Hypothetical question

[Airpiraterob]

realities

well, just to put things into perspective with normal life happenings. Picture this as the best/worse case scenario depending on the job you have.

1)your wive becomes eventuially uninteresting, if you have the $$ job you can pay to have her medically improved and all sorts of mental therapy to keep her fun and interesting and of course hot. flying airplanes for a living....she will remain uninteresting cause you wont be able to afford the "tune-ups"

2)your kids eventually become 18 and graduate high school. if you have the $$ job, you dont have to worry at all about their college. if you fly planes for a living, youre worried about their college costs in addition to STILL worrying about your mortage.

3)youre flying for a living and with that the flying you enjoy you dont get to do cause youre flying for a living in the same plane all the time. so you go rent a 172 on occasion. the 172 is not a very cool plane. if you have the $$ job, you can own your own tiger moth and really have a blast. perhaps a pitts or a WW2 plane or something with a big round engine.

4)the $$ job just might absolutely suck behind the desk. flying for a living rocks a good ammount of the time.

5) even if you dont take the job to make the $$, will you still be abel to own the company down the road cause of the family thing?

 

[mckpickle]

Put down the crack pipe and take the job.

If you stay flying you will be broke, get divorced, learn that flying is a job.

If you take the job you might keep your wife, have lots of money, and appreciate flying. Oh ya don't forget interns!


Hey when your 50-60 you can always BUY an airline.

Hey if I could do anything else I would. But I'm a one trick pony. If I can't fly it or Fuk it, I'm useless.

 

[Wats]

I am pathetic, I gotta fly. I can't be earth bound, I tried it once. I have to say, though that I still love my wife, can't trade her, so I guess I'm pathetic again, but very happy.

 

[jdog78]

I would take the job as well. I've been thinking lately that maybe an airline job is not all it's cracked up to be. Busting your arse for years to get a job with little security and lots of time away from the family doesn't seem as fun anymore. Don't get me wrong, if I could get an airline job right now, I would take it. In reality, though, I would take the desk job and buy a share in an airplane or save up for a few years and buy my own. See, you can have your cake and eat it, too!

-j

 

[501261]

Here's the thing, you have to do what makes you happy, but remember your values in life can change.

A while back I thought my dream job would have been flying floats in Alaska. Well, I'm a little older now and I realize now that my number 1 priority in life is providing for my family. For me, in your hypothetical question the best way for me to achieve priority number 1 is the desk job.

Also remember money isn't everything. I was just reading an article on Adam Archuleta (sp), this guy was a safety on the NFL's Arizona Cardinals earning $1.2M a year, and he gave it all up to join the Army Rangers after 9/11. Bet he's got some proud parents!

 

[Huck]

Dear Eric-

call me cynical, but I just don't believe there are six-figure desk jobs out there that are 9-5, m-f, no responsibilities on weekends. People who make that kind of coin are usually under incredible pressure. Have you really checked into this?

Do what I would do - go work there free for one week. Sit beside a person who is doing your future job. Show up when they show up, leave the desk when they leave it, eat when they eat, go home when they go home. Look out that window all you want - that will be your new view. See how you feel when you do make it home to your kids.

I left a desk job at age 29 and never looked back. Just got off a 6 day trip, and now have six days at home with my kids - thats ALL day, eating breakfast, running around, soccer games, putting them to bed. Wouldn't trade it for the world. If I can't fly I'll drive trucks.

Most pilots who will tell you to take a desk job have never spent a full hard-core 40 hours staring at the same side of a cubicle. I dare them to give it a try.

 

[vschip]

501261, right story, wrong guy, it was Pat Tillman who quit football and joined the army rangers, heard on the radio last week he's somewhere in northern iraq

 

[Bill Mostellar]

You are a 28 year old CFII with 500 hours today, and you are offered a 'fast track' to an upper level management ...

I was on that track in 86 when I jumped off - no regrets.

Do what you love (flying or not). If you make money great. If not, it really doesn't matter.

I wish you success!

 

[enigma]

Eric, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. If it was me not you, I'd take the desk job in the twinkle of an eye. I'd take the desk job even if the ultimate pay was not up to 777 Captain par. You see, those lost nights at home can never be made up. It's that simple. For ever professional pilot like HUCK who has a great job, there are four or more who struggle to pay the bills. Aviation is an exceptionally cruel business. Your success is mostly dependent upon timing and luck. If your timing is good and you stay lucky, you might accomplish a long career in aviation. I know enough pilots who haven't yet recovered from that EAL strike in the early ninetys to make me understand that this career can be devastatingly fickle.

If I could start over again, knowing what I know now, there's no way in hedoublehockeysticks that I'd go the professional pilot route again. I'd make money, and fly my own airplane on my own schedule. That's enjoyable flying.

regards

 

[avbug]

Well, I guess I'll be the dissenting voice. You do what you feel is best for you. For me, I've been in and out of flying enough times to know that I hope I'm dead before the day comes that my medical runs out or I can't fly. I mean that sincerely.

I've quit for maintenance reasons, been without work when companies folded, worked more than a few seasonal assignments, and have quit for family or personal reasons. I've done all kinds of work on the side, admittedly none of which accounted for remotely close to six figures.

However, sitting behind a desk to me was a living hell. I'd rather have an eternal root canal or be left gutshot and bleeding in an alley than work behind a desk, or give up flying.