The amount of money it costs for a US airline pilot to train in the US to the required amount of hours (1,500) per the NTSB has driven a lot of potential pilots to seek other lines of work. The cost for 1,500 hours and an ATP (airline transport pilot) certification hovers around $150,000 - $200,000 each student and most often times requires a college degree as well.
China has become a booming market now for pilots as the middle class of China has begun to grow, so much so, that in cities in outlying parts of China where the population is nearly 15,000,000 people, the need for pilots is incredibly high.
The beginning wage for a first officer (co-pilot) working a beginning regional airline pilot job is roughly $21,000 a year. That's a little more than what your average Taco Bell employee makes.
China, however, is paying the same candidates nearly $18,000 a month for the same experience and the same hours, but as you can see, a much higher wage. China currently, however, does not have any proper Flight Training centers where it can train pilots in a steady and safe way so they rely on pilots coming from Europe and the US to fill their roles in China.
As the cost is soaringly high, thanks in part to US Congressional requirements where in the past, the requirement to be an airline pilot used to be 250 hours, now being 1,500 hours, when can we start seeing Chinese airline companies begin paying from start to finish training in the United States so candidates can immediately begin flying in China?
>tl;dr when can we expect China to begin paying US candidates to take flying lessons to immediately begin working in China?
Jeremiah Williams
Airline Pilot here... ask me questions.. will post proof if I care
Christian Mitchell
Pilots should just form a union. The collective bargaining power of "fuck you, none of your planes fly and noone else is qualified to do so" is huge. If they arent already doing that, they are retarded and deserve the poverty wage.
Hudson Johnson
what's your perspective on automation in the airline industry?
Charles Hall
>The beginning wage for a first officer (co-pilot) working a beginning regional airline pilot job is roughly $21,000 a year. That's a little more than what your average Taco Bell employee makes.
While still bad, that much would go further in China than the USA.
Liam Mitchell
Have you fucked a stewardess in the bathroom, yet?
Lincoln Myers
I used to partake in flight training with the Civil Air Patrol back when I was 16 and 17, accrued 39 hours which were all free up until the time I had to solo which cut my flying time to zero. This was back in 2011, and now no flight training places want to honor the hours in my logbook. Oh well. The cost is what gets me. I am a stickler for my money and I feel as though the pilot market is going to dry up long before I ever finish or find the funds to get my ATP. What do you think?
My point is, is there still hope for me? I should have figured out a way to continue my training but that's a moot point.
Do you think the demand in China would ever call for Chinese airlines to begin paying for flight training in the US and immediately thereafter begin flying for Chinese airline companies? I wouldn't mind flying for China, I just want a chance at it.
Carter Williams
> We should make more money combined than the company brings in in profits > Then we can call the company greedy when the go bankrupt
Yup, unions are great man.
Jack Anderson
How come when I submit my bid in PBS it takes 3-4 days for initial open time to come out, shouldn't it be instant ? Suspicious as fuck if you ask me.
Aaron Martinez
$18k a month?
Proofs?
Nolan Brooks
>lets make pilots homeless and starve >oooh we can pile huge amounts of debt on them too! Sweeet
Soo much better
Landon Harris
Check the video I posted, it's a US transplant Chinese pilot who left his airline job in Chicago to fly with Tianjin Airlines and they show a job posting on the video. It's real.
Nathaniel Moore
Could probably cut out the 2nd pilot in the next 20 years... who knows, that's all dependent on the public/ FAA trusting single pilot airline ops or not. Otherwise the daily task of flying an airplane is compounded with 500mph IT troubleshooting.
No, I'm a dweeb, and the hot flight attendants don't slum it in the regionals for more than a couple months... also they fuck everybody else.
It is going to dry up. Once hiring to replace retirements finishes it'll grind back to a halt for decades.
Senior pilots are bribing crew planning for their perfect schedule (outside of seniority). You gotta wait a couple days for that process to finish dude.
Jose Young
Well, that sucks. Training to fly is a shitload of money, but what does that say about the Asiatic - Pacific pilot market? Too much exposure to international pilots, as well?
Brandon Allen
> when can we expect China to begin paying US candidates to take flying lessons to immediately begin working in China?
I already get those E-mails every month. India too. You mean start from scratch? They have like a billion people already.
Mason Ramirez
Well... from 39 hours. Needless to say, yes, from scratch.
Caleb Barnes
i used to know a pilot and he said that piloting is 95% boredom, 4% trying to get shit to work and 1% sudden action...
so, that being said, have you wanked in the cockpit before? i can't see what else you would do.
Nicholas Carter
Those hours still count towards your total time... but a six year break after only 40 hours? Yeah, I'd treat you as a 0 time person as well.
Angel Foster
So no gibs me dats for me to train for a Middle Eastern carrier, or an Indian carrier or Asian - Pacific? I think I'm going to continue fantasizing about the idea, the reality is too bleak.
Alexander Powell
Funny you should mention that there is always lots of porn hidden in the cockpit on every plane I've flown. Probably the mechanics that stash it there.
Angel Powell
They're really cut back on that at my airline. Check out the graffiti inside of the cargo holds some time... hilarious!
Luis Sanchez
I'm convinced there are a few chinese airlines paying top dollars for foreign pilots but most aren't premium airlines. If you happen to get into a shitty one (they're all controlled by the government btw) you'd have to deal with subpar security standards and operations in general. Blame consumers for wanting to have the highest mobility possible while wanting to pay the lowest price possible. The US is a good example what happens to the quality of service if you're in an impossible competition for the lowest price. Only take a look at the scheduled departure times. Fuck, what aircraft is departing exactly at 10.31 and arriving at 13.34?
Isaac Flores
I've figured as much. What does that mean in the grand scheme of things? When China's economy collapses, if that would ever occur, so would the airline jobs there as well?
Nicholas James
>China aaaaaaand no one cares
Caleb Cox
Your buddy also forgot to mention the hours you'll spend in airports wasting your life away.
Leo Lee
do you think if i sneak into the pilots section of an airport and start talking to them i'll be able to get a good conversation in before the feds drag me off?
Noah Wilson
On a scale of 1 to 10 how comfy is your job?
Benjamin Phillips
duh, China is fucked, it's gunna sink into the ocean or become like 5 different smaller countries.
David Stewart
>what does that mean in the grand scheme of things China will soon adopt the same security standards as the US and Europe because their customers will demand it.
Leo Ward
No it's not. That's some expected rate after he finished his probationary period. They will make it impossible for him to stay and pull his visa support if he demands full pay. So funny how Westerners think Chinese follow any laws or agreements they make.
Owen Kelly
user knows, never trust a chink even chink laws in china ain't shit you ain't shit in china
Adrian Watson
solid advice, it has made me rethink the entire plan, fuck the chinks
>nip asking how comfy a flight career is We've seen what a nip and flying can do in 1941, no thanks
Lincoln Thomas
>>tl;dr when can we expect China to begin paying US candidates to take flying lessons to immediately begin working in China?
Never because autopilot is superior to human pilots in most cases. Human pilot is basically only needed for taxiing and takeoff, the autopilot can even land the plane. In fact most cases where something went wrong during flight or especially during landing it's because of the human pilot's hubris and the autopilot would have done a better job.
The cost of training a human pilot keeps increasing and human error will always be a factor. Soon enough autopilot will be ubiquitous.
Tyler Barnes
>commercial airlines are statistically the safest mode of transportation >commercial airlines have some of the highest qualification standards
Gee.....you think there might be a fucking correlation here somewhere?
Surely we should lower standards for the assholes flying 150 tons worth of jet fuel and cheap luggage over the residential areas of our nation. What could go wrong?
Carson Mitchell
They won't adopt the same maintenance and inspection standards though, which means they'll be flying death traps.