Training, where the fun begins.
Ahhh the brain. I haven't really had to use it in a while. I haven't really had to study hard since Lear training last summer and even that was a joke. I got pretty tired of the instructor saying "works good, lasts long time" when I tried to ask some systems questions.
Part 121 is a whole new ballgame as far as training goes. I can plan on the ground portion taking 4 weeks. Sims to take 2 and OE another week and a half. In total, I can expect to be training for 2 months, ugh! Its a really long time to be away from Erin and the Squirt, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that'll allow them to come visit once or twice. Thanks to all the points and miles I've racked up over the last year or so, I have a few nights worth of hotels, a few airline tix and even enough for a car rental, so having them come down to see me wont cost a ton of $$.
During college I was a big fan of "C's get degrees". I only applied myself when I absolutely needed to or just plain felt like it. It worked. I graduated......eventually. If it were up to me, I woulda stayed longer cause I had such a good time, but the parental units said "enough is enough". Back to the original topic of using the brain. I actually enjoy using my brain on occasion. Especially when the better I do at something, the quicker I'll get some sort of reward out of it. Kinda childish, but its how I operate. I figure the harder I work in ground school, the better I'll do, then hopefully in a few months when I bid for Captain, they'll remember how good I was and I'll get awarded the upgrade. Besides, I love being a good pilot. I take pride in my flying abilities and owe it to myself and the people riding behind me to be the best at my chosen profession.
Well its back to the books. Have an FOM test to study for, then I need to memorize about 15 pages of limitations, 4 pages of memory items, read somewhere around 1500 pages of materials that need to be permanently burned into my memory, learn my new plane inside and out, every system, light bulb and switch, every regulation and then I'll finally go get to fly a simulator. All for an annual salary of $13,800 after taxes!!!! Yeah baby!!! Welcome to the big leagues!!!!
Part 121 is a whole new ballgame as far as training goes. I can plan on the ground portion taking 4 weeks. Sims to take 2 and OE another week and a half. In total, I can expect to be training for 2 months, ugh! Its a really long time to be away from Erin and the Squirt, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that'll allow them to come visit once or twice. Thanks to all the points and miles I've racked up over the last year or so, I have a few nights worth of hotels, a few airline tix and even enough for a car rental, so having them come down to see me wont cost a ton of $$.
During college I was a big fan of "C's get degrees". I only applied myself when I absolutely needed to or just plain felt like it. It worked. I graduated......eventually. If it were up to me, I woulda stayed longer cause I had such a good time, but the parental units said "enough is enough". Back to the original topic of using the brain. I actually enjoy using my brain on occasion. Especially when the better I do at something, the quicker I'll get some sort of reward out of it. Kinda childish, but its how I operate. I figure the harder I work in ground school, the better I'll do, then hopefully in a few months when I bid for Captain, they'll remember how good I was and I'll get awarded the upgrade. Besides, I love being a good pilot. I take pride in my flying abilities and owe it to myself and the people riding behind me to be the best at my chosen profession.
Well its back to the books. Have an FOM test to study for, then I need to memorize about 15 pages of limitations, 4 pages of memory items, read somewhere around 1500 pages of materials that need to be permanently burned into my memory, learn my new plane inside and out, every system, light bulb and switch, every regulation and then I'll finally go get to fly a simulator. All for an annual salary of $13,800 after taxes!!!! Yeah baby!!! Welcome to the big leagues!!!!
posted by Windsor at 12:00 PM
2 Comments:
Windsor,
now that you have seen what you've seen. What recommendations would you offer to someone that wants to switch to avaiation as a career? I am 32, college grad, and 2 hours in the log book. After coming across your blog i got excited thinking that freight is a good way to build hours and maybe move on to regionals. What might you offer to a guy such as myself?
jbail
jbail,
Honestly, I'd stick with whatever career you have chosen to pay the bills and fly for fun. In your situation, if you really wanted to make a career out of flying, go to a bridge program like All ATP or Jet-U and spend the money to earn your ratings as quickly as possible. People graduating from those programs are getting hired straight out of class and into the regionals. Forget freight, it takes too much time to build the hours required to fly under part 135. You'd need 1200 total time for boxes, yet 250 total time to fly pax. Good luck.
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