Flying Pictures, Some views from the Cockpit!
- Thread starter McFoe
- Start date
sweet pics...... did you fly that
yeah man ive seen some good sunsets. Most pictures dont do justice to the light textures. And no its not illegal to take pictures. Its kind of frowned upon....like masturbating in an airplane!
the ipod dock is over to the right out of site
i usually just put ear buds in under my headset
they make headsets that have 1/8th inputs for ipods, but im too cheap to spend any more money on aviation!
and the switches do seem complex, but after ground school and a few hours in the plane its all second nature. they are organized pretty well!
did the just say to you press and hope, if theres not landing gear try again and if all else fail bail out lol
user manual and trainning is for noob, i say learn from your mistakes lol
Ok well its kind of complex, you may have read my earlier post which i deleted but here is a more thorough explanation.
You have to have 40 hours to get your private pilot license
Then you have to have 250 hours to get your commercial license
Somewhere in between those hours you get an instrument rating, which allows you to fly in the clouds, fly instrument approach procedures and fly in class A airspace, which is the airspace form 18k to 60k feet. The instrument rating is required for most commercial flying jobs. And also you have to do something to build time inbetween the 40 hours required for private and the 250 hours required for a commercial license.
Now once you get a commercial license doesnt mean you just get a job right away. Depending on the airlines and whats going on with the airline industry as a whole, which reflects the US economy pretty closely, it may take a long time to get a job. Like right right now, no airlines are hiring. In fact some airlines have pilots on furlough. Furlough is a fancy word for layed offf.
So to get a job after you get your license you need to build some experience. Most pilots get their C.F.I. certified flight instructor. And then they can teach students what they learned during their private and commercial. I have a CFII, which is Certified Flight Instructor Instrument. So i can teach private,instrument, and commercial pilots.
Most airlines have what are called "Hiring Minimums", for example my airline requires 1500 total time hours and 300 of that needs to be in multi engine aircraft.
So when i graduated college i had to flight instruct for 2 years to build up around 1200 hours and tehn i went to a crappy airline, flew there for 7 months and then got hired at the airline i currentlly work at now back in March of 2007.
Now sometimes minimums change depending on growth/attrition/desperation of an airline. Back in 2006 a lot of airlines were hiring guys right out of college/flight school with just their commercial pilots license and right over 250 hours.
Now a days no airlines are hirign and when they do. Its going to be very competitive to get a job. There are a lot of pilots on furlough form other airlines and when a company starts hiring these guys generally get the jobs because htey have a lot of experience and plenty of jet time. And now most flight instructors, what i used to do, have been instructing for 4 or 5 years so they should all have a couple thousand if not more hours of instruction time. Sowhen an airline hires in a situation like the ones that are about to happen. The jobs are very scarce and very competitive. But give it a few more years like in 2012 when a lot of the major airline pilots turn 65 and start retiring because they are 65. The flood gates will open and airlines will be desperate to refill their positions due to attrition and the minimums will go back down.
Although, now the FAA is considering making a law that all first officers that are hired at an airline will ahve to hold an airline transport pilot certificate. Thats the license that all airline captains have. I will get one when i upgrade. But if this new law goes into effect, all pilots applying at airlines will ahve to have over 1500 hours and they will have to take an ATP" checkride" to get the certificate before they are hired.
I currently only hold a commercial because thats whats required for my job as a first officer. When my seniority number at my airline can hold a captain position i will go to training and get my ATP. Thats the way about 90 percent of pilots get their ATP. Now if the FAA changes that they are going to find they wont have ANY qualified pilots applying for the regional airline job.
Its a crazy industry which is very volitile and ever changing. Here in america PIlots are labor and therefore seen as a burden. My company views me just as they do an aircraft tire. And its not like what you see on TV AT ALL. Now in europe and asia the profession of a pilot is exactly what you see on TV. They make stacks of cash, work very minimally, bang hot flight attendants, travel to cool ass exotic locations and drunk everynight at the hotel bar.
Im not going to lie i have some good times and there are some great times and great overnights. But i generally work 14 hour days/4 days a week away from home for only 22 to 26 hours of pay. I generally start at 515 am on the first day and end at midnight on the 4th day. And i am usually stuck in a crappy hotel with a crappy crew and my main priorities are a. is the internet fast, and b. is there a gas station close where i can buy chew!
Its a lonely life but its kind of fun. Im currently seeking new employment. But for now my job is ok. Ive only met my boss twice and ive never been told to do something so thats a plus. I read magazines, listen to my ipod and chew all day. But it comes at a price of time away from home!
BLOG OVER!!!!!! damn im bored.
LOL! I hope air traffic controls Radar is, because if it's not there are going to be alot of mid air collisions.