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November 5th, 2006, 09:18
| #1 |
| Newbie Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Olathe, KS (suburb of Kansas City)
Posts: 1
|  New to Jet Careers Hey All, Just signed up on this site yesterday. I am an air traffic controller at ZKC (Kansas City Center - enroute). Been here for almost 19 years. Got my private pilot's license back in 1986, instrument ticket in 1996, multi-engine in 2002 and single and multi-engine commercial tickets in 2004. Right now I am a partner on a pressurized C340. With six years left in my air traffic control career, I am considering whether getting paid to fly when I retire at age 50 makes sense. Right now I have 825 hours total time, 450 multi-engine and over 500 hours retract. The last 150 hours have been in the pressurized C340. Any thoughts? |
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November 5th, 2006, 10:06
| #2 |
| Moderator  Join Date: May 2003 Location: GRR
Posts: 8,367
| Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome! It's always good to get some more perspective from the ATC side of things, so I hope you'll poke your head in the Air Traffic Controller forum on occasion.  With that little *plug* out of the way.....I think you'd have a great shot at doing some flying at 50. I'm from the corporate/135 side of the business and I'd certainly think that there will be some corporate operators that would use your services. Of course you would need 1200 total time to start doing any charter work, but your age (and assumed maturity level) will be an asset for many smaller corporate operators. Your mid-size twin time will certainly be a plus, and sets you up well for transitioning to a turbo-prop or light jet copilot position. The downside is that 800+ total time is really low for any type of "career" position with good pay and benefits, so you would most likely be doing part-time fill-in work, and flight time (and pay) could be pretty spotty at best. Hopefully you have already stashed away enough resources to weather that storm for a few years until you get in the 3,000+ hour range where options open up and pay gets more liveable. Corporate jobs are all about networking and being in the right place at the right time. You have to meet people and have your name and face in front of them when they need someone. I know some tower guys that do part-time work in our area and the day to day interaction at the local level is what opens some of the doors for them. I'm thinking that Center ops don't give you that kind of contact, so you will need to use other means to make contacts with the right people. I can't begin to tell you how many times an entry level position has been filled, usually on short notice, by the guy that was standing in the office at the moment the need became apparent, or had just talked to the Chief on the phone within the last couple of days. Entry level positions are not filled by Chief Pilots digging through the old pile of resumes, or doing a lot of interviewing, they go to the guy that was just in contact with the Chief, expressed an interest, and made a good impression. To give you a little perspective for my thoughts, I was in my forties when I made the switch from a corporate/engineering job to flying full time. I went from flying light twins and heavy singles for business travel (and pleasure) to a 135 charter gig with just over 1200 hours. I'm now flying light jets for a jet management/charter company and having a blast. I still have quite a ways to go on the pay scale side to get back to where I was when I had a "real" job, but I have absolutely no regrets. "Living the Dream"
__________________ . Life is painful. Suffering is optional. |
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November 5th, 2006, 12:19
| #3 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,933
 | Re: New to Jet Careers Well mine wont be long but welcome aboard! You'll find a ton of great people in this forum. |
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November 5th, 2006, 17:27
| #5 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Utopia
Posts: 12,403
| Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome to Jetcareers!! I wonder how many times I talked to you as FLX 745 and FLX 705!!  You've probably helped me get around some pretty bad WX, so for that, I thank you!
__________________  ------- "Sadness bears no remedy for the problems in your life."  |
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November 5th, 2006, 17:52
| #6 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Live in MEM but commute to RDU
Posts: 462
 | Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome to the site. |
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November 5th, 2006, 18:50
| #7 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Spokane, WA
Posts: 6,482
| Re: New to Jet Careers Nice to have a ZKC guy here. Be nice to UPS. |
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November 5th, 2006, 22:54
| #8 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: May 2005 Location: California, USA
Posts: 2,033
|  Re: New to Jet Careers welcome aboard mate!! It is always good to have different viewpoints on board. |
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November 6th, 2006, 00:38
| #9 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wichita, Kansas
Posts: 599
| Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome. I fly into Stillwater, OK (SWO) often and occasionally to ICT and TUL. We may have talked on the radio. It's good to have another controller on the forum.
__________________ Ryan ATP (CE525, CE510, BE-300), SIC BE-400, CFI, CFII, MEI, IGI |
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November 6th, 2006, 09:53
| #10 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Pete, FL(KPIE, KSPG)
Posts: 268
| Re: New to Jet Careers Hey glad to have you aboard!! Sounds like you will be a great asset to JC. 
__________________ KA-BLAHHHH....FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!! |
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November 7th, 2006, 19:23
| #11 |
| Big Chief's Woman  | Re: New to Jet Careers also sounds like you have what you need to get into a flying position after you retire! if you were brand new to flying (ie: didn't have your PPL) i'd think differently.. but with all your time, i'd say there's no reason to not go for it if that's what you want to do!! Welcome aboard!!! having another seasoned controller on board is absolutely awesome!! |
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November 7th, 2006, 19:32
| #12 | |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: KIDP/KCNU
Posts: 3,005
| Re: New to Jet Careers Quote:
__________________ www.flywhiteair.com http://www.myspace.com/desertdog71 Following message is for SkyCougar.  Took my chances on a big jet plane, Never let them tell you that they're all the same. | |
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November 7th, 2006, 22:12
| #13 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: KMKE
Posts: 1,924
| Re: New to Jet Careers I know a guy who got hired at a Regional at 53. He's having a blast. And welcome to JC!
__________________ British Airways flight asks for push back clearance from terminal. Control Tower replies: "And where is the world's most experienced airline going today without filing a flight plan?" |
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November 8th, 2006, 00:55
| #14 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: LUK
Posts: 377
| Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome KC Center! I'm sure I've talked to you a bunch down here in Southern, IL. |
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November 8th, 2006, 00:57
| #15 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: KPDX
Posts: 1,137
| Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome!! |
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November 8th, 2006, 16:01
| #16 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Tarzana, CA (KVNY)
Posts: 1,496
| Re: New to Jet Careers Welcome to the board. And if I HAVE talked to you then that means I was REALLY lost |
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November 8th, 2006, 16:03
| #17 |
| Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: KIDP/KCNU
Posts: 3,005
| Re: New to Jet Careers I just found out that I will be there for a tour on the 17th in the morning. Let me know if you are on duty that day.
__________________ www.flywhiteair.com http://www.myspace.com/desertdog71 Following message is for SkyCougar. Took my chances on a big jet plane, Never let them tell you that they're all the same. |
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November 8th, 2006, 18:28
| #18 |
| Agent Smith  | Re: New to Jet Careers Hey, if you hear a "Dellah 987 tonight" say howdy!
__________________ Doug Taylor http://76school.flyblog.com (old!) http://30west.flyblog.com (updated 11/28) |
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