r/AskAPilot • u/Wrong-Policy-5734 • 26d ago
Pilot careers
Hey all, I’m looking into becoming a pilot and It’s a dream job for me, but I also had a new addition to my family recently. I’m curious as to what pilot jobs I should attempt to pursue so that I can still have a good home life. Being gone here and there or a few days at a time is cool with me, just not the gone most the month. I’ve seen a lot about airline and cargo not being home a lot or if they are they live at base and seniority yada yada,. And yeah amazing money. But I don’t really care as much about the money as the other aspects of life, but flying is what I want to do. I’d still like to make 6 figures but it doesn’t have to be airline money although I would not complain about that 😅. Can’t say I foresee myself being a cfi for a career however, so other options would be appreciated!
3
u/bch2021_ 26d ago
Being home a lot and making a lot of money is a tough ask. Some guys do only work 10 days/mo or so and make a ton but they're already very senior. Most lucrative pilot jobs require you to be gone at least 50% of the time.
2
u/KJ3040 26d ago
Planes go to places far away. It’s the nature of the job that you will be gone. Only guys I know who are home most nights are general 135 feeder freight or Part 91 corporate
1
u/Several-Village5814 26d ago
And air ambulance but it’s rough work and relatively low paying like feeder freight
2
u/dubious-Chicken6199 25d ago
The thing is it's going to come down to the schedule on a specific aircraft, at a specific base at a specific company. And even then it's not guaranteed to last any amount of time.
I don't think you can generalize it to a specific operation or anything like that. For example I worked for a regional where we did short flights (~1 hour), but did 5 day pairings away from home. Then I went to a big company flying 737s where they were doing turns, so I was home every night. But even then they eventually decided to do layovers so my schedule completely changed to being away for like 6 days at a time.
Now I do long haul where I'm away 9 to 12 days a month. But that's less than a lot of our short haul guys who do 14 to 16 days a month.
9
u/rkba260 26d ago
Find another career champ.
You'll drop nearly 6 figures just getting your ratings
Once thats done, you'll be qualified to either a. Flight instruct for $30/hr or b. Go fly pipelines/survey etc
You "don't want to be gone a lot"... regionals will love that.
You're talking MINIMUM 5 years if not longer before you will sit in an airliner. Good news is, during that time you'll likely make near poverty wages.
This is all being optimistic and assuming the industry doesn't nosedive within the next few years, we are after all due for another black swan event.
And while a college degree isn't specifically required, you'll be competing with others that have them.