound grim and sarcastic to some of you. Probably because it is

The following description of what might or might not have happened on my journey to become a professional pilot after finishing CFI was a horrible experience back then. But now looking back at it this was probably the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life.

How to become a professional pilot in three simple steps

First:

Drive 5600 miles from the beaches to bright white glaciers and through the desert and back.

Talk to people. Get used to 5 setbacks a day. Shrugh your shoulders about 5 times a day, too. Up to Denver expect the phrase: "You know, the economy...". From Denver through Utah expect: "We require high density altitude flying time"

Enjoy Utah's scenery and hospitality. Buy a plane ticket, do not stop in Arizona (remember sentence #2), go straight to Florida.

Cry.

Second step:

Hear about a job on the border of Canada in the perpetual ice of Minnesota. Drive like a maniac, pass 25 places you've already visited in step one. Get some more "No's" on the way.

Arrive in the boonies, get a tour of the facility and do not wonder about the kindness. Hand in your resume. Do not believe the words "Oh sorry, I thought you're a prospective student! No, we don't have any jobs here...". Think about that unexpected kindness again, start to believe. Wait to become lunatic until you backed out the driveway. Become a lunatic. Get back to reality when your car makes weird noises 50mi away from civilisation.

Drive 2500mi to & back along the east coast, get nearly killed twice on icy roads and knock on 25 more doors. Get 23 more "No's", 1 "Maybe!" (never hear from them again) and 1 "F*CK OFF!".

Get snowed in on a mountain top in WV and try to stay sane while stuck. Decide that dying on icy roads might be better than becoming insane between hillbillys. Drive on, spend your birthday alone on a highway and treat yourself with all you can afford that day. That is: a burger with double cheese on it...

Get back home.

Cry some more.

Step Three:

Pack your bags, look for flights to the country you call home. Be cranky, go to bed late. Wake up 2 minutes past midnight, wondering who-for-f*cks-sake calls you at this godforbidden time! "We need somebody for our school in Minnesota!". Pinch your arm, wonder why you get called by a place that you've never visited on your tour in the middle of the night.

Get to bed again. Suffer from sudden insomnia. Get up, throw suitcases in your car, sleep 6 hrs and drive 1700mi the next day.

Work 6 weeks, be happy, make good money. Then work your way around the following problems until week 8: lose girlfriend to best friend, lose $1600 on a loan payback, lose your job, lose your home. Maintain sanity. Actually: F*ck it, you might lose that as well now! Lose sanity. Oh, and yes, you might wanna cry again...

Petrifiedly pack your bags and book a flight back home. Get this unexpected phone call from a friend, cancel your flight home, pack your car again, drive 1600mi to your new last-minute-job. 1600mi will become a mere commute soon.

Work as CFI, get send away 400mi to Pennsylvania, work something that is not being a CFI. Get asked to come back 400mi, fly all over the east coast and up to Vermont on a special project without a door but snow in the cockpit, survive, move to to Virginia again, spend one week there, get send to Steelers Country again where just came from. Spend christmas there working and go 400mi back to Virginia again after new years.

Life as a pilot can SO simple! Unbelievable!

The aftermath.

- After all wonder why none of the positions you filled was held by retiring Vietnam pilots before. Wonder if somebody tried to bullsh... but no, these aces from past decades are probably already really scarce these days and there is some serious demand. That must be why you never met one. Strange, yet everybody talks about it...

- Think: "My car looks like sh*t and needs a serious wash!" Wipe the dashboard and read off the odometer along the way. Realize that you just travelled once around the globe in under 11 month and moved 5 times in 9 month.

So, are you ready?

P.S: I saw a couple dozen flight schools all over this country and somewhere between the good, the bad and the ugly I met some of the finest men and women in this business. Let me take the opportunity real quick to thank three people that stood out the most on this trip: DP from Colorada Heli-Ops, Chad from Higher Ground Helos in Cinncinatti and Dudley Wright from Florida Helicopters. You guys were by far the most helpful and motivating people I met. It was a pleasure

That had to be said. And now enough of the pathos and back to work

January 13, 2011

Wow! You never had to uproot yourself? That is great. How did you land that first CFI job and how did that get you to ENG and Law Enforcement? Thanks for the post!

Nope. Was a part time CFI at the school I trained with. Flew for a private owner for a little bit when I had the time. I stayed on top of who was working where and made numerous contacts. I called the Chief Pilot for the ENG job and got on as a back up then took over when the full time guy left. The Law Enforcement was an intense hiring process. I applied just like everyone else and performed well. Making contacts and having a great attitude is how you will excel in this business.