Many young pilots contact me and ask how they should get into aviation. I give as much advice as I can. Normally it is to head to the Northern Territory, work in a hangar for nothing and eventually you will be noticed and be able to get your hours up.
However things are changing. I thought it would be responsible to include the following comment, which is from an airline pilot. He makes some very good points, and young pilots thinking of getting into the airlines should at least get as much advice as they can.
Qantas to train 3000 pilots over the next 10 years, the problem is who wants to choose aviation as a career anymore?
Apart from the early QANTAS cadet courses where they took anybody (just joking) the majority of cadets since the re-instatement of the cadet courses have been reasonably intelligent people who could of chosen a number of career paths. I assume QF will be targeting the same standard of people for its expanded cadet scheme. How to entice those people to choose a flying career will be difficult.
In thinking about a career you need to look at the long term prospects. Some of the things to consider are:
1. Fuel, there is no real alternative to oil as a fuel for aircraft, a relatively cheap fuel that has a high calorific value. As oil availability starts to decrease and costs go up flying will reduce. To me, flying will end up like it was in the beginning, only for the rich. Which means less pilots.
2. Technology, there is talk of single pilot for cruise aircraft, and even pilotless aircraft. Concerns for safety and even terrorist actions means taking the control of aircraft out of the hands of pilots. Which may mean less pilots required.
3. Aviation is very susceptible to any major international problem such as terrorism, pandemics etc. Although the trend has been for aviation to recover quicker after any setback, a major pandemic could reduce flying dramatically.
4. Pay and conditions. This is probably the area of most concern. Flying used to be a well paying job, with plenty of time of. For international flying there were long slips in exotic destinations. Today we are working much harder, we are at work more, and usually minimum time in slip ports, 36 hours generally for international layovers. For domestic flying, minimum slip overnights with early morning starts. There has been a dramatic shift in pay, with the airlines trying to drive wages down by various methods. Also the pay of a pilot has stagnated whereas other professions have increased.
5. Health. Being a pilot has to be bad for your health. We subject ourselves to higher levels of radiation, constant jet lag (if international flying), breathing toxic air from the engines. Being exposed to various diseases being re-circulated through the cabin air. De-hydration (with Qantas actually disabling the cockpit humidifiers to save money). You are also subject a much higher level of medical scrutiny, with many medical problems causing you to lose your license and your ability to earn money. Whereas in other professions once you are well its back to work. In aviation, you may get well but an underlying medical problem may prohibit you from flying.
6. Roster. Lack of control over your life. You won't have any control over being home for birthdays, Christmas etc. You won't be able to plan ahead to attend special events.
7. Challenges of the job. Flying used to be a fairly challenging job, going back aircraft such as the 747-300, you actually flew the aircraft, there was much more thinking involved. Today we have glass cockpits, fly by wire aircraft that virtually fly themselves. Just follow the magenta line. International flying has become so boring with the advent of datalink and GPS navigation, a flight across the Pacific involves 14 hours of sitting there (with half of that in the crew rest) and about 10 buttons presses to send messages. We have also seen any personality being taken out of flying, today we have to all fly exactly the same way, we must say exactly the right thing at the right time.
If you say "One to go" instead of "1000 to go" that's a black mark against you. Commonsense has been taken out of aviation and been replaced with being pedantic.
8. Limited work opportunity. There aren't many airlines to work for. Just imagine when you finish your training there are just three employers to work for in Australia, that provide reasonable conditions.
9. Work Surveillance and the law. We currently have cockpit voice recorders and soon we will have cockpit video surveillance. All yours actions are being recorded and although we are told it is only for safety use, there is a growing trend to use this information for legal action. Just look at the court case against the two Qantas pilots who allegedly took off without the airport lights on.
10. Constant checking of your ability. A couple of times each year you have to get into the simulator to prove your ability. Fail a few times and once again you're out of a job, or at least you won't be able to promote. Your ability is also open to interpretation depending on who is assessing you.
Is flying a good job? At the moment it is, I still enjoy it. But if I was just leaving school with good marks and looking for a career would I choose aviation again. NO, I wouldn't.
There are just too many risks to a flying career. The enjoyment is no longer there. The pay is no longer there. I would choose a career that isn't reliant on oil, or isn't affected by a terrorist action overseas. That doesn't affect my health, and doesn't control my life. Where my employer respects me and treats me as an asset not as a liability. Where, if I was sick of working for one employer there were plenty of other employers.
Of course this mainly relates to airline flying – I am sure there are still great careers in charter flying, RFDS, aero medical etc in Australia.
