Just about every time it’s mentioned that I attend flight school, I get The Question: “so, you want to work for the airlines?” It’s a difficult one to answer, in part because experience requirements for any of the ‘permanent’ aviation careers are so high that they’re just about out of reach.

The airlines certainly are the most visible destination – just about everyone has traveled on them, these days – but the flight time needed to get hired at a mainline carrier is extensive, usually more than 2,000 hours. Making things worse, most of the majors are on shaky footing for a variety of reasons. Others have even more specific hoops to jump through: Southwest in particular requires you to show up on your first day with a 737 type rating in hand, an investment of as much as $10,000. And they’re the only mainline carrier I actually would want to work for! I’m sitting at around 320 hours of total time right now, 30 of which is multi-engine; clearly, a high-time job isn’t in the cards any time soon. Still, even if I had the experience, the airlines just aren’t desirable: I really don’t want to be flying the same route day after day, responsible for hundreds of passengers every trip.

My long term goal has never been the airlines – I’m interested in flying freight or corporate for employee-oriented companies like FedEx or NetJets. Still, the truly attractive jobs bring with them high demand and high experience levels. In fact, it takes 2,500 hours or more to land a spot at Netjets, according to executive VP Richard Smith, who just spoke at UND on Tuesday. When you look at it, a more appropriate question would be “so, what do you want to fly – and how are you going to get there?”

For the immediate future the answer is that I’m going to instruct, probably for at least a year, back home in Everett or Seattle. When I graduate from UND this summer it’ll be with just under 350 hours; passing 1,200, I might start looking into jobs flying freight with a company like Ameriflight. Then again, instructing might feel right – either way, I’ll be grinding around until I have the hours it takes to move up the ladder. Sam, a regional pilot, has written a series on working towards aviation jobs that I’ve been following closely, but there’s a lot to consider, and everyone’s experience winds up different. Aviation is a rewarding activity, and I’m hoping it will continue to be so once I start getting paid to fly, but getting there is a long haul that’s nothing like the life in Catch Me If You Can.