To all you guys who've made it already:

[jbDC9]

I like this thread, good reading...

Looks like I'm not the only one who looks back very fondly on my check hauling days. Maybe my brain is supressing the bad stuff: ice, thunderstorms with no radar, no a/p, loading my own freight, trying to stay awake over Mason City, IA at 0300 on my way to St. Paul... but man it was a ball. Every time I see a freighter C-310 or Baron or hear a Starcheck on the radio I wish I could do it again. Not that'd I'd give up my 737 seat to go back and do it, too much of a pay cut, but sometimes I wish I could get a part time freight gig. That's real flying.

A coupla years ago on a downtown Kansas City overnight I wandered over to MKC and the Airnet ramp. Sat in one of my old 310's, talked with its pilot and a Lear crew. Told 'em to enjoy this job while it lasts, it's some of the best flying they'll ever do; they looked at me like I'd had one too many hits off the old crack pipe.

I must be one of those weird, nutty airline pilots that actually loves to fly. On my days off I even head to the local aerodrome to rent a Citabria. A tailwheel, a stick and tandem seats, what a blast. Wish I could buy me a fun flying machine one of these days...

Stay with it guys.
John

 

[Strikefinder]

Well, here's a twist...

Well, I guess karma is going to teach me something after all this.

I got the call for a Chatauqua class date October 24th, so I will be looking back on this at the end of next week. I will undoubtedly miss the people and friends I've made here, and the past couple of days, I've reflected a lot on the good stuff that's happened here. It wasn't *all* bad, I admit. I do have a great appreciation for those that told me when I was coming up that every pilot should have to go through this.

However, I'm pretty frickin' riled up about moving on to bigger and better things!

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I'll let you know the real answer in a few months...

 

[KingAirKiddo]

Congratulations...

Strikefinder,

Congratulations on getting the class date. Good luck and fly safe.

Later,
KAK

 

[TurboS7]

Just got back from UKLL. I have never landed or taken off on a runway so rough with a jet. It was worse than some bush runways. We have no idea how great we have it here. As someone said who was fooling who when the cold war was going on. Anyhow it is great to be back home in the good ol' USA.

 

[350DRIVER]

Clown-
My hat is off to you- that was absolutely hysterical to say the least. I have not laughed this hard since my comm ride-

keep up the posting-

3 5 0

 

[norskman2]

Strikefinder,

After reading some of the BEST postings I've ever seen here, you go and give us the best storybook ending to this thread!

I believe things do happen for a reason, and I believe this thread happened to give every aspiring pilot from student to freight dog a reason to hang in there, and give every pilot at FL360 a reason to look back.

Just think -- if you'd waited another week, you wouldn't have had any reason to start this thread!

Congratulation, good luck and Godspeed at your new job, and be sure and report back on how life really is at the next level!

 

[kabz]

Yeah, ya either want it or ya don't. If ya don't, you'll probably never understand.

Thanks guys for such a great thread !!!!!!

 

[hobbsmeter]

Hey Strikefinder...

You've been at Chautauqua for a lil over a year now, fill us in with the good the bad and the ugly, we want to know the "real answer"

 

[TurboS7]

I just got back from doing a Kuwait trip, we got off at Rome and commercialed home. The unit we were carrying had been deployed for over 10 months.They were homeward bound and they let us know it. Did those guys ever have some stories to tell. For those that are discouraged hang in there, this job has some great highs and some real job satifaction in the end. Besides in 12 years I need a replacement, then maybe I could continue the game by being a flight mechanic.................

 

[Strikefinder]

Wow. I'm pretty surprised that this thread is still active and that anybody remembered it at all. It's been a pretty hard week personally for me, and I admit it really cheered me up to see that somebody responded to this one all over again.

I've been at Chautauqua since October of 2002, as has been mentioned. I just finished my PC check last week and am officially off probation right now. I fly out of CMH (as many who know who I am already know), and have flown reserve, sweated my first furlough (though I made it), been through a contract, and now enjoy pretty good FO seniority because of our growth.

I was thinking about this story I told originally last year about a rather bad night in the cargo business. Like a lot of us who have been through it, and a lot of people who are still doing it and have done it longer than I did, there are times when I really wondered why I'd entered into this business. At the time I wrote that story, I was sleeping on a friend's couch because I couldn't afford a place to live, I was in debt up to my eyeballs, and I had just been dumped by a woman I was dating. I had nearly been offered my dream job about five months prior working for a great corporation, but they decided instead to offer it to someone with less experience, leaving me in a position to wonder what the point was of gaining more. Most of my free time was spent sending out resumes and hoping I'd catch a break sooner or later.

It's remarkable how much difference a year makes. I love my job. There have been days where the rest of my life has not been exactly peachy, but going to work always leaves me happier than I was before. Now that I'm on 2nd year pay (which was greatly improved upon in our new contract), money isn't as tight as it used to be. The people I work with, save a few exceptions, are fantastic. They're a second family, if you will. I really feel like I've found a certain sense of belonging here that I just wasn't finding elsewhere. I feel like I'm doing what I ought to be doing. Granted, there's days where things are delayed, or you fly with the one or two people that you'd really prefer not to, or you're bashing your head against a desk trying to get crew payroll to call you back. But those days are notably rare, and for each one there's at least ten times you blast off from LGA westbound into a sunset and wonder how anybody can do anything other than this for a living.

I stand by my original statements. This is f'n cool. It kicks a$$. It is worth all of the sacrifice, because, as I'm now so fond of saying, this undoubtedly beats working for a living. And though the disgruntled and angry and bitter are often the most vocal people who let you know, despite the way you feel, that your crappy job that you hate is so wonderful, the vast majority, at least that I work with, fully understand and appreciate that this is undoubtedly better than that. It's worth the wait. At least it was for me.

Again, thanks for bringing this up. I hope that it's encouraging to everybody else here in the flightinfo family, but it's undoubtedly good for me to try and add perspective to everything else. I'm a really lucky guy.

As a side note, I wrote a piece for AvWeb back in January about the training experience at Chautauqua. I don't normally like to shamelessly promote my own work here, not to mention put a face to my username in case I really anger somebody down the road. But if you're interested in checking it out, you can view the article at http://www.avweb.com/news/careers/182542-1.html . I was originally motivated to write the article based on the discussion we all had here last year as a sense of closure for that period of my life. I've heard a lot of great stories from people who have read it and shared their own experiences, and I still love to hear them. Good luck to everybody out there, and I hope your story ends at (or at least ends up progressing to) the place I am right now.

 

[VFR on Top]

Fantastic article, Jeremy!

 

[Flechas]

Great article man, I hope to make it big like you some day too. I know I wouldn't want to go back to the right seat of a 172. But I also know that I'll remember my days as a CFI and will have a smile on my face, because I love to fly for a living and wouldn't change it for anything in the world. In the mean time, I try to enjoy every flying day one at a time.
Fly safe.

Flechas

 

[skydash]

"Making It"

Strikefinder,
You've heard from a lot of guys with a story similar to yours.Take heart in that,knowing that if they made it,so can you. Mine is the same. I dropped everything at age 29 and went to a part 141 school in Macon Georgia,and got all my ratings in 9 months. While I was doing that,Eastern Airlines was tanking,dumping thousands of pilots on the street. I flight instructed for 2 years making 5.00 a flight hour which translated into about 500.00 a month. I lived in an apartment with 4 other pilots. Over the next 3 years I hustled and got some part time corporate gigs flying light twins. When I had enough time to qualify for a commuter job,the only ones available were those you had to pay for,so I borrowed 7000.00 from my parents and went to flight safety to get be99 training. That airline was GP Express and my first 2 years there I made 13,500 a year. I qualified for food stamps. I was there for 3.5 years until they went under(1 month after buying my first house).I got a job at Piedmont Airlines and stayed there until I landed my dream job at Southwest at age 39. I've been there 2.5 years and I'm the luckiest guy on the planet,BUT.....there was more than once when I thought to myself"what the hell have I done'?? My point is ,keep your nose to the old stone,and when it comes(and it surely will)you will definately agree that all the bs you had to go through to get there WAS worth it. By the way,all the guys I lived in that crummy apartment with are now at the majors as well. Good luck,and keep at it.

 

[labbats]

To all those who posted above and to Strikefinder on an eloquent article, I wanted to say thank you.