$50k to $69.9k spent to make $50k

[nicepants]

Hey All,

I have been behind on my e newletter reading from Vertical Mag. I ran across this artical tonight. Bristow is saying they will need about 900-1000 new pilots the next 5 years!

 

Perfect timing for me ;-)

[dogdaddy]

It doesn't matter what the hell happens, will happen, or happened in your "career". We're all here because we love to fly the fling-wings.

That's what we have to keep in mind. Is this what we love to do? If so then we must be willing to accept the birdsh*t and whatever else goes along with it. No job is all fun and all glamor all the time, and maybe this is what Fry wants us to take into consideration. Hopefully there are enough good things to offset the undesirable things. But when it's no longer fun at all then maybe it's time to make a change.

[Crusty Old Dude]

That's what we have to keep in mind. Is this what we love to do? If so then we must be willing to accept the birdsh*t and whatever else goes along with it. No job is all fun and all glamor all the time, and maybe this is what Fry wants us to take into consideration. Hopefully there are enough good things to offset the undesirable things. But when it's no longer fun at all then maybe it's time to make a change.

Dunno. Sometimes Fry strikes me as the type that decides to leave a certain religion, and then goes on a crusade against it...calling it a cult, etc. It's not enough that one person decides that they're not willing to make the sacrafices and "do what they love" for whatever is being paid. Some feel it their personal responsability to talk everyone else out of it, too.

 

You could do the same for the teaching profession, ANY public service, nursing, you name it. There are so many near-thankless professions that don't pay nearly enough for the service being rendered. It's just that this profession costs more than others to enter.

 

But it's funny how someone doesn't look at an engineer who spends $40-50,000 in student debt to become an EE who takes that first job at $38-42,000 with a 'big company' as a big deal. That person will also work 2-3 years, and will most likely hop a few companies to boost that salary before getting into the 70-90,000 that many engineers think they're going to make. Add to that the fact that engineers dwell in stuffy cubicle spaces and sometimes work some da@n long hours for that money.

 

I'm just saying that Fry might need to take a long, hard look at his motivations for being here. He looks as if he's on a crusade to me, but I don't get what his stake is here.

[auto360]

Posted at JH by !!!!!!!!!!:

 

I only lasted 6 weeks in the GOM

 

I'ts the most humiliating job i have ever had in aviation, living in a trailer, or in offshore in sea shack, doing boring flying over water all day, smelling bird sh*t, having to do engine rinses and sometimes wash the aircraft after a days flying, working in extreme heat, and all for what ever stupid little salary you will get in the GOM, I can see a up to the neck SSH graduate with 50k in debt doing it because he has no choice but I can't imagine why would grown man with some self respect throwing away half of his life in there. Think about it before you head out there, it's a bottom of the scale job.

 

 

Wow! I may be new to helicopters but not to life. How old is Fry? If he's 22 yrs old then maybe he just hasn't learned life lessons. Such as the lesson about doing a little research before jumping into something. I mean the comment about flying over water. Umm, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Gulf of Mexico covered with water. Shouldn't have been much of a shocker. Heat..down south in the summer? You don't say! If your going to spend 50-60 G's on training you might as well spend a little on job research. I delt with people like this guy in my last job and the only thing I can say is stay away from them. Hope Mcdonalds doesn't serve him any hot coffee!

[fry]

"Are we really Gypsy's"

 

http://originalforum.justhelicopters.com/D...M=516819#516819

[mechanic]

Is this the "Best" link you can come up with lately??

 

2 replies wow, everyone quit your fight training right now! I mean it. Fry has said so.... Or, he will tell the heli fairy to not grant your wish of being a pilot.

 

 

 

I guess I am a Gypsy mechanic for moving from job to job. Umm let me count. I have been out of school for 20 yrs.. I have tried 18 jobs!!! lol, yes if in 3-6 months the jobs sucked, I was gone..

 

Later

[ADRidge]

Okay so the industry has its downfalls. What industry doesn't? Honestly, I'd rather put up with what people talk about in the GoM or ENG or EMS or whatever as opposed to getting a nicer paycheck, dreading the drive to work every day and the tedious herding of cats that is management.

 

But then again, I am young and dumb.

[tvman345]

Will this thread please die....

[mechanic]

Will this thread please die....

 

Seriously,

I agree with tvman345.

[captkirkyota]

My .02 on this and Fry:

 

Sure conditions are not perfect in the GOM or any job for that matter, period.

 

Fry, yes he seems a bit geared toward seeing the negative side of things, maybe that is just how it is over the net and his helo experiences, BUT, that is him and I actually like the frequent "reality" checks he provides, I look past the negative tone in which his texts seems to read and look at the info. His thorn over SSH kept me from making the SSH mistake, I saw some of his stuff here and other places after I had gone to a SSH seminar and because of him I learned a lot of info and chose another school. Also, he made me REALLY think LOOOOONG and HARD!!!!! about choosing this career, I left a 150k a year job to do this, so my wife and I sat many times and really looked into the nomadic part, the pay, the climate of some of the areas etc because she has MS and weather can be a factor in how good or bad she does, we did about 18 different budgets, cutting here and there and evaluating if we really needed that or was it really a luxury we thought we needed etc etc.

I personally think that 99% of us and prospective pilots will not be dissuaded by his posts, but rather just get us on the path of reality sooner and cause us to start preparing as it did for me, so we will not be so discouraged when the "romance" period begins to taper off. The other 1% that he does end up causing to not be a pilot, he has done them a big financial favor and the rest of us a favor in keeping our chosen profession filled with the "right" kind of kindred spirit people.

So from my point of view, thanks Fry for being so gung hoe, however it came about. If you are the kind of person that sees all of life so negatively, I sure hope that will change for you, if it is only your crusade with regard to SSH and the helo industry because you got burned, please share with us what you learned so we can take measures to ensure that your lesson was not in vain and we can avoid the same fate.

Anyway, that is how I see it, hope this helps some to see things in a different light, if not you can flame away at me too.

Later,

Kirk.

Edited July 28, 2007 by captkirkyota

[jehh]

What fry fails to understand is that becoming a professional helicopter pilot is not about the money. Yes you can earn a decent paycheck, even into the low six figures if you really work at it...

 

However, that isn't, and shouldn't be the primary motivator. It does explain why someone might spend $70K for flight training (or $750/month for 15 years), however it doesn't explain why they would leave a $150K year job for this.

 

Flying is fun, sitting in a cubical is not. That point is something that fry either has missed, or does not care about. If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. I encourage everyone to take an intro flight first, usually you know for sure one way or another if this is for you. If not, take 5 hours of lessons, get a larger perspective, then reevaluate from there.

 

Fly safe everyone, and watch for the wires...

[tsw77]

posted at JH by !!!!!!!!!!:

 

I only lasted 6 weeks in the GOM

 

I'ts the most humiliating job i have ever had in aviation, living in a trailer, or in offshore in sea shack, doing boring flying over water all day, smelling bird sh*t, having to do engine rinses and sometimes wash the aircraft after a days flying, working in extreme heat, and all for what ever stupid little salary you will get in the GOM, I can see a up to the neck SSH graduate with 50k in debt doing it because he has no choice but I can't imagine why would grown man with some self respect throwing away half of his life in there. Think about it before you head out there, it's a bottom of the scale job.

 

I don't know who the original author is, but he sounds like a pretty boy that doesn't like to get dirty. The job scale that I use to measure starts with cleaning smeared crap off of bathroom stall walls, while customers walked by and watched, holding their nose and shaking their head at me, all for 4.35/hr(amusement park), then a little up from that would be cleaning the deep fryers every Sunday morning(Arby's), then a little up from that would be delivering bags of ice in 10 degree weather in Michigan, and then somewhere in the middle of my scale is being an auto technician (my last 7 years of employment)

 

So if I get to be so lucky when I am qualified, I'll be calling home and bragging to my family and friends about flying over the Gulf of Mexico, and thanking God for my dream come true. It all just depends on what you use as a point of reference.