Yuki Posted February 11, 2008 Posted February 11, 2008 Hi there, I am new to the forum and the industry. Working on changing my carrier (just started) from VP of design in a large toy company to a commercial pilot. What's the industry insight? How is this industry going to look like in two/three years from now? I can't wait... ThanX, Yuval Quote
BOATFIXERGUY Posted February 11, 2008 Posted February 11, 2008 Welcome to the forum. If you do a search on the subject, you'll find what you need. The topic has been discussed at length several times over the last month. Best of luck. Quote
zemogman Posted February 11, 2008 Posted February 11, 2008 Welcome... A search on this site is a great idea, the "career change" topic is common. I even have a post from last year when I was in your shoes also... What I have gathered in my short time in the training end of the industry and from this site and other research is the following: 1. Be prepared to invest a decent chunk of change.2. Be prepared to take a huge salary cut if you plan to CFI full time after CPL to gain experience and hours if not revert to #1.3. Be prepared to "take the long road" to a career change if you need your current salary level if you are not going to do #2; this means you will still continue with #1.3. Be prepared to re-locate for your first position and possibly your future positions once you are done with #2 or #3 or revert to more of #1.4. Be prepared to reach your goal of CPL and still not be hireable. (not trying to be negative, just realistic... this is the one that bugs me the most)5. Be prepared to invest even more money to accumulate hours to reach the magic "1000" unless you choose #2.6. Be prepared for some of the most memoable moments of your life in spite of #'s 1 thru 6. I have come to terms (for now) that the "career change" for me may or may not come to pass because I have a large family to support and cannot live on a CFI's salary. However, for now I will fly as a PPL (soon to be licensed) and see were that road takes me. My plan is to log hours any way I can as time goes by. I'm assuming that you earn a nice living as a VP of design, and I don't really know your family status. Pilots make decent money but the up front investment is costly and leaves you way short of "hireable". All that being said... I believe anything can be done, but reality is what must be dealt with. Flying (about 40hrs of training as of now) has been amazing and the 13K (more or less) thus far has been well worth it. I figure I'll spend the money somewhere in life...I might as well spend it on what I love. Hope this helps... Mando Quote
Yuki Posted February 11, 2008 Author Posted February 11, 2008 Hi Mando, Appreciate you insight. I know it is not easy to get to the 1k level, however, I am adament about the change. How close R U to finish the PPL? What state are u in? ThanX, Yuval Welcome... A search on this site is a great idea, the "career change" topic is common. I even have a post from last year when I was in your shoes also... What I have gathered in my short time in the training end of the industry and from this site and other research is the following: 1. Be prepared to invest a decent chunk of change.2. Be prepared to take a huge salary cut if you plan to CFI full time after CPL to gain experience and hours if not revert to #1.3. Be prepared to "take the long road" to a career change and need your current salary level; if you are not going to do #2 and this means you will continue with #1.3. Be prepared to re-locate for your first position and possibly your future positions once you are done with #2 or #3 or revert to more of #1.4. Be prepared to reach your goal of CPL and still not be hireable. (not trying to be negative, just realistic... this is the one that bugs me the most)5. Be prepared to invest even more money to accumulate hours to reach the magic "1000" unless you choose #2.6. Be prepared for some of the most memoable moments of your life in spite of #'s 1 thru 6. I have come to terms (for now) that the "career change" for me may or may not come to pass because I have a large family to support and cannot live on a CFI's salary. However, for now I will fly as a PPL (soon to be licensed) and see were that road takes me. My plan is to log hours any way I can as time goes by. I'm assuming that you earn a nice living as a VP of design, and I don't really know your family status. Pilots make decent money but the up front investment is costly and leaves you way short of "hireable". All that being said... I believe anything can be done, but reality is what must be dealt with. Flying (about 40hrs of training as of now) has been amazing and the 13K (more or less) thus far has been well worth it. I figure I'll spend the money somewhere in life...I might as well spend it on what I love. Hope this helps... Mando Quote
zemogman Posted February 11, 2008 Posted February 11, 2008 How close R U to finish the PPL? What state are u in? Yuval, I'm in Miami, FL and I'm 9 1/2 hours of solo flight away from PPL, and the the FAA check-ride and written test of course. I haven't flown in a couple months due to a credit line pay-off issue (long-story) but I begin again at the end of this week (God willing). I'll probably refresh with the CFI for 2 or 3 hours and then continue with my solo time... Have you taken an Intro Flight yet? What have you done to "start" your career change? Mando Quote
Yuki Posted February 11, 2008 Author Posted February 11, 2008 Mando, I have 7 hours already...(I am taking 4 sessions per week). I have a friend with a 44, so, whenever I can, I fly with him. I'm in LA, flying with Ken Obi at Orbic Helicopters in Camarillo, CA. Small school, great instructor. Seems like u have the passion to complete, so, u will. By the way, How was the first solo? Yuval Yuval, I'm in Miami, FL and I'm 9 1/2 hours of solo flight away from PPL, and the the FAA check-ride and written test of course. I haven't flown in a couple months due to a credit line pay-off issue (long-story) but I begin again at the end of this week (God willing). I'll probably refresh with the CFI for 2 or 3 hours and then continue with my solo time... Have you taken an Intro Flight yet? What have you done to "start" your career change? Mando Quote
Goldy Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 I have a friend with a 44, Now thats a friend I would keep ! I fly up to CMA a couple times a month for breakfast. Does Ken teach up there in the R22 or the 300 ? Good luck on your flying...and dont let it bother you if you cant land the 44 for awhile....I still cant. Goldy Quote
Yuki Posted February 12, 2008 Author Posted February 12, 2008 HI Goldy, ThanX. Ken teaches on all the below 22, 44 and 300. Was he your instructure as well? What type of heli do u fly? Yuval Quote
ADRidge Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 Glad to see you're starting down the road. There are a few things I wish I'd known about aviation, and flight schools when I started, but they're all fairly minor. For whatever reason, it seemed like ground school was harder for me than college was. I think it's because I hadn't been around aviation in any real capacity before and was coming in fairly "daisy fresh", if you will. Your situation is probably different, but at school I've had weeks of flight canceled because my ship is down for a 100/500, followed by bad wx the next day, followed by "oh a student spread the skids last hour, so it's a no go" blah blah blah. It adds up, and there will be times you just feel it's not for you. Right before I started the solo phase of private, I had about two weeks where I hated flying, because I just couldn't do a damned normal approach to save my life. Or I'd get the normals, but forget how to do a takeoff without jiggling the collective around, or this or that or the other. But now I'm about two to four hours from my PPL, and it gets better every day. I love getting out there and doing my pattern solos, to be honest. I've got some buddies who get intimidated when the CFI isn't in there weighing down the ship, but if I can get to fly around for an hour and be 200lbs lighter, you'd better believe I'll jump at the chance to pull Max Continuous Power in my climb and just count the seconds to get up to 500 feet. That's the only real hot-dogging I do, which isn't any different than doing 700' patterns for 180 autos. "THE" Helicopter industry isn't really one giant industry, but an offshoot of whatever larger industry the helicopter serves. Gulf of Mexico is looking alright, although at the moment it seems there's a glut of pilots. Many will probably decide they can't stand south Louisiana and move on to greener pastures, but many more will stay to get a couple of thousand hours and move on to EMS or whatever. EMS, from what I hear, is doing fairly well but I'm hearing some complaints about low pay in an already low-paying field. I don't know too much about Electronic News Gathering, Long-lining, Corporate/VIP or Law Enforcement related fields, but that's more how I'd look at "The" helicopter industry. One side could flourish while another flounders. The more you read and research, the more questions you'll have. Welcome to Aviation. I personally love it and wouldn't change a thing at this point in my life. Quote
goromadgo Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 Mando, I have 7 hours already...(I am taking 4 sessions per week). I have a friend with a 44, so, whenever I can, I fly with him. I'm in LA, flying with Ken Obi at Orbic Helicopters in Camarillo, CA. Small school, great instructor. Seems like u have the passion to complete, so, u will. By the way, How was the first solo? Yuval Yuval, Camarillo is my hometown and I was thinking of moving back after I get out to train in the area. How do you like Orbic's? Quote
zemogman Posted February 14, 2008 Posted February 14, 2008 By the way, How was the first solo? It was mind-boggling and quite adventurous... I practically wrote a short story about it on this forum... If you have a minute (or five) you can search for my post about it... The title was "First Solo" (I think) See ya... Mando Quote
slick1537 Posted February 14, 2008 Posted February 14, 2008 If I had one piece of advice for someone else. I would say choose a school is Florida or somewhere with good weather. A lot of schools say they will train you to fly in, "real world weather" I think that is crap. I am scheduled 3 days a week, and I usually only fly one, all because its either 2 windy, or other bad conditions. It is has been this way for the past few months since weather started getting cold. Quote
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