|
If my medical craps out before I get magic numbers for retirement, I'm toast. I work a good job now, but it's one of those boomer office jobs where how well you talk, how sociable you are and how much people like you directly decides if you can work the job or not. I might be able to return to my company, hat in hand and beg for my job back but then it turns into this: . I need to work as a pilot because anything else is beyond my capabilities and the rest just makes working for a living deeply unpleasant.
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2023 23:30
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 12:32 |
|
|
Rolo posted:It's crazy. I worked a long duty day yesterday, woke up today and picked up another trip that puts me in the hotel after midnight then gets me home late tomorrow. I still cannot fathom doing anything else for my career. I'm gonna relax all day, treat myself to a huge meal, take a nap, fly an airplane tonight and sleep in tomorrow. I’ve thought so highly of this career that I’m 36 years old and dumping a near 6 figure office job where I’m extremely comfortable to instruct. No idea how I’ll deal with 40k CAD of flight school debt with the 25-35k annual salary but hey you can’t put a price on chasing your dreams.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2023 21:09
|
|
|
Groda posted:Why's that? Don't know anything about A1... Back in my Bombardier days one of the installers got jet fuel all over his hands and arms and a week later his skin was all blistered flaked up and popped. I routinely get avgas in my fingers I try to wash my hands asap after preflight but carrying gloves around is probably the smart play. Still sometimes after a refueling I come home smelling like gasoline because the fumes still come out and get into the vents etc.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 24, 2023 21:13
|
|
|
Rolo posted:That’s super cool. Are you talking about NYC or just New York State? I've always been curious if you can live a fun life being based in NY as a pilot.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2024 16:15
|
|
|
If I was an American I would totally do it... NY or Chicago... Heck I will probably have minimal roots even into my 40s so I might still do it if I get an FAA license and work visa later in my career. It's actually piss easy to convert a Transport Canada license to an FAA license. It's even easier to get an ATPL in Canada than it is in the states and I've heard of people doing an ATPL here, writing a really easy exam and now having an FAA ATPL for less effort.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2024 17:00
|
|
|
Animal posted:Let me know when you are around so we can hang out, I can help you pick which neighborhood is best for you Where do pilots typically live in NYC? Isn’t it like turbo expensive?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2024 17:28
|
|
|
Animal posted:There's a lot of pilots in Brooklyn. And I haven't met one I didn't like. Yes its expensive but a legacy airline pilot can afford to live here comfortably if they don't expect to have a 3br apartment in a nice area. Affording to buy property is a different matter. You'd have to either have family money, work your rear end off to save a huge nest egg, or have a partner with high income. I live in Park Slope and I love it, once you are here for a few years it kinda ruins the rest of the country. The supermarket is a 3 minute walk, my kid's public school is a 10 minute walk and its excellent. Yesterday my wife accidentally sprayed a little bit of bleach in her eye, the ophthalmologist was literally on the other side of the block, she walked two minutes to get treated. The food options are incredible, any kind of cuisine you can imagine can be as good as if you were ordering in its country of origin. Museums, hobbies, you name it, you can't get bored here unless you are a boring person. NYC is far from the best city in the world, but its the best of what we got in the USA if you value this kind of life. I drive my car maybe every two weeks. The nature of our jobs make it a particularly great place to live because when we are off, we are off for days. So we can enjoy all that the city has to offer without all the stress associated with making a living within the city. It's also the junior base for most airlines so its easy to get seniority and then pick up open time trips. That sounds like a dream come true for me. I've been feeling really down about how awful the pay is for Canadian pilots. I'm willing to take my lumps and put in my time to get experienced but once I hit ATP minimums I'm going to seriously look at talking to an immigration lawyer and getting a job with an American legacy and settle in NYC.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2024 20:30
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 12:32 |
|
|
Animal posted:The last FO that I flew with was a Canadian transplant. He didnt make it seem like it was a hard thing to do. But then again, he is originally an immigrant from Soviet Russia. So the kinda of bureaucracy that we would find Kafkaesque would be routine for him. My understanding is that for the last 30 years it was IMPOSSIBLE for Canadian citizens to get immigration papers to be pilots in the United States. It simply didn't happen. The guy who got me ready for my PPL checkride graduated from the full ride at Embry Riddle in the 1980s and in spite of his best efforts it was impossible to get immigration papers in the US. He had to stay in Canada where there were zero jobs. He even offered to work for free and couldn't get a job as an instructor or anything it was hosed. He gave up on his dreams and worked as a Toyota assembly line worker until he got an early retirement from there and is now instructing in his 50s. He probably wont go airline track but at least he gets to do his dream job finally. The 1990s and early 2000s were a terrible time for Canadian pilots. The weirdest thing is that apparently the US will provide visas to people from Costa Rica or something and Australia but Canadians can't do it. Now I have done some preliminary research and already spoke to immigration lawyers in America and they told me it's possible to get a greencard on a national interest waiver visa. In this case if you prove you have some substantial achievements in aviation and are a member of a professional organization (for example ALPA) they can argue your case and get you a waiver. It's called an EB2-NIW visa but after getting excited about it I was told it's not actually that easy to get one and the lawyers are selling me a bill of goods. Outside of that you need a labor market opinion from the US Dept of Labor. Not sure how easy that is to get as historically the dept of labor has always managed to prove an American can get a pilot job so there's no need to authorize a Canadian to get a visa for one. So realistically the best case scenario is that I somehow meet an American woman, fall in love and get married. This skips the bullshit and opens up a possibility to work for an American airline when I got the hours/experience. Either way this plan would be something I handle 5 years down the road when I'm better established in the career... Right now I'm still working on my instrument checkride. This might well be the year where I finally have all my ratings. I have a multi and multi ifr training thing lined up, then I can do my CPL and instructor rating. I'll instruct and then go apply for Air Canada Jazz or something to get my turbine experience. Their requirements are low and the union got a better deal on pay. I can deal with being paid like 60k if I stay in YYZ rent free like I am now. Kraftwerk fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Mar 11, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2024 20:44
|
|