Am I Crazy

[AZFLYER]

Hey Everyone,
So here is the story and I may have brought this up before in the past. I used to fly professionaly a few years ago and I left for what I thought was greener grass. I now hold an office job in the accounting world and make an ok salary but with good upside. I now make around $50K but will make a nice bonus of around $5000 in December. I am married and my wife works and she earns around $35K. We live in Phoenix and with a combined income of around $85K we have a nice life. So here is the kicker...I am miserable at my job. I hate it. I am miserable when I wake up and while at work I count down so I could go home and be miserable again tomorrow. So I want to go back and fly. Am I crazy? I don't know if my wife will take the news well. She comes from a wealthier background and I feel that I have to provide financially. First year pay at a regional is not even $30K and I am afraid we may not even be able to pay the mortgage. So what to do? Any advice/suggestions. I'm thinking of applying to all the regionals and taking a flying position but I don't want everything to fall apart around me. I am currently at around 1400TT with a few hundred multi. Thanks.

AZFLYER

 

[trip]

Life is short- you should have left yesterday!

 

[steven-o]

hey man i feel your pain. at one time i worked for a large accounting firm making a good salary with great upside. i too hated it. i decided to quit and pursue a career in aviation. it was the best move i have ever made. i know some people think it is crazy to give up a good paying, stable job for this crazy industry but i have no regrets. life is too short to hate the place where you have to spend most of it.

i did have one advantage to you though. i did not have a family or mortage to worry about. talk it out with her and try to make it work.

best of luck

 

[Flyer1015]

Hey Everyone,
So here is the story and I may have brought this up before in the past. I used to fly professionaly a few years ago and I left for what I thought was greener grass. I now hold an office job in the accounting world and make an ok salary but with good upside. I now make around $50K but will make a nice bonus of around $5000 in December. I am married and my wife works and she earns around $35K. We live in Phoenix and with a combined income of around $85K we have a nice life. So here is the kicker...I am miserable at my job. I hate it. I am miserable when I wake up and while at work I count down so I could go home and be miserable again tomorrow. So I want to go back and fly. Am I crazy? I don't know if my wife will take the news well. She comes from a wealthier background and I feel that I have to provide financially. First year pay at a regional is not even $30K and I am afraid we may not even be able to pay the mortgage. So what to do? Any advice/suggestions. I'm thinking of applying to all the regionals and taking a flying position but I don't want everything to fall apart around me. I am currently at around 1400TT with a few hundred multi. Thanks.

AZFLYER

Hey AZ,

I hear ya!


I'm single, 22, and an engineer fresh out of college making $58,000.

However, like you, I don't find my work meaningful/fulfilling.

I can't wait to switch over to flying commercially. I hope to interview with regionals pretty soon.

It will suck to give up $58k to start at $20k as a first year regional F/O

 

[svcta]

Slow down for just a second. Take it from someone who's been on both sides of this fence: A job at the regionals can be an unmitigated disaster. Long hours, short pay, 20 days a month away from home for the first couple of years maybe, etc. Try and think of some other options; some of them may prove to be easier on a marriage and the wallet.

Example....I flew cargo in twin cessnas(based in the southwest) for more per hour than I made flying an RJ. It was fun, safe, and it took me all over this hemisphere. Top it all off....I was home A LOT. And that can get you more and better experience for the next step up....

Also, look in to the corporate climate where you are. I left the regionals for a corporate gig and have never had a better job. I'm happy, my employer likes me(and pays me accordingly), way better benfeits package than the airlines gave me, and I'm home 28 days a month and still flying jets.

Now, I know it can be hard to break in to the corporate scene and jobs like mine aren't a dime a dozen, but there are many good jobs to be had outside the airlines that will make you feel like more of a person at the end of the day. Working for a regional carrier almost became an embarrassment toward the end of my days there. If my friends really knew what I made in return for all the time they saw me leaving or what I had to put up with at work(crappy hotels, scheduling, short nights and early rises, crew meals[or lack thereof], etc) they would have thought I was just stupid.

I grew up in an airline family and I always thought that it was the best job in the industry. Well, maybe not anymore. I'm learning to love the corporate side of things and have learned that there is stability here, there is pay here, there are some great conditions here. I'll leave it at that for now.


Just don't think that the airlines are your only option for a flying job. With my experience at the airlines I just can't steer anyone there..once the honeymoon is over it is a sh!t job, save the occasional sunrise/set or decent overnight. But you know what? I get those where I am now. And all my overnights are good.

 

[pilotyip]

Az, you have to be fibbing, from what I read on this site everyone outside of aviation makes a minimum of $200K/yr year. Pilots works for dirt wages in the mid $100K/yr

 

[dvmthwsvan]

My school counselor once asked me what i would do if i had a million dollars. and whatever you answer is what you are supposed to do for a living.

 

[Metro752]

My school counselor once asked me what i would do if i had a million dollars. and whatever you answer is what you are supposed to do for a living.

screw chickies all day would be my answer if i had a million dollars, so I guess I would be a porn star. sweet

 

[errrriiic]

Two chicks at the same time.

 

[RJET]

Try changing your attitude towards your current job and rent an airplane on the weekend.