Would you leave?

[pilotyip]

Not to be a spoil sport, but I have been told many times on this site that $100K is chicken feed, I have never seen it so I guess I don't know what chicken feed is. I left aviation for 5 years and came back have never looked back since.

 

[Mr Wu]

Finally get that screener job with TSA?

 

[IADBLRJ41]

I think about it alot if not several times daily. Flying is fun and is something that pilots can only relate/understand the "illness". Heck take the 6 figure job and you will have money to actually rent or purchase your own plane with a buddy or something. You can always come back to flying if you miss it 121 style.

I would leave if I could find a job that I would enjoy outside flying. My dream would be to work for the Chicago Cubs doing something. Maybe selling beer

All seriousness make the choice that is right for your family and will give you the most happiness being home and seeing your kids grow. Life is too short to miss a baseball game compared to spending nights in a crashpad.

I have been in the regionals for 5+ yrs and everyday I commute to work for AWAC I get closer to giving that two weeks notice. God knows it is not hard to make more money than what a regional FO makes.

I believe good flying jobs exist but you have to get really lucky. SWA out of a base that you really want or a fortune 200 part 91 gig that has good pay and equiptment. Otherwise the rest sucks.

 

[Prop2Jet]

Thank you all for your honest feedback. It means a lot to me.

 

[Silverhawk]

In July of '05 I was faced with a choice -- stay home, sell real estate with my wife and be with my family -- or take the upgrade, commute to O'Hare, and follow through on all of the hard work that I had put in to getting to that point. I chose to stay home.

My wife and I made almost 400K selling real estate last year. We are on track to make over 500K this year. And yet not a day goes by that I don't think about flying.

I truly belive that if you can live in base, get some senioroty -- and have another job that pays the bills -- being an airline pilot would be the greatest part time job in the world. If you do live in base, see if you can find that other job that gives you both money and the flexability to be a pilot -- real estate is a great example -- and your life will be quite nice.

Hope that helps...

 

[Captain Morgan]

The problem I have with Silverhawk's statement is that this profession is not a part-time job!

 

[pilotyip]

depends upon how you define part-time, if you are talking about day to day week to week, it is not a part time job. If you are talking about decades it is a part time job, we have all spent time between jobs, I guess that is kinda part time.

 

[snap145]

you hafta ask yourself one simple question....even though the schedules and pay suck gigantic ass in the airlines, especially the regionals....if your paying the bills and your happy and when you put all the bs to the side, you still love hand flying the airplane....I think you might miss that feeling sooner than you think....regardless of how good the paycheck is....money isnt everything friends.....I realize we are over worked and underpaid, and it catches up to all of us from time to time....but MOST of us got into this gig for one reason...we absolutley LOVE to fly airplanes...i know i still do. If the big paycheck will make your QOL that much better and you can still get your rocks off flying GA on the side then go for it....but when you put all the crap aside we all know landing a jet is much more fulfilling than trolling around in a 152...good luck...hope everything works out for you

 

[CopilotDoug]

I am on track to make over $500 billion this quarter ALONE as a male prostitute! My lifestyle thrives on the jealousy I impart on others and I hope it makes you that much more self conscious about how much more I make than you. Just figured I'd toss that out there.

I liked the TV commercial which said something to the effects of "No kid wants to grow up to be money man..."

 

[CopilotDoug]

The problem I have with Silverhawk's statement is that this profession is not a part-time job!

I agree, unfortunately I think there are way too many people who don't regard flying as "work" (Not to sidetrack the main issue)

 

[ReverseSensing]

The stress and BS with this job is way above the average job.

As a career-changer who DID NOT get into flying for the love of it, I have to disagree with you on that. Flying for a regional is about the least stressful job I've ever had (and I've had a lot of jobs, including instructing, bush flying and freight-doggin'). Remember, I don't LOOOOOVE flying, and I still think this is the best job I've ever had (at 40+ with several careers and dozens of jobs behind me). But I'm still an FO, so maybe it'll be different once I upgrade.

Having said that, if something else came along that I really wanted to do, I'd probably walk away from flying. But I'd leave because of the attractiveness of the other job, not the drawbacks of the flying job. Every job has drawbacks -- that's why it's called 'work.'

As I tell people who ask me if I like flying for a living: "This is the worst job in the world...except for all the others.

 

[landlover]

i dont know about the rest of you, but i'd never be able to just shuffle paper all day, sit at a desk and punch a clock! i'd go stir crazy in 15 minutes. i agree with what some said, about flying being a addiction. theres the phone, hope its dispatch with my next fix!

 

[rhino3040]

Dude, at this perspective job, are you going to be able to look out at a sweet-ass sunset and pick your nose with the yoke in one hand, and the newspaper or porn in the other? I think not, we may not make a whole lot, or have the QOL that others may have sitting behind the desk banging their wifes everyday, but we have a passion that will always be my drive to stay in aviation regardless of money....my two cents, I guess

 

[CoolSidePillow]

If you dont mind another pocket full of change I will add my .02 cents. I have known different types of jobs. I have seen corporate jobs, manual labor trade jobs, and currently a flying career. If you have to work to exist you are going to have problems, bad days, drawbacks, regrets, etc...
You can have a job that pays well
You can have a job that you love to do
You can have both but you can't have neither for that is a quick way to early grave. Every person is different and we all have different aspects of life that must be addressed and considered most important. I am single and honestly I do not know how guys that are married and especially have small children do flying as a career. Well maybe if the wife is ugly and kids are rotten I can. When I was in the 9-5 world I enjoyed knowing what time I was leaving, going to the gym, running errands after work, being home, every weekend off etc... At the same time I felt like I was at Shawshank prison minus the violent man sex. I get that in aviation from management. There are no guarantees but there are more stable areas to earn your living and aviation isnt one of them regardless of a hiring turn around or whatever is happening. Aviation will forever be a crapshoot. I am fortunate, as I have been in the business less than 10 years and never was I furloughed, moved backwards or even sideways. I am not in debt from aviation and I only really struggled financially for a year. The 9-5 life has nothing that I really want and I can say I love what I do. A few final words. There are many professions that allow you to be home every night but the amount of work, pressure, and time that the job demands means you can only be home to sleep and shower every night. Are you really home then? I have known people that spend better than 12 hours a day for work and commute and often have work to do at home. They live the profession 24/7. Success often demands a lot. Lastly, in response to "flying that bonanza". I recently flew GA and did a favor for local flight school. That was more terrifying than flying in thunderstorms, ice, and LGA to minimums with a new FO. No TCAS, planes all over, uncontrolled field with people not following a single rule of flying. I wish you the best in your endeavors and you will know if you make the right decision.

 

[flyer172r]

if your paying the bills and your happy and when you put all the bs to the side, you still love hand flying the airplane....I think you might miss that feeling sooner than you think

That's part of the problem I have with flying for the airlines. Out of a two hour flight I might spend ten minutes actually flying the airplane. A few months ago I went flying in a 172 with a friend who was still flight instructing, and it was the most fun I've had in months.

The airline career is ok for now because I'm single and have pretty much no life. Once that changes, I'd consider giving it up. But I'd have to find something that I found at least a little challenging, preferably something where I could feel like I was making a difference to someone.