The Bottom Feeders of Aviation

WARNING: This is a rant and rave more than anything else, and is the result of frustration with a situation and system.

Being forced to go back to work from the bliss that was financial security and early retirement, I have had to take on a role with which I am not so familiar; rookie job seeker. I am in the position of changing careers late in life at a time when I did not expect to have to do so, in a market that, well, as I have said before, sucks. As a result, I have been introduced to the bottom feeders of aviation employment.

My first encounter with the suckfish of aeroservices was a small charter operation that flew back and forth to the Bahamas on an irregular, as-needed schedule. They got my resume via email and were quick to contact me, allegedly based on my unique position of maturity and command experience that would allow me to make better decisions regarding whether to fly or not fly. You see, the Pilot in Command (PIC) is the absolute last auhority on whether a plane leaves the ground or not (I will not get into the argument of what role the Almighty plays in this). If the Captain says no, the plane don't go. Well, in theory, at least. There is a lot of pressure from the people making the money off the flight to make the flight regardless of the conditions. So youthful, inexperienced pilots have a tendency to fly in any weather and with their lesser experience, and no seniority, are often placed in a position of feeling they have no choice.

This particular charter service, initially had me convinced that I merely had to go to school in Colorado to get the necessary training and certification to fly the kinds of planes they fly. Of course, I had to pay for the school myself, including travel and lodging. After several back and forth discussions of how to get the charter company to pay for the school, it was clear, they ain't gonna. So, I called the school, having decided to pay for the school on the grounds that education is never a bad investment.

I was surprised to discover that the program the school had agreed to with the charter service required that I be given almost two weeks of ground instruction by the charter company prior to going to the school in Colorado. The school made it abundantly clear that the liklihood of passing their course and receving the necessary certificates was slim and none without the previous ground school. The program called for the charter service to give me ground training and flight training prior to attending the school. The school's purpose was to polish my skills in a flight simulator and do final preparation for a written and practical exam, then sign off on the certificate based on their being a licensed flight school. When I brought this to the attention of the charter service, the charter service people claimed to have no knowledge of this, said they would look into it, and, shortly thereafter, stopped returning my phone calls and emails.

Ultimately, the scam would have worked out like this... I was to have attended the school at my own expense. If I somehow passed, the charter service had a qualified pilot. If I did not pass the course/tests/exams, having not received the requisite training from the charter service, the charter service was out nothing and I was certain I would be told, sorry about your luck.

The second scam is the aeroservice that offers an aviation "job fair" where companies can interview prospective pilots and, covnersely, pilots interview with prospective employers. The way this scam works is that the prospective employers in attendence have such high standards that any entry-level applicants can't qualify. The aeroservice then takes the relatively demoralized unsuccessful job applicant and offers (hard sells) a training program in their flight simulators and training classes that will allow the applicant to meet the minimum requirements. They have successfully created a receptive and somewhat captive audience for flight training that will cost in excess of $40,000. In most cases, by the way, this will qualify you to a low $20,000/year job. In spite of representations to the contrary, this aeroservice/school does not have any contractucal relationships with any airlines or charter companies that will guarantee a pilot a job after graduation. Thus, you can be out the money and unemployed and, once again told, sorry about your luck.

My faith in humanity takes a blow from time to time, but I am starting to figure out that aviation, at least in the entry-level realm, is full of bottom feeding suckfish and grifters. I am well aware as to why I am concerned about this, but I am surprised that the public is not more aware. We are talking about the schools that train pilots for the airlines and charter services that fly you around so many thousands of feet above the Earth. Unless that guy in the cockpit of the aircraft you are in knows what he is doing, and is REALLY GOOD AT IT, or you can figure out how to fly by flapping your arms, look down, because that will be the place you die, right there below you.