The glass wall
In the corporate world there is a saying out there that a glass ceiling is in place for women and minorities that keeps them from climbing the corporate ladder past a certain position. While that may be true yet extremely hard to prove, there IS a "Glass Wall" in aviation.
The glass wall I am referring to pertains to pilot hiring. It can sometimes be very difficult to find a corporate aviation job after being an airline pilot. Airline pilots get labeled with the "Airline Stink", that means that once an airline job is on your resume' it will stink it up and drop your application into the circular file (garbage can).
The glass wall didn't get erected due to the pilots having poor skills or lack of ability, it was put into place to protect employers from less than ethical pilots. When the airlines hit rough times, the first thing to go are the "highly paid, under worked" pilots. These out-of-work pilots need jobs, so they scour the corporate companies to find jobs. Those that are lucky enough to find a possible job usually have to be trained in on the plane they they are going to be flying. Training costs the companies money. Lots of money. For example, a type rating on a Gulfstream V can run upwards of $30,000. That's a lot of money to invest in an employee. These pilots would get hired on at their new company, complete their training, fly for a month or two then get recalled by their airline. These less than ethical pilots would then jump ship back to their airline leaving the company in the dust eating all those training costs they just paid for. This scenario has played out many times at many different companies, hence the erecting of the glass wall. Being a furloughed airline pilot is a big black mark on your record in most corporate aviation circles.
I'm beginning to wonder if the airline stink is going to apply to me in the future? I've never ruled out a nice corporate job as a career job, but is being an airline pilot now going to hinder my job prospects in the future? I guess time will tell.
On a side note. Life is good. I'm getting used to being poor, yet having 15-17 days off a month. Commuting is getting tough due to all the cutbacks, but we're managing. Thanks to Obama-hood spreading the wealth around, we bought a house and put the $8000 tax credit to good work paying off the wifes car and replenishing our savings. Its awesome to finally be a home owner. Hopefully soon I'll get to some line flying stories, but the flying has been pretty boring lately.
The glass wall I am referring to pertains to pilot hiring. It can sometimes be very difficult to find a corporate aviation job after being an airline pilot. Airline pilots get labeled with the "Airline Stink", that means that once an airline job is on your resume' it will stink it up and drop your application into the circular file (garbage can).
The glass wall didn't get erected due to the pilots having poor skills or lack of ability, it was put into place to protect employers from less than ethical pilots. When the airlines hit rough times, the first thing to go are the "highly paid, under worked" pilots. These out-of-work pilots need jobs, so they scour the corporate companies to find jobs. Those that are lucky enough to find a possible job usually have to be trained in on the plane they they are going to be flying. Training costs the companies money. Lots of money. For example, a type rating on a Gulfstream V can run upwards of $30,000. That's a lot of money to invest in an employee. These pilots would get hired on at their new company, complete their training, fly for a month or two then get recalled by their airline. These less than ethical pilots would then jump ship back to their airline leaving the company in the dust eating all those training costs they just paid for. This scenario has played out many times at many different companies, hence the erecting of the glass wall. Being a furloughed airline pilot is a big black mark on your record in most corporate aviation circles.
I'm beginning to wonder if the airline stink is going to apply to me in the future? I've never ruled out a nice corporate job as a career job, but is being an airline pilot now going to hinder my job prospects in the future? I guess time will tell.
On a side note. Life is good. I'm getting used to being poor, yet having 15-17 days off a month. Commuting is getting tough due to all the cutbacks, but we're managing. Thanks to Obama-hood spreading the wealth around, we bought a house and put the $8000 tax credit to good work paying off the wifes car and replenishing our savings. Its awesome to finally be a home owner. Hopefully soon I'll get to some line flying stories, but the flying has been pretty boring lately.
posted by Windsor at 10:06 AM
1 Comments:
The candor is refreshing and the insight incredible! Thanks. I am a new CFI and planning to teach full time after I retire from my high school teaching position. A young pilot should have a clear picture of the road ahead. A less then a fully committed person should possibly reconsider a career flying and leave it as a great hobby. – Bill
Ps. I podcast about flying – www.tftfd.com
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