TankHunter

My Feedback: (1)

ok all i need some inpiut... i am a seinor in highshcool and i have absolutely no idea on what i want to do with my life... i have four major possabilities....
1. Flying career with a major airline hopeing to sooner or later become captin on a international crew....
2. powerplant or airframe mechanic...
3. Military or law enforcement either on ground or flying( i have glasses so the airforce flying is out..))...
4. aeronautical engineer....'

now the things i am considering when decideing this and i do want input from yall is...

pay
college time....
fun....
and anything else relevant

some thing about me....
i love working with my hands and enjoy finding creative ways to do things... i am good with weapons both rifles and pistols... I LOVE ALL FORMS OF AVIATION!!!!!!!!!!!!.... i get board easily..... i dont want to pay an arm and leg for college.... soo there it is

i would like input from some one who is or is studying to do one or more of these... i was hopeing to earn out of college around 30,000 streigh out but i figure this probubly wont happen... so thanks in advance



PS: this is a serous thread and if you dont have anything nice and polite to contribute DONT... notice i did not ask for bad things about these jobs and i DONT WANT ANY ARGUEING HERE


thanks

Rod

normgoyer

Hi, if you were one of my six kids or 12 grandkids I would advise you to learn the English language, spelling, grammar and tweak your writing skills. No matter what career you choose you will be judged by your ability to communicate in your native language. Norm

redfox435cat

30K a year straight out of college is low-balling it, dude 30k isn’t squat with housing nationwide averaging over 170K, here you can’t touch a condo for less than 370K. 45K a year minimum. As far as career choices is all in what you want. Are you simple about cash? Fields like aeronautical engineering have huge potential for money but you'll be worrying about weather or not you have a job every 5-10 years. If that what you want to do that then take every math class you can squeeze in. you should be through calc 1 with a b+ in high school or at least through pre calc ready to take calc your first semester in college.
If your worried more about security then look to working for municipalities say civil engineering, designing airports?

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Any technician position should earn you 30+k easy. At our plant we have 3 EMT position starting at 22 an hour 45K. Personally I never considered being a wastewater operator as a kid. But once I’ve seen the career potential I was there. I started at 35K a year no college degree. While working for a municipality they paid for my college and now have an AS in electronic and now working on a BS in Water science and working on my grade 4 state exam. Since I work nights allot I get to study all night on the job, it’s cake and it’s great. When I’m done I’ll be first in line for the superintendent position making 90K which would set me in a position to get into division management making well over 100K. Our current city admin started were I’m at and is now pulling over 180K
Same with my brother. He started digging trenches for verizon and worked his way to lineman. Verizon pay for his school and now he’s got his BS in communications now running the DSL switches making over 80K a year.
You either just bit the big one and go for broke going for your degree or work and earn it at the same time or join the military

Robinaire

My Feedback: (23)

Hi Rod. First, I go along with Norm Goyer on the grammar bit. (HI Norm!) Your request was attrocious. That is meant to be a constructive criticism. I am a former professor at an upper division and graduate university, and I was appalled at the number of students who came in at the junior level who couldn't read, write or spell! COMMUNICATIONS-- it is at the heart of EVERYTHING! Everything you do depends on good communications skills! As to the choice of jobs, go with the one that will give you the greatest satisfaction. I have a stepson who worked for years at a job he hated, even though he made a lot of money. He now regrets his choice, as he didn't realize his most precious dream. The fact that you love to work with your hands, and create things, sounds like the airframe/powerplant option might be the thing. You can get a degree at many of those schools, and take some engineering work as well in aircraft structures. You might be able, some day, to design a really affordable light plane for the masses. They are still, by and large, building planes like they did 75 years ago! Whatever you do, be tenacious, learn everything you can, about a lot of things! Go for it!!! Lee Robinson West Palm Beach, FL.

Rotorwrench

I work for a part 135 helicopter operator on the Gulf coast. We have quite a few mechanics that will be retiring over the next few years and we will be hiring mechanics. We start out at about 40K and you would not have to move away from Houston. The cost of living is much cheaper in this area, to maintain my same lifestyle in Ca I would have to make 140K compared to the 80K I make here. There are a number of good A&P schools in the Houston area, check out Rice, we've hired several guys that attended school there.

Dr1Driver

First, learn English, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization rules. It's very depressing that a senior in high school can't do any better than this:

ok - capital 'O'
i - capital 'I'
inpiut - input
seinor - senior
highshcool - two words, high school
i - capital 'I'
i - ditto
possabilities - possibilities
hopeing - hoping
captin - captain
i - capital 'I'
now - capital 'N'
i - capital 'I'
decideing - deciding
i - capital 'I'
weapons both rifles and pistols - weapons, both
board - in this usage, bored
hopeing - hoping
probubly - probably
ARGUEING - arguing

And I'm sure I missed some.

Dr.1

normgoyer

Hi, as you probably know I am and have been editor and Consulting Editor for many magazine and book publishers for the past 30 years. Each year the submissions we receive get worse and worse and fewer in number. Young people simply are not learning the basics in school. TV, video games, iPods, cell phones etc., etc .surely don't help. If you want a wake up call look at the number of Asians who speak, write and can communicate in their second language far better than most of born-in-America young people. And yes, know more about American history. Sad, but very true. Norm

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

As already said, improve your grammar, spelling and writing skills; If you sent in an application or resume' that looked like your post, it would likely wind up in File 13, with no calls for an interview.

For someone not clear on their life direction, I vote for going into the military. Air Force and Navy both have outstanding A&P training, and if you like helicopters, try for Army Aviation (or Navy). Someone who does well with the regimented lifestyle and learns to keep their ducks in a row and works hard, can just about name their price in the private world. The military has some good benefits and provisions for continuing education, too. I didn't join until I was almost too old (USAF--8 years), and my ONLY regret was that I didn't go in right out of school.

Dr-1---You missed serous. I thought the post was a request for an oozing plasma-like liquid.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Rod, listen to all that has been said prior. Also think about what interests you the most and figure out if it will make you happy doing it long term. If you have no idea about what you want to do, you should think about the military. I am not saying its the end all, but there are some awesome avenues there and you get paid, can get school paid for and can do very well for yourself. The UAV program would be interesting as heck. If I were younger I would have done that. It wasn't around when I was younger so I went to flight school. You mentioned airlines. If you are not willing to get a degree and spend a small fortune learning to fly, you can't do it. You need the degree, all the ratings which will cost you about $40,000 and then you have to put a lot of time in as an instructor or something like that to build time before an airline will look at you. Its very hard work and if you are not into it 110% you won't make it. I have seen a huge washout rate in aviation.

Good luck in whatever you do. Make the best of it and you will enjoy it.

DKjens

My Feedback: (50)

Rod mentions that he uses corrective lenses, so the military avenue is out. My question to anybody who knows is, can corrective surgery remove that restriction, or are you somehow marked by at one time having had the need for corrective lenses. I was almost blind as a bat until Jan. 2004, where I paid $1,550.00 for lasik surgery and went from having 20/1600 vision to now having 20/20. My point is, if a $1,550.00 surgery can open the door to a possible military flying career, then do it.

While we're at bashing Americans and their lack of English skills, I have to say that I've seen many many posts that were much worse than Rod's. English is my second language, but at least I know the meaning of, and when to use where, were, we're, there, their, they're, as well as to refer to persons as "who" and to things as "that". To the majority of Americans the word "who" could just as well not exist, everything and everybody are referred to as "that". And I can't even count how many people obviously don't know the difference between the two groups of six words I first listed.

DKjens

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

There are a lot of great things in the military besides flying. I would look at many options there.

As for the spelling, many people on here just think of it as a blog and don't care how they come across or spell. I laugh every time I see someone use the word prolly when they mean probably.

normgoyer

If the young man wanted to find a minimum hourly job or wanted to wash airplanes rather than fly them, there would have been very little said about his language skills. But, he was shooting for the moon without enough powder in his musket. Norm

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Where are you, TankHunter? None of us are trying to make it hard on you, but when you enter the job market, military or otherwise, you'll see what hard really is. With all the industrial and professional downsizing, and well-established workers out looking for new careers, and the number of guys like you just starting to look, the competition is fierce, and employers can afford to pick nits when hiring. You've got to impress the hell out of them, any way you can.

teookie

Dude, it does not matter if you don't proof read your internet posts, as long as you proof read your resume.

With that aside, definitely do what YOU think will bring YOU the most satisfaction. Any one of those options is going to win you more than 30K/yr.

But if you do go to college, plan on at least 30K of debt when your done.

Dr1Driver

And I can't even count how many people obviously don't know the difference between the two groups of six words I first listed.
Will this be on the test?

Khodges, you're absolutely right. When I was in college, back in '70 - '80, things were a lot different. What used to take a high school diploma now takes an Associate Degree. What used to take an Ass. Degree now takes a Bachelor's. What used to take Bachelor's now takes a Master's, and so on. "Average" doesn't cut it, either. A 2.5 will get you a job saying, "Ya want fries with that?" It takes 3.75 and 4.0. Gawd knows that it'll be like in 10 years. For every high tech., high-paying job, there are 50 applicants, all of them upwardly-mobile hard-chargers.

Dr.1

TankHunter

My Feedback: (1)

lol guys sorry bout the bad grammar as it was very early in the morning....

thanks for all of the input that I have received and i have narrowed my decisions down to two...

BS degree in AOS and a professional pilots job flying... anything...

or

AS degree in airframe and power plant...


my current question is has any one heard of these schools and if so are they good/bad or ok?

redstone aviation...
utah valley state college...
spartin...

thanks and again i am sorry bout the bad grammar. i really am good at reading and writing... but then i am Canadian sooo....

thanks

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Spartin is good.

Get a degree before or while you are getting your ratings. It doesn't matter what it is in, but it will get you in doors that you won't get into without the degree. Make it something you can fall back on just in case you lose your medical some day. I never thought I would use my marketing degree, but I use it often in my flying job for other purposes to help companies out that I fly for. It helps a ton to open doors too. Many won't hire without a degree.

robert

Hows the recovery going Flyboy? Hope its still going well....

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

I blame the school system! My son couldn't spell worth beans when he got out of school...the story we heard over and over !QUOT!as long as the child can express him/herself, spelling is not important.......!QUOT! He had to learn in a BIG hurry when he got out and found himself writing course curricula.

Talk to people actually working in the fields you are interested in. Learn what is behind the doors that you can't see from the outside. Often the !QUOT!glamor!QUOT! is no longer there. You are entering an age of cost reduction, productivity, efficiency, and Best Practices in an environment or increasing regulation and control. Talk to these folks and find out what it is REALLY like on the inside and decide if you are up to the challenge, or should keep looking. Long term job satisfaction comes from doing something you like to do, not going for big paychecks.

Good luck on your quest.

mtt3107

@ Robinaire :
Apparently he attended the "upper division and graduate university", where you were a professor.....

attrocious ?
I'm sure you meant "atrocious", and probably know that it's spelled with only one "t", but if you are going to judge other people's grammar/spelling, you should at least check your own, before posting.........

Apart from that, I agree with you and others here, the level of incompetence produced these days by our school system, is really astonishing.
I see what my kids do in 4th and 5th grade, and remember what I had to do, and there is a big difference. Today's standards are pathetic.

BTW, I'm not asian, but english is my second language...

mtt3107

On a lighter side :
Even CNN.com has trouble spelling ( or using a spell checker ) see here: http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/1...cnn_topstories
boldy ?....

MNFLYER

If I was the guy hiring you as an instructor, I would accept an UVSC degree, however I know another flight school around here doesn't accept it, if it is the online version of UVSC's degree. So is it the online on, or the one at campus?

Chasing Fear

My Feedback: (1)

OK, I won't even touch on the grammar thing...

However, GLASSES WILL NOT NECESSARILY disqualify someone from military flying. I am an instructor in T-37s. A good third of our students wear glasses/contacts. Now, a severe enough correction will disqualify someone, but just glasses themselves, no.

-Allan

Bruno Stachel

My Feedback: (4)

Alan,

Does it matter if the corrective lens wearer is an Academy grad or from ROTC?

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

OK, Tankhunter,
You've been getting a lot of good advice, but let me try this for a suggestion. I spent over 20 years flying with the Navy Reserve - my job was to run some ASW gear while the pilots 'drove us to work'. In real life, our pilots were always top-notch. Driving us to work was just something we said to them to get their goat. They worked just as hard as we did!

Let's say that you join the Military as an enlisted man, and get into a flying rate (in the Navy, it could be ASW, or in the Air Force, it could be as a Load Master or Spec Ops). Whatever. The main purpose is to get you into something with wings - but get a job that keeps you flying in the airplane, not jumping out of it.

This will do a couple of things:

First of all, if you're in a flying rate (i.e., job), you have to have a lot of personal discipline, whether as an officer or as an enlisted guy. That's good stuff to learn, especially for someone in your stage of life. Discipline is the primary key to any kind of a Flying position, whether Military, Civilian, or Airline. This doesn't mean that you can't have fun. You'll be AMAZED at the hijinks you can get involved with in these types of positions!

Secondly, you'll learn (simultaneously) how dumb you are and how smart you are, all at the same time - ask anyone who's been in a flying rate in the Military. They're laughing their hind ends off now, agreeing with me. You really have to stretch yourself. In short, you don't do this type of job for the pay - there isn't enough pay for this type of work. You do it because you LOVE FLYING.

Third, you'll have a great adventure. Remember, airplanes don't always take off and land at the same airport. You'll have some boring trips, and some amazing trips. And, remember to keep a personal logbook - it will be worth millions to you later in life. You'll keep it next to the Bible.

Next, if you find that you really like flying (and after watching the pilots do their own thing) you'll be in a great position to let the Military educate you and put you into a pilot position of some type. There will be a committment of several years, but you will be doing something that you WANT to do... Just talk to a pilot that you've become friendly with - he'll point you in the right direction.

And, if you find out that it's not to your liking, you can always jump back to civilian life with a thousand experiences that others will never have. The military isn't for everybody. Especially for those guys who first get in.. In the begining, you'll have some very trying times. But overall, it will be worth it.

If you've made your decision to become a pilot in a military billet, you can either make a career of it, or get out after your committment is up, and get a job with the airlines. The beauty is that you can still keep your hand in it by serving in the Reserves - most of my pilots were Airline pilots in the 'outside world'.

As a personal example, you might ask if my Reserve time (20+ years flying out of 28 years total) was worth it??? Well, after 28 years, I was forced to retire. It was only fair, so that the younger fliers in my Squadron could move up in rank...

But, you can still see my fingernail marks on the doorframes as they carried me out...

Perhaps you might think of this as a possible 'road' for your life to take you down?

If you'd like to talk about this off-line, please feel free to PM me.

Bob