What to expect in the long run?

[pilots_wife]

Originally Posted by Kristie

not after that.. hahahaha

he's on call for 12 hrs every day? that seems a little excessive for a regional!

Yep, 12 hours a day, 6 days in a row, then 2 days off. Which means he might get to come home for that one night a week. Is that out of the norm for new guys at a regional?

[Bigsweetie]

No, that's about right, at least it was for Eric when he was on reserve at a regional.

I'm sorry if you've already mentioned it, but what regional does he work for? Hopefully he'll hold a line soon and you can get some normalcy back. Of course, his line could be 6 on, 2 off as well so be prepared for that.

At least he can afford a crash pad. My DH never could. He slept in the lounge at the airport, and when he was on reserve, he worked out a deal with a hotel manager to do odd jobs at the hotel (within walking distance to the airport) in exchange for a cot in one of the rooms that they were in the middle of renovating.

One time he got really really sick and didn't even feel like he should jumpseat home and I had to drive three hours to go pick him up. When I got there and got to his "room" I couldn't believe the squalar he was living in. The room was stripped bare and I could see black mold all over the walls. It was dark, depressing, a dripping faucet, buckets on the floor to catch the water dripping from the ceiling, etc.

I said, that's it, if I have to get a second job you're not staying here ever again! I had no idea he was willing to live like that to save us money. I almost cried when I saw how bad it was.

My DH has made alot of sacrifices for aviation and to save money for us. He's slept in crew rooms (never paid for a hotel room), he packs food for the road (eats popcorn for bkfast, ramen noodles, etc.).

It's been a long, hard road for both of us. Lots of crappy pay, crappy schedules, no money, and then there was screw-over at Shuttle (read my post in PF Families only section). After all we've/ he's been through in this business we still consider ourselves lucky. He's never been furloughed.

I'm so glad he's got this new job that pays him well and allows him to be based at home, and pays for hotel rooms, etc. It's truly a blessing.

Hey Kristie- you might have me beat on the # of posts- but I think I have you beat on the # of words!!!

[Kristie]

I think I remember Pilots_wife saying he works for Freedom...

not only do you have me beat by # of words in a post.. but you definately have me beat on entry level pilot conditions! I had NO idea Erik had to live like that.. that's just Fing ridiculous!! I know when doug was in the regionals, he had his own apartment, with a couch and bed...granted it was in a low income neighborhood in MKE but he never had to live out of crew rooms and/or a back hotel room...I can't believe Erik would go thru that much...Did he try to get into a crashpad and it was a no go? No wonder you hated it!

[rgphib]

Originally Posted by pilots_wife

His goal is to stay at the regionals for a few years and then go to the majors, and then his cream of the crop dream job is to fly for UPS or FedEx one day.

Good luck with that.....DH thought he would be at the regionals for 2-3 years.....7 years later he has his app out to tons of airlines and nothing. Unless you know somebody of course.....

Sorry....don't mean to sound pessimistic but it seems like the regionals are no longer stepping stones, they are were you will retire from

[Kristie]

they're not...they're actually career jobs now a days...hopefully that will change sometime in the future and airlines will go back to what they used to be!

one things for sure, UPS and FEDEX have both been very known to be "it's WHO you know" as far as getting into them!! If he wants to get into either of those, he should start searching now for a mentor/friend who will recommend him at some point. it's pretty darn hard to find someone that will recommend you in either of those two companies because recommendations mean everything!!

DH actually originally wanted to fly for United but Delta was the first to call...he's been hoping at some point, he'd be able to go over to UPS and/or Fedex too but neither one of us are ready for that transitition yet.

[rgphib]

Originally Posted by Kristie

DH actually originally wanted to fly for United but Delta was the first to call...he's been hoping at some point, he'd be able to go over to UPS and/or Fedex too but neither one of us are ready for that transitition yet.

DH would love to go and fly for United (still...even though they are going through a lot of crap right now). He did his college internship with them and has always wanted to fly for them. Rumor is they might start off the street hiring within the next year or two (after all furloughs are called back). Since he interned he was supposed to have a set interview but he doesn't know if that policy has changed. We'll just have to wait and see....unless for some odd reason CAL calls by the end of the year (he is not holding his breath though!).

[Bigsweetie]

Originally Posted by Kristie

I think I remember Pilots_wife saying he works for Freedom...

not only do you have me beat by # of words in a post.. but you definately have me beat on entry level pilot conditions! I had NO idea Erik had to live like that.. that's just Fing ridiculous!! I know when doug was in the regionals, he had his own apartment, with a couch and bed...granted it was in a low income neighborhood in MKE but he never had to live out of crew rooms and/or a back hotel room...I can't believe Erik would go thru that much...Did he try to get into a crashpad and it was a no go? No wonder you hated it!

Oh gosh, I could tell you stories...

When DH was a flight instructor he made $40/week and slept on the floor in his office sometimes cause the weather was too bad to drive back to his parents' house where he was living (about 1.5 hrs. away)

After that he flew freight where he got to know someone there and crashed in his spare bedroom for $100/mo. With that job he was on call 24/7 and only got 4 days (yes, I said FOUR) off/ month. He wasn't salary, he was paid/trip but wasn't paid at all when he was sitting in cities all over the country for days and sometimes weeks at a time, waiting for trips.

To answer your question, we just didn't have the money for a crashpad. It just wasn't there. We needed his per-diem checks to pay bills (mostly his cc bills from aviation).

Luckily he wasn't on reserve at the regional for long and once he got a line he had a hotel room most of the time. But if his line wasn't commutable on one end he still had to sleep in the crew room.

My DH has paid some dues I think. I love him for it too! But I never want to see him in a hotel room like the one I found him in again. I don't care what I have to do, he'll never go through that again as long as i'm alive.

[pilots_wife]

See, I hear stories like this all the time. Pilots go through so much and spend so much money to get there. How do they justify it? I mean, the only people I know who are pilots who aren't up to their ears in debt had LOTS of help from mom and dad.

So, for the rest of us, do these guys just get lucky with us supporting wives and girlfriends who realllllly want them to be happy and follow their dream? I'd like to have the opportunity to take out tons of loans and quit my job and start a boutique, but, I just can't justify that. You know? And kids? Forget it. There's no way we could afford a kid.

[Kristie]

I think that pretty much sums it up.. they get lucky in finding girls like us who will help them achieve their dreams...and in return, when we want to pursue our dreams - they should be able to reciprocate! but that usually doesn't come until they've stabilized along with the pay scale! haha

that's what makes us a special quality - right in there with the military gals!

[Bigsweetie]

Originally Posted by Kristie

I think that pretty much sums it up.. they get lucky in finding girls like us who will help them achieve their dreams...and in return, when we want to pursue our dreams - they should be able to reciprocate! but that usually doesn't come until they've stabilized along with the pay scale! haha

that's what makes us a special quality - right in there with the military gals!

Yea, that was the "arguement" I used when DH wanted me to go back to work and I wanted to stay home with Emily. Being a SAHM has been my dream since I was a kid and he and I agreed that I should be home once we started having kids. When he tried to back out on that deal it really hurt my feelings. Although I couldn't afford to put him up in a crashpad in the beginning, I supported him in every other way. I made more money than he did for quite a while and even went so far as to skip breakfast and lunch at work everyday to save money so I could help pay off his cc bills from school. I felt like I had been giving and giving and giving to his career and here it was my time to live my dream and he was asking me to give some more. It didn't help that he was spending money like it was water....

It was a big fight, but luckily Kalitta called and now I can stay home.