Since there seems to be some interest I will continue.
Don't think it's all negative. There are some great things about the profession as well. My intent is to help "fill in the gaps" to give you a more correct impression of what the career entails than what you'll hear from the sales representative for any school (business). I may write of some of these later.
There may be a very dim light at the end of the tunnel for someone who is just now considering starting. Two years ago the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots was raised from age 60 to age 65. That might seem like a good thing, as it allows us to work longer...and it is for those who had achieved their ultimate career goal.
For tens of thousands of us, myself included, Age 65 hit hard. Because career advancement is based solely on seniority, attrition...or in this case, lack thereof, has prevented our expected and planned for progression up the ladder. For me, age 65 will ultimately cost me about $380,000 in today's dollars if I continue in the profession. In fact, age 65 has effectively meant if I choose to work beyond age 60, I'll be doing so for free for roughly the first three and a half years.
Someone entering school today will not feel the effect of this, as by the time they are prepared to enter the airline industry, retirements will pick up again.
There is one other potential bright spot...kind of. There are effectively zero new commercial pilot licenses being issued at present. It seems economics are starting to catch up to the business model airline managements use. Fewer people are interested in investing that $60k - $130k I wrote of before for the level of compensation available.
Additionally, after
Colgan 3407, there has been some push in Congress to make some much needed changes in experience requirements for new airline pilots. One of the most ambitious would require both pilots...not just the Captain, to have Airline Transport Pilot licenses (bizarre that half of all airline pilots don't need to have an ATP, in my opinion).
The airline industry is lobbying hard against this one, because it would prevent them from doing what they've always done once they push wages and working conditions to the point where experienced, quality pilots will not apply....lowering their hiring standards all the way down to 200 hours total time and wet ink on a multi-engine endorsement.
There is some small potential in the future for wages to rise to more acceptable levels. If all the elements come together as they should, the regional airlines are not going to have to pay more to attract pilots who have experience.
There have been a number of questions posted so far I've not addressed, so I'll interrupt the original "what does it take?" answer for a couple of posts here, then return to that.
