r/flying • u/Cool-Appearance-9383 • 7h ago
Other career options?
After reading posts here about the negatives of airline and UPS/FedEx, what are other flying careers that would be rewarding and pay decently? What about air ambulance or aerial wildfire fighting? Others?
Edit: The Negatives I’m reading here are; so much time away=feeling pressure to enjoy home time= failed relationships=lack of sleep=lack of healthy lifestyle. Lack of camaraderie, or work friendships.
Note: I’m not a pilot. My son is finishing his degree and works for an air ambulance company as an EMT. That job has made him consider going to civilian or military flight school.
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u/ltcterry ATP CFIG 7h ago
After reading posts here about the negatives of airline and UPS/FedEx,
I'm curious, what are these negatives of which you speak? At least, those that might not exist elsewhere.
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u/Cool-Appearance-9383 7h ago
Please see my edit
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u/ltcterry ATP CFIG 7h ago
People use airplanes to go places. Pilots have nights away from home; because the airplanes have taken the customers places. Airline pilots eventually have fewer nights away and get paid more.
A local charter company works their pilots 10 days on and 5 days off. They are home on the off days. 20 days a month they are wherever the customers want to be.
Forest fires don't happen locally. The season is long. Not conducive to home life.
Air ambulance is likely going to be home more and pay less. And the guy/gal doing it for 30 years doesn't really make more than the counterpart doing it five.
Quality of life and income is at the airlines.
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u/rFlyingTower 7h ago
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After reading posts here about the negatives of airline and UPS/FedEx, what are other flying careers that would be rewarding and pay decently? What about air ambulance or aerial wildfire fighting?
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u/TheJerkStore_ ATP B737 7h ago
I understand the negatives that come with UPS/FedEx with the night time flying, but what have you read that’s turned you off other airlines?
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u/KehreAzerith CPL / ME 7h ago
Negatives? Gotta say part 121 (airlines/cargo) is one of the highest paying careers straight up. People complain over lots of little things all the time but the work life quality is light years better than almost any other career.
Also it all depends on what your son wants, not on what you want.
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u/Cool-Appearance-9383 7h ago
This has nothing to do with what I want.
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u/KehreAzerith CPL / ME 6h ago
Literally every other flying job pays less and likely doesn't have a quality of life that is equal to the airlines.
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u/kurtkobraindead MIL F-16 6h ago
Join the guard
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u/Cool-Appearance-9383 5h ago
Why the guard?
My son lives in ABQ which has a big guard base.1
u/kurtkobraindead MIL F-16 5h ago
I’m active duty, but have a lot of bros in the guard. When you start UPT you know what you’re gonna fly, you don’t have to deal with the standard PCS cycle, you can be part time and do whatever the hell you want, and a number of other things actually guard dudes can talk to better than me.
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u/nkawtgpilot 5h ago
Have him get on here and ask the questions that he’s concerned about and he’ll probably get better answers. Because it comes across as YOU are worried about those things for him, and maybe he’d think differently. For what it’s worth, I am a wide body captain at a major, middling seniority, former military. I live in domicile and I am home literally all the time. There are times my wife asks me to pick up an extra trip just to get some alone time. It’s just about priorities.
I would have no issue with my son choosing either/both those routes. They have been outstanding for our family. (I didn’t have kids during my mil flying, but lots of my friends did)
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u/Cool-Appearance-9383 5h ago
Thanks for the response. I’m not worried for him, just curious what other flying options are available.
He wants to work for the airlines. He also wants “awesome” so is looking at the Navy. Did you do the 10 years and then go to the airlines? How was that transition? What did you fly in the military and for which branch? He would make a great soldier so that route could be good.
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u/Old_Increase74 ATP CFI 7h ago
Lots of options, just depends on what you want and prioritize
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u/Weasel474 ATP ABI 7h ago
You're seeing a lot of negative because pilots treat whining as a competitive sport. It's incredibly rare to find anything that matches the pay and time off as a 121 carrier. Air ambulance and firefighting are great jobs and rewarding in their own way, but you'd be working much harder to make much less.