Kurze Zusammenfassung der Vorgeschichte: Ich bin 01/09 zu Bristow, FL gegangen, habe meine Ausbildung mit einigen Verzögerungen selbstfinanziert (was sich als größter Segen herausstellen sollte) in 8 Monaten zum CPL und bis 11/09 bis zum CFI abschließen können. Anschließend CFII, Robbi Safetykurs, 25hrs R-44 Transition, R-22 CFI Checkout, 200hrs. Verlaufskurve der neueingeschriebenen Studenten an der eigenen Schule: -90% weniger im Vergleich zum Vorjahr, ersatzlose Streichung von offenen Stellen.
Objektive Ausgangslage also maximal bescheiden.
QUOTE
How to become a professional pilot in four simple steps
The following description of what might or might not have happened on my journey to become a professional pilot after finishing CFI was a horrible experience back then. But now looking back at it this was probably the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life.
[attachmentid=67]
First:
Drive 5600 miles from the beaches to bright white glaciers and through the desert and back.
Talk to people. Get used to 5 setbacks a day. Shrugh your shoulders about 5 times a day, too. Up to Denver expect the phrase: "You know, the economy...". From Denver through Utah expect: "We require high density altitude flying time"
Enjoy Utah's scenery and hospitality. Buy a plane ticket, do not stop in Arizona (remember sentence #2), go straight to Florida.
Cry.
[attachmentid=68]
Second step:
Hear about a job on the border of Canada in the perpetual ice of Minnesota. Drive like a maniac, pass 25 places you've already visited in step one. Get some more "No's" on the way.
Arrive in the boonies, get a tour of the facility and do not wonder about the kindness. Hand in your resume. Do not believe the words "Oh sorry, I thought you're a prospective student! No, we don't have any jobs here...". Think about that unexpected kindness again, start to believe. Wait to become lunatic until you backed out the driveway. Become a lunatic. Get back to reality when your car makes weird noises 50mi away from civilisation.
Drive 2500mi to and back along the east coast, get nearly killed twice and knock on 25 more doors. Get 23 more "No's", 1 "Maybe!" (never hear from them again) and 1 "FUCK OFF!".
Get snowed in in Beckley, WV and try to stay sane while stuck. Decide that dying on icy roads might be better than becoming insane between hillbillys. Drive on, spend your birthday on a highway and treat yourself with all you can afford that day. That is: a burger with double cheese on it...
Get back home.
Cry some more.
[attachmentid=69]
Step Three:
Pack your bags, look for flights home. Be cranky, go to bed late. Wake up 2 minutes past midnight, wondering who-for-f*cks-sake calls you at this godforbidden time! "We need somebody for our school in Minnesota!". Pinch your arm, wonder why you get called by a place that you've never visited on your tour in the middle of the night.
Get to bed again. Suffer from sudden insomnia. Get up, throw suitcases in your car, sleep 6 hrs and drive 1700mi the next day.
Work 6 weeks, be happy, make good money. Then work your way around the following problems until week 8: lose girlfriend to best friend, lose $1600 on a loan payback, lose your job, lose your home. Maintain sanity. Actually: F*ck it, you might lose that as well now! Lose sanity. Oh, and yes, you might wanna cry again...
Petrifiedly pack your bags and book a flight back home. Get this unexpected phone call from a friend, cancel your flight home, pack your car again, drive 1600mi to your new last-minute-job. 1600mi will become a mere commute soon.
Work as CFI, get send away 400mi to Pennsylvania, work something that is (officially...) close to being a CFI. Get asked to come back 400mi, fly all over the east coast and up to Vermont without a door but snow in the cockpit, survive, move to to Virginia again, spend one week there, get send to Steelers Country where you just came from. Let your boss tell you that you're insane for doing all this for him, ask him what your options are and get "You can quit. Anytime" as nicest answer. Spend christmas on the road and go 400mi back to Virginia again after new years.
Life as a pilot can SO simple! Unbelievable!
Step four: The aftermath.
- After all wonder why none of the positions you filled was held by retiring Vietnam pilots before. Wonder if somebody tried to bullshit you. No, wait: these aces from past decades are probably already really scarce these days and there is some serious demand. That must be why you never met one. Strange, yet everybody talks about it...
- Think: "My car looks like shit and needs a serious wash!" Wipe the dashboard and read of the odometer along the way. Realize that you just travelled once around the globe in less than 11 months and moved 5 times in 9 months.
The following description of what might or might not have happened on my journey to become a professional pilot after finishing CFI was a horrible experience back then. But now looking back at it this was probably the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life.
[attachmentid=67]
First:
Drive 5600 miles from the beaches to bright white glaciers and through the desert and back.
Talk to people. Get used to 5 setbacks a day. Shrugh your shoulders about 5 times a day, too. Up to Denver expect the phrase: "You know, the economy...". From Denver through Utah expect: "We require high density altitude flying time"
Enjoy Utah's scenery and hospitality. Buy a plane ticket, do not stop in Arizona (remember sentence #2), go straight to Florida.
Cry.
[attachmentid=68]
Second step:
Hear about a job on the border of Canada in the perpetual ice of Minnesota. Drive like a maniac, pass 25 places you've already visited in step one. Get some more "No's" on the way.
Arrive in the boonies, get a tour of the facility and do not wonder about the kindness. Hand in your resume. Do not believe the words "Oh sorry, I thought you're a prospective student! No, we don't have any jobs here...". Think about that unexpected kindness again, start to believe. Wait to become lunatic until you backed out the driveway. Become a lunatic. Get back to reality when your car makes weird noises 50mi away from civilisation.
Drive 2500mi to and back along the east coast, get nearly killed twice and knock on 25 more doors. Get 23 more "No's", 1 "Maybe!" (never hear from them again) and 1 "FUCK OFF!".
Get snowed in in Beckley, WV and try to stay sane while stuck. Decide that dying on icy roads might be better than becoming insane between hillbillys. Drive on, spend your birthday on a highway and treat yourself with all you can afford that day. That is: a burger with double cheese on it...
Get back home.
Cry some more.
[attachmentid=69]
Step Three:
Pack your bags, look for flights home. Be cranky, go to bed late. Wake up 2 minutes past midnight, wondering who-for-f*cks-sake calls you at this godforbidden time! "We need somebody for our school in Minnesota!". Pinch your arm, wonder why you get called by a place that you've never visited on your tour in the middle of the night.
Get to bed again. Suffer from sudden insomnia. Get up, throw suitcases in your car, sleep 6 hrs and drive 1700mi the next day.
Work 6 weeks, be happy, make good money. Then work your way around the following problems until week 8: lose girlfriend to best friend, lose $1600 on a loan payback, lose your job, lose your home. Maintain sanity. Actually: F*ck it, you might lose that as well now! Lose sanity. Oh, and yes, you might wanna cry again...
Petrifiedly pack your bags and book a flight back home. Get this unexpected phone call from a friend, cancel your flight home, pack your car again, drive 1600mi to your new last-minute-job. 1600mi will become a mere commute soon.
Work as CFI, get send away 400mi to Pennsylvania, work something that is (officially...) close to being a CFI. Get asked to come back 400mi, fly all over the east coast and up to Vermont without a door but snow in the cockpit, survive, move to to Virginia again, spend one week there, get send to Steelers Country where you just came from. Let your boss tell you that you're insane for doing all this for him, ask him what your options are and get "You can quit. Anytime" as nicest answer. Spend christmas on the road and go 400mi back to Virginia again after new years.
Life as a pilot can SO simple! Unbelievable!
Step four: The aftermath.
- After all wonder why none of the positions you filled was held by retiring Vietnam pilots before. Wonder if somebody tried to bullshit you. No, wait: these aces from past decades are probably already really scarce these days and there is some serious demand. That must be why you never met one. Strange, yet everybody talks about it...
- Think: "My car looks like shit and needs a serious wash!" Wipe the dashboard and read of the odometer along the way. Realize that you just travelled once around the globe in less than 11 months and moved 5 times in 9 months.
An dieser Stelle noch einen ganz großen Dank an Falko, ohne dessen Anruf ich nur zwei Wochen später Geld- und Tatenlos in den Flieger nach Hause hätte steigen müssen. Und dem ich immer noch einen Milkshake für den ersten Job schulde
Das kriegen wir aber noch hin! 
* Für Schulinhaber gilt: "Ziehen Sie ihre Schüler nur so schnell über den Tisch, dass sie die entstehende Reibungshitze als Nestwärme empfinden"
