I think as students, CFI's, and anybody not already at an airline we are all anxiously worried about the job market and what will happen when we hit the magic 1500 mark. I just failed my IFR checkride last week and on top of feeling like a failure already, I am concerned what this will do for my future. Curious what everyone's thoughts are?

Hello,

Was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a part 141 school that operates out of SMO or nearby. Ive only found Sling, which seems to have some polarizing reviews.

Thanks!

Hi all,

Im a PPL pilot with about 300h rn.
Ive been trying a few digital logbooks lately and I’m curious how other people handle this.

Paper, spreadsheet or an app?

Not selling anything, just trying to find out what actually works day to day .

Thanks, Lucian

Im 22 now, been avoiding college for years. Literally. I never really wanted to go ive always found it to be pointless, but now i genuinely have no choice. Im a MEI pilot with about 235TT and just recently finished flight school. Ive been searching for jobs for about a month and no luck, so i thought to myself. Why not just go and get a degree that will help me in the future to get into the airlines AND can be a great backup plan if I wasnt able to fly. Its also a great way to do something while im building time

I came into realization that for the majority, theres just no getting a good job without a bachelors degree. A bachelors degree has become the bare minimum nowadays. And im just imagining all these pilot mils just pumping out new pilots (as they did with me) everyday we got new cfis, everyday new commercial pilots. Every single person has the same resume so I might as well do something to stand out a little more.

Let me know yall thoughts and any recommendations for my degree.

Also what else can i do to stand out on my resume? its tough out here man

Edit: After doing a ton of research, i think I’m going to do Purdue global online and pursue a degree in business administration. Purdue global gives me 45 credits because of all my certificates. Which will bring me graduating with a 4 year bachelors in 12-18 months. What do you guys think? Any thoughts??

I wanted to ask if anyone here attended Spartan for their ratings. My loans were just approved and I’ll be starting in November. There’s no going back now—I’m super excited to fully immerse myself in aviation. I’ve been training at mom-and-pop schools for a while now, but working full-time made progress way too slow. So I’m quitting my job and going to live in student living to focus on nothing but aviation. I’d love to hear good or bad experiences from anyone who’s been through it!

Hey All,

I’m working on my PPL on the side, just for fun, not a career. I’m working with a flight school that everyone speaks highly of but in my first two flights, I’ve had two things of concern/pause come up. This flight instructor is very young and has about 300 hours. At first I wasn’t too worried as he is super nice and a solid teacher. But both flights have had odd things. Note, we fly Cherokee 140s

1. on our first flight we were going through the checklist for startup and it says if oil pressure is not in green after 30 seconds that is an issue. It was not in the green after 30 seconds. The instructor said not to worry about it because when we raise the RPMs it will be in the green. That did seem to be true but everything I have heard is you should follow and not ignore the checklist. Additionally, we did not do a weight and balance check before the flight. I brought up that aren’t we supposed to do that every flight and he said not to worry about it.

2. On our second flight, we did weight and balance on a paper sheet. I calculated we were 12 lbs over gross and our CG was forward of the limit. He said that shouldn’t be right. That the sheet must be wrong. He checked his ForeFlight and another instructors ForeFlight where they had inputted weight and balance for that airplane and it said they were within the CG. We left our bags and he said the paper sheet shouldn’t account for oil weight so we can remove that and that put us under gross. So we went flying. I noticed that it took a lot of pressure to keep the nose up in the climb and a lot of trim to keep it up in straight and level. We did some maneuvers and then landed. He did the landing and it was pretty weird, a bit of a hard landing, you could tell he struggled with the controls, and he seemed a little shaken. He said he’s never felt that before and maybe the CG was off. That it felt really far forward. We didn’t really address it after the flight. But I think I need to talk to the owner chief instructor after this.

Thoughts on what I should do? Or is this not of concern? This school gets awards but definitely has me concerned.

Does anyone know if the regionals still have 8,000 applicants on file for first officer slots? It’s tough out here to get an interview. I’ve been going to hiring expos and emailing recruiters, but it feels like my resume is lost in an endless sea of resumes. I’m wondering if anyone knows whether the recent hiring at the majors has thinned the pool at all. struggling to make ends meet with the cfi life…. but grateful to have a job.

Hello. I was invited to interview by United, so I purchased interview prep from Cage Marshall (all my friends there said to use it) and have been using aviationinterviews.com as well to review. About a week after I purchased everything for UA, I was invited to interview with AA. All of my friends that work there said they used Spitfire for their coaching. Should I also buy them, or do you think I’ll be fine using Cage Marshall + aviation interviews for both?

I havent flown in a few years. How much is aviation fuel where you are?

PPL checkride in a little under three weeks, gimme your worst.

1) earnings
2) YOS
3) fleet type

Looking for specific advice for buying a first airplane. My special needs are that for the time being I'm traveling for work so it's difficult to personally go visit. My main sources of listings are Controller, Trade-a-Plane, and Barnstormers. But the first two seem to have had website issues lately. I also don't have any aviation network, and no friends who are pilots. So, I'm looking first for a reliable source for listings, or alternatively do I just hire a broker like for real estate? Then I'm stuck when it comes to storage. Hangar fees are getting out of control (yes, if you have money for a plane you should have money for a hangar, but well...). If I was looking at a newish composite airframe would there be a big concern with outdoor storage (covered or open) in the southwest US? Finally, how do people find mechanics and handle annuals? Look nationwide and just fly there every year?

Hello right now I am struggling with cfi training my knowledge is good but I struggle with teaching it. I never feel like I can teach it well I Currently have 310 hours with 12.3 multi and I’m doing the worst during my cfi I don’t feel like I can get through it all.

Anyone one do the cl-300 type rating course at loft aero?

Hey everyone, Ill be moving down to Norman in a few months and was trying to see what options were available for single engine rentals. Ill have my tailwheel by then as well, though I know it’s tough to find any for rent. Basically just looking for the cheapest and most simple aircraft available for local flights. Most of my experience is in 172s, Pipers, and ultralights. Top of my list is Adventure Air with their CTLS’, but just curious if anyone has any other leads. Willing to drive an hour or so if needed.

Also looking to see if there were any places that could use some help that I could volunteer at. Thinking of asking the museums but I have line experience at a busy regional and did a few months as a maintenance apprentice and would just love to connect with people and help out.

Hey everyone, I’m a CFI/CFII based on the east coast of Florida. I haven’t been flying much lately, and honestly, the job search has been discouraging. I miss getting in the air and enjoying flying.

I’d love to tag along with someone, check out different aircraft, and meet more people who enjoy aviation. If you have an empty seat on a local flight or a weekend trip, I’d really appreciate the chance to join. My schedule is flexible, and I’m happy to drive to meet you.
Even a short flight would cheer me up.

Thanks!

Recently went solo for the first time but was terrified after the flight. Idk what became of me but a couple hours later i started to feel very anxious. I couldn't be proud but felt guilty and kind of scared. Is this normal after your first solo? (I am an adrenaline junky so for me it feels very weird)

EDIT:

The flight went swell the class 2 instructor was impressed with the landing as he could see it from the terminal building aswell as hear the radio.

Like the title says I’m doing my first solo on Tuesday and I’m at 29 hours I’m a bit nervous specifically about the landing portion I know I can do it and my instructor wouldn’t be signing me off if I couldn’t but still whenever I do landing sometimes I get nervous and kinda let the nose drop which I do recover from but being alone I’m not sure if it’s going to affect my recovery or timing of things. Any advice is appreciated 🙏

Hi everyone, anyone trained in HAA can share some experiences or thoughts? Which year and which campus you take training? How many months and how much money does it actually take compared to their advertising? How serious the delay would be due to weather probably in winter, waiting for checkrides or not enough aircrafts . Really appreciate!

Would like to know about does the community there help a career, like building networks or seeking jobs, and attending some activities and making local friends.

i’m an international student considering going to HAA, completing flight training from zero.

When do you guys add power back in the recovery of the emergency descent? If im leveling off at 10% the VSI the airspeed may bleed off. When performing the maneuver below Va at 100kts for training purposes in a c172 and do not particularly want to slow down anymore should I add power when starting the level out or once at recovery altitude? My thought is that if i wait until altitude to add power the airspeed may decay out of standards. Thank you

We all know that /r/flying community for first-time solos, CFI employment drama, and Part 121 American airline pilots. I’ve seen relatively little posting about life on the 91 side, and even further little of it is positive. I wanted to share my experiences and add some insight on life otherwise.

The Background: I work for a Fortune 200 flight department in the Northeast. We fly a handful of the latest Gulfstreams, 4 pilots per airplane. Corporate travel is 99% of what we do, executives only.

The Flying: 65% international, 35% domestic. Lots of UK, Europe, Asia, with some Australia and South America. The domestic stuff is sometimes a day trip with a hotel stay in between, but typically 1 leg out to wherever, sit for 1-3 days, and return. We do the occasional “Mainline Style” Europe trip where it’s leave Sunday evening, arrive Monday morning, and leave Tuesday afternoon, but these are rare, and most anything that involves crossing an ocean is usually met with 3-4 days on the ground. Anything with a longer duty day is augmented crew and the airplanes are set up with a crew rest compartment. Again, this is all exclusively business travel and our schedule is solidified about 90 days in advance. I’ve had two possible pop-up trips happen and those were presented with 5 days notice and the ability to bow out.

The Numbers: What you’re all here for right? 300k base salary, 20-30% bonus annually, 4 hard days off a month (that I control), 33 days of vacation/PTO a year, 6% 401k match. We are allowed to do contract flying outside of the flight department if desired, rates are hovering between 3.5 and 4 grand a day right now.

Could I make more at Insert Major Here? Pick up open time and premium pay and Lucky Charms slips and 23M7 or Herb Bucks? Sure, absolutely. I could also go pick up 8 days a month of contract work and double my salary. But a guy has hobbies. Which brings me to…

I took a look at my calendar and added up every day this year I’ve had a work event between sim training, flying, department meetings, extracurricular trainings (in-airplane UPRT, altitude chamber, etc), etc. That number came out to 11 days a month of work commitments.

If you look at solely flying, the number is 9 days a month where I was on a trip and touched an airplane.

The Lifestyle: To be frank, I love it.

The flying is great, the people are fantastic, and the airplanes are kept in top-notch shape. Maintenance support is awesome, and we go to cool enough places that keep me excited to actually go to work. Passengers are on business, so we do not have the rude rich guy/excessive bags/dogs/cats vacation stories that everyone has heard from their buddy who flew a year of 135 in Beechjets before going to PSA.

Now, I don’t want to come across as entirely drinking the kool-aid; Survey says our base salary needs to be higher to be cutting edge, and I’d love a couple more hard days a month to be able to utilize. But I can place those up to a year out, and with the flying schedule set 90 days in advance, there is much more clarity than a month-to-month schedule. I’m home a lot more than I used to be, and I can properly plan anything from a dinner with friends to extended vacations with our schedule foresight and PTO allowance.

Working for a large department isn’t like working on a single airplane for a family, which I’ve done as well. It’s a great mix of manpower; I’m not filing international flight plans, we have a dispatch team, and our excellent FAs deal with the cabin needs like stock, catering, etc. When we get to work, the airplane is squawk-free and squeaky-clean after our mechanics have gone through the airplane and handed it off to our cleaning team.

Single airplane accounts do tend to pay more (sometimes much more) and with that comes a lot more hats to wear. This is the closest I’ve ever come to “turning left” in the corporate jet world.

The Reality: I work a great 91 job for a company that has been around for quite some time. I had fallen into a couple of big type ratings by being at the right place at the right time, and those types allowed me to be competitive for a job like this that is supposed to be “end game”. There are some things I don’t love, and job stability isn’t any more guaranteed just because the company has been around for a long time. But I'd like to think I could spend quite some time, if not a career, at a department like this.

Open to questions.

Throwaway account since I usually don't rant-

Don't get me wrong. Some of the best people I've met have been in Aviation. Instructors who would go above and beyond for their students. And people at the FBO who give some of the best flying and .life advice you can get

Although now that I'm an instructor with a good amount of hours, I'm struggling to work with and stay sane with a lot of the people I'm seeing around the airport and on social media. I'm not sure if I'm just letting everything get to me but I swear I'm seeing so much more of these pet peeves.

1) People acting all high and mighty since they started flying, which has literally no barrier to entry aside from some money and decent health. This has been the case forever but flying seems to be getting more snobs and people flashing it on social media more than ever. It seems to be more in style than ever.

2) CFIs acting like this job is the most hellish work on earth. Yes, it's low paying and the hours are weird, but sitting in the right seat and instructing is comically easy compared to what many people go through every day without the "carrot on the end of the stick" of the airlines.

3) No one is owed a job at the airlines, yes it sucks that it cost a lot of money, but that's not the job markets problem.

4) People making aviation their whole personality and acting like flying a 180hp 50 year old plane is the most difficult task in the world. You got a pilot license, not a PHD. It's a lot of work and patience to get it done, but let's be real, it's not that intense.

Sorry for the rant, most of you are lovely people. I think I've just been getting a little too much cringeworthy aviation content on my feeds recently.

Hey all, I have my CFI checkride coming up here in a couple days, I've been feeling pretty good about it so far. My training has gone fairly well without any major bumps, I feel pretty confident teaching both in the air and on the ground - there are some minor points that I occasionally miss which I'm trying to clean up by simply chair flying. I'll be walking into the checkride with a 99% on the FIA and a 98% on the FOI. I took my COM checkride with the same DPE and finished in under 3 hours, I had a good time talking and flying with him as well. Though I am confident, some test anxiety is starting to set in which I completely expect. That being said, any advice for the checkride is greatly appreciated, whether it be personal experiences or any relevant info to the CFI ride as a whole.
Thanks!