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Welcome to an aviation podcast that caters to all aviation enthusiasts, ranging from pilots to airplane spotters. Our show covers a wide range of topics, including private pilot training, airline operations, and the latest aviation news. Our knowledgeable host, an experienced airline pilot with eight years of flying under his belt, is thrilled to share his own experiences and offer valuable advice to help you pursue your aviation dreams. We are here to support you on your journey, constantly wishing you Tailwinds & Sunshine!
From the Baltimore Studios in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this
Manny:is the Tailwinds and Sunshine podcast.
Manny:Happy Friday, everyone. TGIF. Thank you so much for spending some time with me. I really appreciate it. Whether you are commuting to work, going to the airport, sitting at the airport, doing some airport appreciation time, gate agent waiting to go back to work on their break, I know your time is valuable, and I really appreciate you being here.
Manny:I almost didn't actually record this episode because I've been really busy. I I have, I just actually finished a 13 hour day at the training center. So I've been working the past couple of days have been 12 hour plus days. So I was really discouraged to do anything. I was kind of losing a little steam.
Manny:I really wanted to actually, just kind of relax, right, after work, after 13 hours. And to be honest with you, it was a review on the podcast. Someone left a very sweet review on Apple Podcasts, and it just gave me that extra boost that I needed to continue. Right? So sometimes I I have a little self doubt from time to time because I feel like I may not have the impact that I wanna that I wanna have on on the world around me.
Manny:But it's those little reviews that give me that extra boost. So, really, I do appreciate that. Thank you so much. And if you haven't done so already, please go to Apple Podcasts, tap that star, and submit some reviews. It really does make a difference to me.
Manny:I'm doing this for you guys. I'm doing it for myself, but I'm also doing it for you guys. So this is a happy Friday episode just for you guys. So I got inspiration for this episode when I listened to the latest episode of the 21.5 podcast. It's a really good podcast.
Manny:I encourage you to go and give them a listen. Go follow them. And they had a guest, a special guest, who I believe is a reoccurring guest around the show. His name is James O'Neil. And they actually did an episode on what I'm about to talk about.
Manny:I'm going to give you the the cliff notes version, the TLDR version or too long did not read version of that episode. And it really resonated with me because I get a lot of emails from you guys. And you've heard me answer this question before regarding, you know, changing your careers, kind of being on the, middle aged kind of, what do you call it, like population and you're trying to make a change or you're at an airline right now, if you're you're asking if you want if it's worth it to go somewhere else, you want to choose the right airline for you, etcetera. And I've already answered that question, but James was super eloquent with his explanation and his advice that I wanted to kind of give you my 2¢ on on his version, and I really appreciate that. But before I continue, I wanna read the review that I that I that I got recently that kind of, made me smile.
Manny:So I'm gonna pull this up really quick. This review is from Wrong Flyer, and it says, this is a great podcast for aspiring airline pilots of all ages and experience levels. I've been listening to this podcast nonstop for a week now because each episode is better than the previous one. Runway Rachel is personality personified. She really sounds like she loves her job, whichever hat she's wearing, and she makes me want to jump into the airline world with both feet without even looking.
Manny:Thanks for this great podcast, Manny. So thank you so much for that. That was really sweet. And like I said, it does make a difference, especially those days that I don't feel like I or feel overwhelmed with all the stuff that I'm doing. And then on top of that, I have to do the podcast.
Manny:So it really does make a difference, guys. So thank you so much for that. And last, before I get started, there is another episode coming up on Monday, so be on the lookout for that. It's the 2nd part with, my friend, Micah, and that's gonna be coming out on Monday. So keep an eye out for that.
Manny:I do have some more stuff in the shelf, that I have to edit. I may be falling a little behind because I'm gonna be really busy the next couple of weeks. I got some reserve days waiting for me next week. I have more training stuff I have to do. So it's gonna be a busy couple weeks.
Manny:So just be patient with me if that episode doesn't come out on Monday. It might come out a little sooner or or I'm sorry, a little bit later, but I'm gonna try my best to actually get that taken care of, so you can have more stuff to listen to. Alright. So lately, there's been a lot of news and a lot of headlines about the airlines going through some tough stuff. Right?
Manny:So United's been under the microscope. Boeing is definitely not having a good time whatsoever. Southwest stopped hiring. They deferred classes. They rescinded classes from some of my friends that were supposed to go there.
Manny:Spirit is set to furlough pilots in the fall. United slowdown hiring. They're asking their pilots to take unpaid leave possibly into the summer. Everyone's just slowing down. FedEx recently lost the USPS contract.
Manny:UPS picked it up. So it seems bleak. But remember that this is the media that likes to sensationalize everything. Right? So we need to step back and just take these headlines with a grain of salt.
Manny:Right? Make sure that we're not taking it for face value. We need to really dissect that and make sure that you talk to an actual expert in aviation to make sure you're getting your information right. So all these incidents that are happening at Boeing, United, Southwest, Spirit, they're localized incidents that are not spilling into the rest of the industry. Now the industry has slowed down.
Manny:We'll have we have to admit that it has slowed down, but it's because we were hiring something crazy like 5,000 pilots a year or something. That's unheard of. And it was partial to the COVID recovery. Right. The airlines didn't foresee that happening.
Manny:They had a knee jerk reaction initially, and they furloughed a bunch of people. They grounded a bunch of airplanes. And then all of a sudden, we recovered, and they didn't have the resources available. So they had to hire everybody and their mothers so they can fly these planes and fly people around but now we slow down it had to slow down right the COVID recovery is over but we're still cost carriers and the regionals are going to boom, right? Because now they can finally reach their numbers because now they're not bleeding pilots to the majors and legacy carriers.
Manny:So there's still a hiring going on. So all this slowing down and the potential furloughs of spare at Spirit, they're just localized incidents. So there's still plenty of opportunity out there for you to continue moving your career if that's your goal. If you're a regional pilot and you you want to go to United do it but you have to make those decisions really like really look close at what you're about to do and I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that. But now you may be asking about what if I do get furloughed?
Manny:What should you do? Well the first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna feel sorry about yours, you know, feel sorry for yourself, cry a little bit, call your mom, call your wife, get your support network together, have a little huddle, cry about it, but get up. Don't sit there wallowing in your own self pity get up dust yourself off and go out and get a job get your resume reviewed go get some interview preps Start going out there and find a job. And that job may not be at the airline you want. It may mean you have to go become a flight instructor or go back to your old regional airline and go in as a direct entry captain.
Manny:Those opportunities are right there. So you could potentially be a spirit and you've been there for about 6 months making $100 an hour. Now you go to back to your regionals direct entry captain and you're now making $150 an hour. Sitting at home collecting unemployment is just unbecoming of an aviation professional. And you'll have to explain that to an interview panel.
Manny:Why you decided to go that route instead of taking up work while there's plenty of opportunities in the industry. So getting furloughed, if you kind of see the silver lining, might be a blessing in disguise. You know the airline did you a huge favor and ripped a band aid off for you right? And keep in mind that as one of the first ones to be furloughed you'll be the 1st in line somewhere else. So any everyone else is going to follow you.
Manny:So you'll be first line first in line for that opportunity. And for all you know, you might even find better opportunities while waiting to get called back from your airline. You might land a netjets you might go to UPS You might start flying medevac. Take this opportunity to grow as an aviation professional and not slump down in the face of adversity. Right?
Manny:The biggest thing about finding a new job is going to be about keeping your ego in check because no job should be beneath you when you're trying to provide for you and your family. If you have to go scrub toilets man you go live your best life as a toilet scrubber until you can get back into aviation. I have seen people lose their homes to foreclosure because they refuse to get any other job that wasn't in their professional realm. Recruiters in the hiring teams of these airlines are going to have way more respect for for a person that went out there and flipped burgers or worked at an Omaha Cinnabon at a mall as opposed to that pilot that went and sat on their ass sucking on the government's tea. You go out there, you need you you do what you need to do.
Manny:So that was the first part about getting a job and getting furloughed that James talked about in the 21/5 podcast. The second part, it was a question from a JetBlue pilot that asked the hosts if going to the majors or, I'm sorry, legacy carriers was a good idea. This JetBlue pilot has been at JetBlue for 8 years, I believe they said. And he's a captain in the a 3 20. But he's seeing all of his friends going to legacy carriers, United, Delta, American, and they're just having the best time of their lives.
Manny:They're cashing those fat profit sharing checks, and there's a little bit of stagnation at JetBlue currently especially after that failed merger with Spirit. So he's beginning to question his career choices. Should he leave JetBlue and start commuting to go to another airline? Is it worth going to another airline start over at the bottom of the pile after being at JetBlue for 8 years? So the advice was to really make a choice between you and your family.
Manny:Make a pros and cons list like I've been telling you guys. Base your decision on pros and cons. What are you set to lose if you leave your current position? How far back are you setting yourself if you start over somewhere else? Are you doing it because you're chasing status?
Manny:Are you doing it for your family? Are you willing to put your through the ringer for the choice you're about to make? How old are you? Are you on your, you know, early twenties, mid twenties, you know, early thirties where you have plenty of time and the stamina to go through another training department. Are you 40 like me where I really don't care to go too much into training anymore because it's stressful, guys.
Manny:You have to assess that situation between you and your family. Sometimes these choices are hard and sometimes the right choice might be this the one that you were not expecting. Let me give you the example, my example. So when I came to SkyWest, I was making $45 an hour. I had just become an instructor and we were in contract negotiations.
Manny:The airline industry was just booming. Everyone was hiring and all of the regionals were struggling to keep pilots because everyone else was taking them. So initially when I came, my goal was to be at SkyWest for about 5 years. I said I'm gonna spend 3 years as an FFO, 2 years as a cap then I'll be marketable and I'll go to United. But this seemed a little out of reach at the time because I said, you know what?
Manny:I think I'm going to go to Frontier because I really wanted to fly the air Airbus A320. I was on an Airbus kick at that time. I was like I really wanna fly that plane. I don't care. I wanna go there and it made sense.
Manny:I was gonna be making a $100 an hour as an f o flying the airbus with a $50,000 bonus right off the bat I said hell to the yeah. I am gonna go do that. But shortly thereafter, Skyway's passed the new, tentative agreement so a new pay package that came out and now I was making the same rate at SkyWest that I was at Frontier and I was making more way more money than instructed than I ever would at frontier and I had the time off that I wanted it was flying a great plane now that choice didn't make sense why am I gonna leave somewhere I'm enjoying being just to fly a different plane? It didn't make sense. But you know what hurt?
Manny:And you know what took me so long to get over and to overcome? It's that hurt. I was embarrassed that at 40, almost 40 years old, I was only a regional pilot. It hurt because I saw people around me taking advantage of the system and laundering their resumes and multiple airlines to claw their way up to the airline ladder. I had to see people do very unethical things for their own personal gain.
Manny:I've seen people lie about their qualifications, lying to recruiters and the hiring team regarding, oh, this is the best airline. This is where I wanna fly just to turn around and leave in the middle of training. I've seen people lied about being a veteran to get ahead. I've seen students in the training department get here and as soon as they pass ATP CTP, see you. They had no intentions of ever staying at SkyWest and they utilized them and a company paid for their training with absolutely no remorse.
Manny:And that's things guys. To see those people at the airline I dreamed of flying for when I was a kid. I know you may be feeling the same sting sometimes wherever is that you're at, but you got to look at yourself in the mirror and find your why. Why did you become a pilot? If your why is strong enough, you will not waiver from your decisions and you'll find happiness in your career.
Manny:I have not wavered from my values and I promised myself I would not lower my ethical principles to get ahead or take advantage of anything or anyone for my own personal gain. And I can tell you nice guys don't always finish last and I've been rewarded handsomely so far. I may not be where I envisioned myself trying. That cheating, you're not trying. That must do anything and everything to get ahead.
Manny:I believe that's what's wrong with our society. Our sense of community is highly degraded in America and we have become a society of what can I do for myself and what can you do for me? I encourage you to stay the path. Be ethical. Have integrity.
Manny:Anyways guys, I'm gonna get off my soapbox there but I really appreciate you sticking around for that one. So once again base your decision on your why not on market predictions or the economy. Is it worth leaving? Is it worth leaving a quarter $1,000,000 job that you get to fly with your wife or your partner at the same the same airline or same company, are you willing to leave a $130,000 job flying flying a Learjet for medevac because as a kid you thought, you know what? I wanted to fly the triple 7 for FedEx.
Manny:And I'm not here to take a crap on the people that really have aspirations of flying the biggest jet at the at the airline of their choice. But you gotta check your ego because sometimes some of those decisions that you make because you're chasing a specific dream might put others at jeopardy. More specifically your family. But I always encourage you to take the best path, chase your dreams, but make sure you're doing it in a way that you're proud to tell your family and friends. Anyways, guys, thank you so much once again for sticking around with me.
Manny:I appreciate the support you're giving me. I appreciate everything that you're doing for me. And as I always say, keep growing, keep learning, because good enough to earn a living may not be good enough to survive.
Manny:Hey, fellow aviation enthusiast. Before I let you go, I'd like to ask you for a huge favor. If you could please go to the platform where you're listening this podcast in and leave a review, some feedback, and some comments. I really do appreciate that. I wanna make the Tailwinds and Sunshine podcast your podcast.
Manny:I also want
Manny:to give a huge thanks to
Manny:to my friends and coworkers that have shared the podcast with their friends and family. That means the world to me. I really appreciate your support and your subscriptions. If you wanna reach out to me, you can email me at mannythecfi@gmail.com, or you can message me directly on Instagram at climbvx. That's clim, b as in bravo, v as in Victor, x-ray.
Manny:You can reach me there with your suggestions or any feedback. Once again, thank you for the bottom of my heart. I appreciate the support. And until next episode, I wish you tailwinds and sunshine. See you.
Manny:The statements made on the show are my own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.