If you weren't a pilot, what would you do?

[CSY Mon]

Everyday I ponder that question.

I did the Navy thing, then merchant marine, commercial diving, engineering consulting stuff, then I tired of them.

I guess if I could find some kind of field that interested me I'd want to own my own small business. But from having self-employed parents I know just how hard you have to work, so I'd have to be really into it. Haven't figured that out yet.

Other careers of interest: hotel management, firefighter, marine biology, develp wind/solar/etc power technology, forester.

Maybe the question is: what will I do when I'm furloughed?

Yup, yup, I was there:

Did the merchant marine thing, the thanker-man thing, the air force fire fighter thing.

Also did the taxi and truck driver thing. (Europe, 100,000 lbs 22 wheel trucks on icy roads..ouch)

The taxi driver thing paid for flight school.

Grew up with hotel managment as my parents owned and managed hotels.
(Hard work 24/7)


Been thinking about marine biologist...Sounds sooo interesting...Just like flying did 30 years ago.

Also delivered papers, peeled potatoes, scrubbed toilets, pumped gas, repaired motorcycles, etc, etc.

As the old saying goes, if ya can't be used for anything else, ya end up being a pilot.

19 flying jobs later, that is probably true.

 

[Vector4fun]

Well, I took the ATC gig because flying wasn't looking too promising back when I was looking. I just became eligible to retire, and what I think I'd really like to do in 3-4 years is manage a small country airport someplace south of I-40. I'll mow the grass, change the lights, sell gas and rent hangers. And when I have time, sit in a rocker on the porch and trade jokes and lies.


Anybody got a lead on one of those jobs??

No, really!

 

[Goose Egg]

Now let me get this straight. There are jobs other than flying?


-Goose

 

[cjs]

Yup, yup, I was there:

Did the merchant marine thing, the thanker-man thing, the air force fire fighter thing.

Ok, how the heck do you get into the merchant marines? I've been out of school for 3 months as an electrical engineer and am ready to throw in the towel at a moment's notice .. definitely not my cup of tea.

For those of you who are interested, west coast longshoreman make between $70-100k per year doing manual labor (the crane operators can close in on $200k). The catch? You have to work on "casual" status for several years, basically begging for a day of work here and there until you have accrued a few thousand hours and pass a skills test. But hey, once you're in, you're in.

Anyone know where to get a job as a oil derrick/field worker for an oil company? I've heard the pay is good.

While we're at it, can anyone throw me a few suggestions for jobs which involve outdoor work and decent pay without having to pay for more school?

 

[FN FAL]

For those of you who are interested, west coast longshoreman make between $70-100k per year doing manual labor (the crane operators can close in on $200k). The catch? You have to work on "casual" status for several years, basically begging for a day of work here and there until you have accrued a few thousand hours and pass a skills test. But hey, once you're in, you're in.

From what I have heard, the railroad jobs are the same. I knew a guy that was doing the odd jobs at the railroad part time to get in and he couldn't take it anymore.

 

[hoop]

Anyone know where to get a job as a oil derrick/field worker for an oil company? I've heard the pay is good.

Been there, done that....... went to college out of high school for a semester, partied, flunked out...... had the bright idea I was gonna work in the Oklahoma oilfield and make the "big" money.... after a year of throwing chains, running tongs, freezing in the winter, heat stroke in the summer, seeing guys lose fingers on a daily basis, and a couple of deaths, I decided there had to be a better way. Went to college again, got the piece of paper, working as a chemist now for Uncle Sam. Work in a sterile test tube M-F 8-5. Looking back on it, I learned more from those guys on the rigs than in any classroom. Took up flying as a hobby, and have thought seriously of trying to make a go at it, but more I think about it, the more I get discouraged. If I had to do it over, I think I would have gone to school for orthopedic surgeon. Get to work with power tools, work set hours, (no on call), and get paid some serious cash. That, or Plastic surgeon. 3 t!tty jobs a day, at 4 grand a pop = lots of toys for Dave.

OR

Wannabe Phil Robertson, the Duck Commander, and spend half the year following the waterfowl migration down from Canada....... Whackin' and Stackin'!! www.duckcommander.com

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Already worked as a financial accountant and investment analyst. Noticed nobody listed those occupations! Into my 3rd year as a full-time pilot. Maybe work as a mortgage broker. Eventually run my own company. Make some serious cash. Don't think I could go back to a cubicle dealing with office politics and the ridiculous review process the company I formerly worked for had.

Mr. I.

 

[navigator72]

I would be a captain for a crab fishing boat in Alaska.

 

[TDTURBO]

Been there, done that....... went to college out of high school for a semester, partied, flunked out...... had the bright idea I was gonna work in the Oklahoma oilfield and make the "big" money.... after a year of throwing chains, running tongs, freezing in the winter, heat stroke in the summer, seeing guys lose fingers on a daily basis, and a couple of deaths, I decided there had to be a better way. Went to college again, got the piece of paper, working as a chemist now for Uncle Sam. Work in a sterile test tube M-F 8-5. Looking back on it, I learned more from those guys on the rigs than in any classroom. Took up flying as a hobby, and have thought seriously of trying to make a go at it, but more I think about it, the more I get discouraged. If I had to do it over, I think I would have gone to school for orthopedic surgeon. Get to work with power tools, work set hours, (no on call), and get paid some serious cash. That, or Plastic surgeon. 3 t!tty jobs a day, at 4 grand a pop = lots of toys for Dave.

OR

Wannabe Phil Robertson, the Duck Commander, and spend half the year following the waterfowl migration down from Canada....... Whackin' and Stackin'!! www.duckcommander.com

Believe me, being an orthopaedic surgeon isn't all it's "cracked up" to be. You will be on call, like it or not. Plus you get to PFT.

 

[blueraider]

I would be "The Dude"

the dude abides...

 

[Vector4fun]

Anyone know where to get a job as a oil derrick/field worker for an oil company? I've heard the pay is good.

I spent a year cementing oil and gas wells for Halliburton way back when. Yeah, you can make a lot of money in the oil patch, if you don't get killed or maimed first. One of my co-workers nearly had his leg severed at the thigh. Did I mention the minimum work week for Halliburton was 60 hrs, and there were weeks I clocked over a hundred? Yup, 100-110 hours a week. Time and a half for everything over 40. Basically lived in the cab of my pump truck, slept there, ate there. Went home about 30 hrs a week to shower, sleep and change clothes and sign the checks for the bills. Then back to work. Didn't have time to spend any money, so did pretty well. But it aint much fun. And I had it good compaired to some rig hands.

Hazardous duty is running casing when the Driller is on his seventh reefer and hasn't slept in two days, and all you're wearing is a plastic hard hat and some steel-toe boots....

 

[TDTURBO]

I spent a year cementing oil and gas wells for Halliburton way back when. Yeah, you can make a lot of money in the oil patch, if you don't get killed or maimed first. One of my co-workers nearly had his leg severed at the thigh. Did I mention the minimum work week for Halliburton was 60 hrs, and there were weeks I clocked over a hundred? Yup, 100-110 hours a week. Time and a half for everything over 40. Basically lived in the cab of my pump truck, slept there, ate there. Went home about 30 hrs a week to shower, sleep and change clothes and sign the checks for the bills. Then back to work. Didn't have time to spend any money, so did pretty well. But it aint much fun. And I had it good compaired to some rig hands.

Hazardous duty is running casing when the Driller is on his seventh reefer and hasn't slept in two days, and all you're wearing is a plastic hard hat and some steel-toe boots....

That's why you lived to become an ATC'er, because you're good at multitasking!

 

[DA50pilot]

I'd be a crab fisherman up in Alaska, and I would also start my own aviation message board, and charge each person 99 cents per post.

I's skip the Alaskan fisherman part if Kingairrick hired me to work on his farm.

 

[WNRHD17]

I'd be...

Fred Garvin; Male Prostitute.

That's freakin' hilarious....

 

[Vector4fun]

That's why you lived to become an ATC'er, because you're good at multitasking!

I was good at multi-ducking!!

 

[TDTURBO]

I was good at multi-ducking!!

I knew you'd get my point.

 

[sandslob]

Well.. let's see. I'm TRYING to become a professional pilot.. but I guess if I'm asked this question in years to come, after I'm jaded and bitter like a lot of pilots I could always fall back on some of my previous endeavors. I’ve done bar-tending, internet security, satellite repair (not the home ones.. the BIG ones), DJ-ing around the world in various nightclubs surrounded by young women in nothing more than Saran Wrap, computer consultancy, and... well.. I’m always the ever aspiring porn star! ;-)

I’m VERY new to the aviation world and am finding that pilots fly because they really love ... well.. flying. Sure, not everybody works for a great company or airline.. but at the end of the day it’s SO MUCH BETTER than kissing ass for the much coveted window cubicle in a gray office. There are people that would trade their left testicle to be in the position that most of you (the people in this forum) have and enjoy.

Enjoy the view everyone... because you’re in the minority. The rest of the world has to put up with the s*it at ground level.

Peace.

Sandslob.
www.lifeisabeach.us

 

[hoop]

.. but at the end of the day it’s SO MUCH BETTER than kissing ass for the much coveted window cubicle in a gray office. There are people that would trade their left testicle to be in the position that most of you (the people in this forum) have and enjoy.

Enjoy the view everyone... because you’re in the minority. The rest of the world has to put up with the s*it at ground level.

Amen brother.......... That pretty much sums up life on the cube farm!

 

[CSY Mon]

Ok, how the heck do you get into the merchant marines?

Well, in the US ya go to the Academy if ya want to be an officer.
To be a deck hand or OS/AB ya accumelate sea-time and work yer way up.

I did my gig some years ago in a foreign merchant marine.
Started peeling potatoes in the galley (Kitchen for ya land-lubbers ) of a 3000 ton passenger ship when I was 14.
Only did that part time, then back to school, got restelss again and signed up for a 30,000 ton chemical tanker when I was 17. (Instead of going to college)
Worked in the engine room as an "oiler".
Hot and hard work down there in the hole, no A/C.
Sailed that thing nearly around the world..Lots of countries and ports and plenty of whorehouses and bar hopping..All good stuff for a teenager..

Next ship I was a VLCC, a 228,000 supertanker, got hired as an OS.(Ordinary Sailor)

Did that and a couple of other ships until I was twenty.
Then fell in love with some gal and took a job on land driving cabs.
Got bored with it.
Got drafted into the Military and ended up as a fire fighter / crash-rescue crew on a fighter base..Jsut sitting around drinking coffe untill somebody does a gear-up landing or worse, then it is all elbows and arseholes racing out there to get crew out.

Then went to flight school and the rest is history.

Sailing the oceans was okay for a while.
Would do it again, but not for life...It can get boring: 3 weeks at sea from Africa to Australia, no changes in the daily routine, same faces around the table every day.
The ships are completely automatic, not much to do except routine maintenace and visual "look-out".

 

[polysciguy9]

I've been thinking about building up the time and ratings to become a CFI and then put in my time before making it to the regionals one day, but I just got a sweet gig teaching at a junior college making 50k a year (24 year old, first year instructor with M.A.). Would I be crazy to leave this (especially with three months out of the year off) for the pilot biz? Flying professionally has always been the dream, it really just doesn't seem practical reading you guys' stories on this site.

 

[BoilerUP]

Look at what your career progression is in education vs. the airlines. You will probably not make 50K at a regional until you make captain.

My suggestion would be teach and continue to fly, gaining ratings and experience part-time or during summers. Let your work pay for your training to avoid debt. Network like crazy with everybody you know, then start flying charter or corporate locally. This will all probably take you 5 or so years, but your bank account, 403(b), Roth and quality of life will thank you later!

Do what makes you happy, but don't miss the forest for the trees. Good luck!

 

[propilot1983]

full time cop...already do it part time.

 

[scangadah]

Crack dealer....they get more respect from Mgmt. than we do.

 

[Joseph II]

Field Service: I would really enjoy traveling on somewhat sort notice to fix a problem that is critical in nature (medical/power? equipment). I'm not sure the pay/degree/skill set but have a solid grasp on troubleshooting already. Any ideas/help from any of you? I often thought though, that travel would get old... I guess you don't know until you do it.

Electronic Tech: Too late, I already do that. The tasks are constantly changing and we are working on stuff that is pretty high-tech. Pay is better then entry level flying. I get to learn on the job too.

Police Officer: I would love the ever changing working environment but would not feel excited about confronting an armed and dangerous person.

Police Helicopter Pilot: Better then ground bound officers!

 

[psysicx]

Are Merchant Marines gone a lot on those tankers?

 

[polysciguy9]

"Look at what your career progression is in education vs. the airlines. You will probably not make 50K at a regional until you make captain.

My suggestion would be teach and continue to fly, gaining ratings and experience part-time or during summers. Let your work pay for your training to avoid debt. Network like crazy with everybody you know, then start flying charter or corporate locally. This will all probably take you 5 or so years, but your bank account, 403(b), Roth and quality of life will thank you later!

Do what makes you happy, but don't miss the forest for the trees. Good luck!"

Many thanks for the advice - I'll keep plugging along since I'm lucky enough to have a job that helps support my flying habit.... now to explain it to the girlfriend ...

 

[Ill Mitch]

DJ-ing around the world in various nightclubs surrounded by young women in nothing more than Saran Wrap,

Is this you?

http://www.geocities.com/goodgawd2001/

 

[CSY Mon]

Are Merchant Marines gone a lot on those tankers?

Depends.

Not sure what the latest contracts are like, but perhaps 3 months off, 3 on.

Back when I was crewing the tankers ya needed 6 months onboard to get a free ticket home from anywhere on the planet.

These days they have 2 complete crews rotating in and out.

Or so I have been told.

 

[CrewDawg]

Move to Canada or Alaska and be a Fishing Guide, possibly flying a floatplane into the fishing holes.

Or go back to school to be an eye doc. I think I can do one or two, two or three, three or four.

 

[blueraider]

thank you....that was funny