Getting back in to it.....

[Sig]

It most likely won't be "top shelf" beer.......

The obvious answer is the beer you make yourself!

I don't know if "More than anything in this world" is what it takes, as far as commitment. Myself personally, if I had to choose between my daughter going hungry while I fly versus hitting the bricks for more money, I'd have to walk away until it got better.

But you bet your sweet arse I'd be back in the saddle as soon as possible- because I'd be knocking on doors and blast mailing everything out there every day I worked outside of aviation.

Maybe I completely contradicted myself? I think I did.

I guess you're right, Avbug. AGAIN.

 

[avbug]

Priorities.

A very stern gentleman with whom I once flew told me that I should approach my flying with a keener interest, and place it a higher priority than anything else in my life. He said "when you get in this airplane, it had better be more important to you than your pets, your children, your wife, your church, or any other aspect of your life. This airplane is your purpose for being."

Of course, I quickly informed him that nobody and nothing would ever take priority over those things. Then he put it in perspective.

"If you don't take this job seriously enough to make it your most important mission in life, you will never get to go home to see your pets, your children, your wife, or to church. Think about it."

When you're home, make your family the center of your universe. In the cockpit, it really is your reason for drawing breath until the flight comes to a complete stop. After that, walk away, do as you will.

Without that commitment, one is little more than a doomed, expensive missile, hurtling through space, looking for a place to impact.

Tom sealed that lesson with his own blood, by the way. He's no longer with us, and is scattered over a hillside where his aircraft exploded not long ago. I can't know for certain what he was contemplating in those last moments, but am reasonably certain he proved the efficacy of his own words.

Life is like that, too. Priorities.

 

[Sig]

He said "when you get in this airplane, it had better be more important to you than your pets, your children, your wife, your church, or any other aspect of your life. This airplane is your purpose for being."

Of course, I quickly informed him that nobody and nothing would ever take priority over those things. Then he put it in perspective.

There is not a single piece of advice out there that makes more sense than that. Powerful stuff.

The problem is folks who want to fly- at a level beyond whatever level they currently sit- at any cost. That's just dumb. As in, I'll blindly go into debt for 200k for an entry level position that may or (most likely) may not pan out into a sensible ROI. Or, instead of money, willing to abandon an already decent life, or a family, or a wife, or any other capital you WILL most likely put up as collateral during a flying career.

There are smart ways, and there are dumb ways.

As far as Tom's last thoughts-

Avbug, when you dumped that Husky (I think? Maybe a Super Cub or an AgCat?) and used some scrub to dissipate the energy, did you have any last thoughts? Someone who has flown everything from Champs to 747s has to have seen the deep and quiet abyss. What were your "last" thoughts?

I've only truly signed off once. My last thoughts were of my daughter, my friends, how glad I was it was me going in and not them, but 51 people in the back were going to get the best fight they'll never see right into the ground. And if I ever met that controller in a bar, I'd knock his motherf&&&ng teeth down his miserable throat.

Here I am, and on the lookout for that rat bastard...

 

[avbug]

Avbug, when you dumped that Husky (I think? Maybe a Super Cub or an AgCat?) and used some scrub to dissipate the energy, did you have any last thoughts? Someone who has flown everything from Champs to 747s has to have seen the deep and quiet abyss. What were your "last" thoughts?

You're probably talking about the turbine-conversion M18 a few years ago.

Last thoughts? Yes...fly it until it stops.

 

[Sig]

Last thoughts? Yes...fly it until it stops.

You ever get tired of whipping folks' arses in chess? I think I finally got to that thought, but I was too damned busy thinking of other things up to it.

Free insight, AGAIN. Thanks, av.

*BTW, can't believe I left out Maule. The Old Man (grandpa, P38 IP), thought that was the coolest bird on the ramp. That was a thousand years ago in a few weeks, when I took him flying in a Piper.

Maule.


Damn. Missed it. Yup, you must be right. The red and white one?

 

[jak378]

I remember 2 things that my first flight instructor told me in 1963: "There isn't an airplane made that doesn't deserve 100 percent of your attention when you are flying it," and "If necessary, fly it until it finally stops." Thankfully, I only had to do that once.

 

[avbug]

Damn. Missed it. Yup, you must be right. The red and white one?

Not sure what it is to which you're referring. The M18T is a turbine PZL Dromader, a single engine conventional gear airplane used for aerial application and firefighting.

You might be thinking of a M8 Maule.

 

[bgaviator]

Well,
If the government passes this new requirement that both pilots have 1,500 hours/ATP, then there is no way I could flight instruct that long to build those kinds of hours...not with the family and financial commitments I now currently have. I think while a lot of people are saying it's a good thing that we require both pilots to have that many hours, isn't there going to be a point where we run into a severe shortage of pilots? Yet it won't matter the because there are now federal rules in place that says a person has to have 1500 hrs/atp? It just seems like a lot of people will burn out and not be able to hold on to instructing for that long to make it as an airline pilot.

 

[avbug]

There's no shortage of pilots. There has never been a shortage of pilots. We're not going to see one, either.

There may be a shortage of pilots who are willing to work to get where they need to be.

This career has always required effort and sacrifice. Getting out of flight training and into an airliner has happened, and has happened recently...but is not a realistic view of the world. Traditionally one would instruct for a year or two, seek a job flying freight or traffic watch, fly skydivers on the weekends, ride with friends doing freight runs, do civil air patrol, pipeline patrol, and anything else they could find, and jump from one job to another as experience and opportunity allowed...and ten years later be in a position to aim for the job they wanted.

This is the reality of it. Again the question exists: how committed are you to your career. You stated previously that you're a dispatcher, and you're in the airlines, and you know all about it. You don't, which is why you're being told. You're just not listening.

How committed are you to making a career out of aviation? Not dispatching. Flying. Big difference. If your response is what kind of beer you will drink, your commitment is slim and wanting...and you're not going to make it.

You may recall the story of the great teacher Socrates, who was approached by a student who claimed to want to learn. The story varies, but Socrates held the student's head under water, very nearly drowning him, until the student fought desperately for air. When the struggle was over and Socrates let the student go, he said "When you want to learn as badly as you wanted to breathe, come back and see me again."

How badly do you want to fly?

 

[bgaviator]

Not so badly that it would require me to lose my sense of humor