Why the &%#* do you work there?

[Hosed COEX]

I find there to be a huge difference between those who have done other careers before this one and those who went into aviation right out of college. Those of us who have had other careers seem to appreciate the airline career quite a bit more since we know what it's like to sit behind a desk with 8 days off a month only to go home at night to eat dinner and watch TV until we fall asleep, only to get up and do it again the next morning.

The airline pilot life, while not as glamorous as many people think, has made me feel much more alive and young at the age of 29 than when I was 24 with a beautiful 4-bedroom home, all the money I needed, and a much more stable lifestyle. Even though I am possibly facing my second furlough and having taken a 75% paycut from my last career, I have never once regretted the decision to become an airline pilot. Those who got into this solely for the money or the flight attendants will continue to drop out of this industry making way for those of us with a passion for flying and a lifestyle that most people will never have a chance to experience.

 

[Skull-One]

Those who got into this solely for the money or the flight attendants will continue to drop out of this industry making way for those of us with a passion for flying and a lifestyle that most people will never have a chance to experience.

Says who? I don't see many dropping out by choice...those that I've seen bail have gone on to other flying jobs. Besides, just because people do this for the money does not mean they lack a passion for flying. People don't get into this business without passion. It simply requires too much to do without some love behind the effort.

Bottom line: If you're going to do something, whether you love it or not, you might as well make a decent living out of it.

 

[T-Gates]

i'm not attacking anybody in particular, just rambling my mind...
i am so tired of hearing people say they do this job because they Love Flying.
don't get me wrong, i love flying too, i just wish i could do it as a hobby.
i've noticed that most people i've heard say they stay in this game because of their love of flying are either fairly senior in their company, seat and base; or are relatively young and junior, not experienced enough to know how rough it gets."

You may be tired of hearing it, but I do what I do because I do love to fly. Nothing beats the feeling. It only looses it's luster when you let your buisness life get personal. Every industry has negatives. Flying just has more than most other career choices.

Just my .02,

--03M

 

[mach none]

Chicks Dig It

 

[Anaconda]

The airline pilot life, while not as glamorous as many people think, has made me feel much more alive and young at the age of 29 than when I was 24 with a beautiful 4-bedroom home, all the money I needed, and a much more stable lifestyle.

what were you doing?

 

[SuperPilot]

I recently heard someone say something about the current events in our industry that I think hit it right on the head. "What is happening now is like what was happening in the beginning of aviation. It was very low pay. No work rules. No security. And very dangerous. But those guys went out every day because they loved to fly. That is how it is for most of us today (except for the danger). We still do it for the passion of flight. I believe it is our time to take the career of flying back up to the glory days it was not too long ago. If you have read FLYING THE LINE, you should see a lot of similarities to today." Now all those guys who are bailing out because of money don't really want it (and they are making more space for the rest of us who do) and are going to do nothing but bitch about it. And I agree there is quite a bit to bitch about, but that accomplishes nothing. We need to get together and make it the best **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** job in the world.

Sorry for the rambling, just had to put in my .02.

 

[bigD]

Chicks Dig It

Man, you must be doing something I'm not!

 

[spitfire1940]

Hey Superpilot,

I appreciate your happy attitude, but give me a break.

The guys bitching about the pay are often guys with wives and kids who have bills to pay. For a lot of us, "the money" is not about getting rich, it's about knowing how you're going to pay the mortage for the next few months and put food on the table.

And then there's the basic principle (or lack therof) of a company like ACA asking FOs who are making less than $30,000 a year to make wage and quality of life concessions.

Excuse me, but have you checked what the CEO of ACA earns??
Or the management SOBs at any of the majors?? Cutting a couple strings of their golden parachutes would more than make up for all the cuts the pilots are being asked to make.

I live in the DC suburbs and the guys stocking shelves in grocery stores earn more than you do flying that Beech 1900. Yeah, yeah, the view is better from the 1900 and you get that nifty uniform, but for people in their 30s (or more) with responsibilities and obligations--that ain't cutting it!! (I'm assuming your single or have a working spouse and no kids.)

I know a woman who's a cashier at a supermarket who makes $45,000 a year. Now consider how long it takes to make that kind of money at a regional. Maybe pilots ought to contact the cashiers' union!

Does that sound right? Let's see, the person standing at a cash register earns the same, or more, than the person flying an RJ. Hmmm, is it just me or is there something fundamentally F@#$%^! up about that?

Fact is that a lot of us are forced by this industry to ask when enough is enough, when our love for jet-engine noise and fancy avionics is hurting our families.

If the commuters would just start FOs in the low 30s I could tolerate it. Why can't they do that? Why can't someone who's (partially) responsible for a $20 million aircraft and the lives of dozens of passengers get paid at least a decent middle-class wage? (and that's LOWER middle class where I live--you can't buy a house here for under $250,000.) I know that rat bastard Kit Darby would tell me to move ...

The reason the airlines don't pay more is because they don't have to, because there are plenty of people willing to work for peanuts because flying so so much fun.

Dude, not even prostitutes--at least not the good ones--sell themselves so cheap!!!

Where does that leave us???

 

[Cadillac]

I think its great when someone says they love to fly. What I hate is when they use that as an excuse to work for poor wages. If you love to fly as a professional, then you should be paid as a professional. If you just love to fly, take off the polyester airline uniform, get a job outside aviation, and fly your 152 on the weekends. The rest of us who have chosen this as a CAREER need to eat.

 

[greyhound]

Still not an airline pilot yet, but...
I think most stay for the love of flying AND.....
they want to gain seniority in their company of choice.
Flying, and career progression is what keeps us going.
Nobody truly likes to make $18K a year to do something that took you $40K to learn to do. But it is still done because we feel that eventually we will make more money, have more time off, become a captain or an instructor and things will be slightly better.
You can't find an easy cure to take away the love of flying, but take away career progression, and YES, pilots will start bailing out...