Working Abroad is the Only Way I can Justify A Career as a Pilot.

[Aspiredtofly]

Have you considered not flying for an airline. Myself and several colleagues are in the 120-150 range flying king airs.... is it air canada Skipper wages? No. But it's a comfortable living, I'm home every night and I have more free time than I know what to do with.

I'm interested. Where are these King Air jobs based? Is it all up north or anything southern? My wife is a city girl so hard to get her to move north of Barrie...

Pretty sure all the medevac outfits in Manitoba are paying skippers north of 100, and I think Missinippi even flies you in from anywhere served by an airline if you want to commute for your rotations

What medevac outfits are those. What are their hiring minimums for fo's. I would likely apply and stay there for a while

[Bug_Stomper_01]

I hate to say it but you’re not far off. Canada is not a good place for aviation anymore.

[golecchr]

First off, don't let all the pathetic old boomers on here discourage you. They feed off "back in my day" delusions and think everyone has to suffer in this career path or they aren't worthy. Not to mention these stupid notions that aviation is a career of "passion for flying" and you have to do "anything it takes" to make it.
Very quickly you can begin to understand how these attitudes have led to wages and working conditions here that are utter garbage compared to the US and EU.

You are correct in a lot of what you are saying, and it can seem very daunting as someone just starting down this path. But this is a job like any other - you need commitment to be successful. I've never treated my flying career as anything more than a job. It's a job I enjoy but it's also not something I'm going to give up everything else I want in life for. As a few others have mentioned there are many paths beyond student>flight instructor>regionals>mainline. And many of them are high paying with arguably better quality of life.

Now, if you are intent on going abroad (which I honestly say good for you) there are many difficulties as well. Converting a Canadian license to FAA is very simple and straightforward but getting right to work in the US is not. There are rumblings that this might be changing, but at the moment it's basically impossible for anyone that doesn't have tons of flying experience already.

For Europe, there is no license conversion as far as I know - you are required to study for and write all the EASA exams like any new student pilot. There are many of them and they make TC exams look like kindergarten stuff. I have an EU passport and that licensing process alone has deterred me from pursuing it.

Anyway, I hope that if you really want this as a career you will be able to find the right path for you. Be it here or abroad.

I have just completed this process that deterred you, and I couldn't be happier.

[canadian_aviator_4]

Why would anyone defend pay in Canada. It’s atrocious and we all deserve better. Unfortunately most of us are too afraid to actually take a risk, like Ash Ketchum (our favourite Pokémon trainer) is proposing. I respect anyone who has taken the chance and succeeded, and it really motivates me to follow In their footsteps. Sure, the conditions may not be as good as Canada. But at least you can put food on the table, and not have to stress over working a second job or hunting for overtime as much as possible. What good are work conditions if you don’t make enough money to survive.

[Aspiredtofly]

I don't like to cry or whine at the forums simply can anyone tell if the change is really happening for us pilots now, since AC's MOA was rejected by the pilot group are we in the current state of change or does that have to do nothing with it. What airlines are in current negotiations with the pilots to sight improved wawcons

[JHR]

Other areas of aviation (mostly non unionized companies) are seeing real significant gains. Not so much in the airlines

[Commonwealth]

Other areas of aviation (mostly non unionized companies) are seeing real significant gains. Not so much in the airlines

Ummm, I'd characterize the gains as modest. Significant is a stretch in my neck of the woods.

[JHR]

30%+ higher starting wages is what I am seeing

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Other areas of aviation (mostly non unionized companies) are seeing real significant gains. Not so much in the airlines

Airlines will hold on to their ancient MO and business model to the bitter end. They want to set a strong precedent that they control the market and therefore set the rates. Strongly agree with smaller operators starting to pay more and offer more support for the lack of interest they’ve had the last decade or so.

[co-joe]

30%+ higher starting wages is what I am seeing

Yeah to see that North Cariboo finally came off thier 2001 pay scale for turboprops, to me means that hell is indeed starting to freeze over. Hopefully it's just the tip of the iceberg.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

30%+ higher starting wages is what I am seeing

Yeah to see that North Cariboo finally came off thier 2001 pay scale for turboprops, to me means that hell is indeed starting to freeze over. Hopefully it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Pilots and ames have all had enough in Canada. Yes the wages 20 years ago had been stagnant from the early 90’s too boot!

[Eric Janson]

One more thing to add.

If you are moving overseas make sure your wife is 100% on board. 'Happy wife - happy life!'

I've seen cases where the wife couldn't adjust and ended up leaving with the children. Husband had 2 choices - new job or new wife!

I've also seen cases where the wife and children stayed behind while the husband did his best to commute - not a long term option imho.

I've seen cases where a family moves overseas and everyone is happy.

If you're single - moving around the world is a much simpler proposition.