What was your first job after getting your CPL

[mmmike]

Going through flight training right now, just curious what opportunities you all had after becoming a brand new CPL. How was it? Pros and cons? Would you recommend it?

Thanks

[geodoc]

In the Spring of '89 I'd been flying my PA22/20-108 for about 600 hr. Working as an A&P. Got my Commercial and Instrument rating ( re'qd for flying commercial in the US). Got a float rating and having finished my CFI prep and waiting for an FAA check ride for it (that ride was only given by the FAA at the time. Never did that ride). Just then, the Exxon Valdez hit the rocks in Pr. William Sound and got hired by a 3 airplane Part 135 floatplane outfit with only about 6 hr. on floats, but teased up with the A&P. Flew my ass off all season and then mostly on floats for the next 20+ years. Never did pursue a regional or major seat since at that time you had to have a collage degree for those and I had gone the trade school route. Happy with that and not ending up at one of the majors? Yeah, I'd say so. Don't have a vacation house in Montana or Key West or years of alimony payments that a Captain's seat would have financed, but did OK.

[702pipeliner]

First job went to a company in calgary and worked the dispatch office. Was an experience for sure. Learned a lot of the backgrounds of scheduling and booking. Didn't do much apart from that.

First actual flying job was given the opportunity to go scare myself pipelining or fo seat on a king air with a little ramp. All the old guys and people in the industry I talked to all recommended going to get some Pic as it will help in future. So to the survey world I went. Was a hell of a time and some of the most fun I had and made some good friends I still talk to today. I still miss it

[co-joe]

Chukin bags in Thombstone

[Vsquared]

Flying survey.
Pros - Loads of PIC. Make great friends. Pay is probably slightly higher than an entry level FO job. Fair amount of time off in my situation. Gaining an immense amount of decision making and emergency experience. Usually based in a pretty decent city.

Cons - Staying in places that shouldn't exist. Getting stuck on the road for much longer than scheduled(can never really make set in stone plans, ever. Growing to absolutely hating people after spending 8 hours a day in each others personal bubble. Lots of sketchy encounters with weather and aircraft. Some regional operators don't see value in day VFR flying. Dehydrating yourself to do long flight legs really isn't good for the body in any way shape or form.

[RoAF-Mig21]

Working ramp for a year and a bit. It got me that right seat in the King Air. It wasn't easy, but I stuck with it and it paid off. My advice:

DON'T GIVE UP. MAKE GOOD CHOICES, DON'T DO ANYTHIGN YOU FEEL IT'S UNSAFE AND ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE.

Good luck.

[jhonalbert]

It very difficult to get a job in major Airline companies. if you are highly skilled, you may also land a job at one of the many major Airline Companies.

[Heavy Rayn]

The flight school I trained at paid for me to receive an instructor rating; if i stayed to work for them for a year. I figured it was more than fair and accepted their offer. Upon completion of my instructor rating I was offered an instructing position, which I accepted. I was also told by the new CFI that they would not require me to stay with company for a year and my "bond" was essentially thrown out which allowed me to leave whenever. I stuck around for about 3 years there, so this didn't end up mattering at all.

I felt very lucky to have a 10k rating covered by the school and I recognize that not everyone will be in the position after training to receive a sponsorship as such, or pay an additional 10k towards further training, but if it is feasible I'd recommend it to anyone to get the instructor rating. Assuming you're actually interested in instructing. If you're not interested, for the sake of your quality of life and your future students quality of training please avoid instructing. Also pay across the industry generally sucks, but that's common for any initial job in our industry unfortunately.

OP if it's possible I'd recommend you try and get an industry related job now, whether it be dispatch, ramp crew etc. It will help to have something other than a wet CPL on your aviation résumé when your training is complete.

[redlaser]

I did my commercial then a month later my instructor rating, went on to become the CFI at the flight school I did my commercial license at, then went on to be CFI at different schools in Quebec and Ontario, Back then the school charged 40$ for the instructor to a student,but the instructor received 35$ of that amount, with ground briefings an instructor was making 1000$ a week or more ,with 2 days off during the week. Today instructors are being exploited by flight schools, so being an instructor is not a career choice. Flight schools charge 80$ to the student, but the instructor is lucky to get 20$ of that amount.

[CJKk]

One year as ground crew, then went on to fly Right Seat Twin Otter for two years. Wheels Skis and Floats, loads of fun. Hard work but very rewarding!

[altiplano]

I worked the ramp for a year and then flew the 'ho...

[WANP]

My first job after getting my CPL was gold mining in the summer, and truck driving in winter, the same thing I was doing before getting my CPL, and that paid for my license.
My first flying job was for a company that had a Beaver, and 180 on floats, and another 180, plus 185 on wheels.
I never once wanted to fly for an airline, pretty sure that my personality would be bored with it by day 2.
After a few years of working for someone else, flying their planes, I decided to become self employed, and owned multiple businesses, none in the aviation industry. I bought my own plane, and flew it to my businesses spread out all over, and for fun. Semi retired now at age 44, with no regrets.

[Roar]

I worked two years of construction after getting my CPL before getting an opportunity to fly, that was surveying in a Cessna 421B.

[TurkeyFarmYQX]

Got stupid lucky and got a 604 gig flying a Pilatus.

[FL030]

Also Pilatus.

[Big Pistons Forever]

While in the air on my Class 4 instructor flight test one of the instructors at the school got a job offer on a Ho and quit on the spot. When I walked in after the flight the CFI asked if I passed. When I said yes he said, great you can take over Bob’s students.

[heed]

Dispatch for a year then right seat on a PC-12.

[flaps78]

Hangar rat, Field Aviation , Calgary

[NotDirty!]

I pumped gas at an FBO while I worked on my instructor rating. I fuelled a flight school’s airplanes, so I got to know some of the instructors and managers, which was very useful when I was looking for an instructor job a few months later. I also fuelled all of the air ambulance aircraft that came through, so I got to know pilots from most of the 703 companies in the province that did that kind of flying… I soon realized that the majority of pilots at one of those companies were miserable and hated their jobs, while certain others were generally happy. Fast forward 18 months, when I had close to the magic 1000 hours, I remembered which company had happy pilots, and made sure I applied there… sure enough, they hired me, and I hung my hat there for the following decade.

[780Pilot]

Got my instructor rating post CPL. Was a fantastic choice for me. I really enjoyed teaching and I met some of my best friends to date working at the flight school. The way things are going I think it’s a great option for the first job. Gets you lots of PIC, so getting that king air or if your really lucky a 705 job is easier. Garbage pay and sometimes crazy bosses are all part of it but that was always secondary to me getting to where I wanted to end up, which was a corporate pilot setting. This isn’t to say there aren’t other choices, and remember only go the instructor route if you honestly think you will enjoy it. It will suck for you and even worse for your students.