Rant about a comment from a school owner

[felix0315]

After recently moving to another part of the lower mainland, I just found out that the neighbor next door to me is actually the owner/operator of a small school in CZBB. As we were exchanging conversations, my neighbor said "aviation's always been in high demand, and is even so at present." After hearing this claim, I was a bit shocked at the amount of misconception coming right out from a flight school owner. I would've thought that they would know better about the industry. Maybe I'm wrong, but from over a year of avcanada 'research', all I've come to realize is that industry is the contrary of what they believe. It is not easy to get a job, there IS no easy job, and the industry is certainly not blooming.

There was also another comment that really bothered me. This individual said "students need to realize that working a job to pay for flight school is not the way to go. it is best to borrow money from parents, make more money from work (i assume a flying job), and then give it back to them. the more you wait to make money and train, the more you'll lose." While i agree with the fact that flight training is most efficient when done continuously, I do not believe that it is a bad idea to work a job and pay off flight training costs. Work experience, regardless of the type, is an invaluable experience that cannot be gained elsewhere. I also cannot fathom why this individual would tell me to push off university, go for flight training and 'go into work right away,' when there is no work around. I even wonder if the hourly pay rate at my current job is higher than those that start off working in aviation.

end of my rant.

Now I'm not the smartest person, so if I'm wrong about anything please feel free and give me your two cents

[trey kule]

Now I'm not the smartest person, so if I'm wrong about anything please feel free and give me your two cents
_________________

No darn way. thats an hour's pay for most pilots starting out.. Earn you own money or mooch from your parents....

Look , the poor guy is just trying to make a living. Lying to consumers is part of that...Ever try to get a $99.00 flight to London for $99.00? Pretty much anything for the price you see advertised. Of course aviation is booming. Look up in the sky and see an airplane..total respect and big salaries..Yep that is what is all about.....

[Tim]

the first bit he said is obviously bullshit, but as for not working while flying, i agree for the most part. getting youre flight training done in a timely manner requires a fair bit of flexibility. unless you are extremely good at managing your time, working will significantly cut into the time you are available to fly and study. one of the shitty aspects of flight training is the dependence on the weather. both when i was a student and when i was an instructor i would do flights at unplanned times and on short notice to those who were available when the weather allowed. the same thing goes for snags...flight training tends to be hard on aircraft, so you might find yourself with a beautiful sunny day and no plane to fly for a few hours while maint works on it.

this isn't to say that you can't get it done, but flight training generally takes exponentially longer as time goes on...the less you fly the more time you need at the start of the flight to get the cobwebs out. you might even need to repeat a flight here and there. in the end you're probably going to pay more and take longer to get your career going.

thats my 2 cents on it.

[KK7]

"aviation's always been in high demand, and is even so at present."

Although this statement is missing some context, I assume you mean with respect to student pilots wanting to become professional pilots? Because there is another side to this statement, and that is with respect to general aviation. There have rarely been times when there was low demand for people wanting to learn to fly recreationally, this demand tends to only decrease during recessions or economic downturns when people tend to not have as much disposable income. When I worked as an instructor for 4 years, only a small fraction of my students ever considered flying as a career or even as a part time job. Most of my students were from the high tech industry (during the good times) or retired from the civil service or other walks of life. Usually it was a life long dream to fly and they thought of renting now and then to bring friends and family up flying or buying a share in an aircraft and flying around here and there on the weekends.

I think that sometimes here on AvCanada we sometimes forget that not everyone who has a pilot's licence wants to do it as a job. The biggest piece of the pie in the flight training part of the industry is teaching recreational pilots, and the more people want to fly recreationally, the better it is for the industry.