Would you trade me?

[pilotyip]

Any one reading this board can make it as a pilot provided the talent and desire are there and eventually make it to a point where they can live on what they make, it may not be a "major", but it might be a good charter operation, a good corporate job, a regional, or something involving flying airplanes. It is hard, it is lots of moves, you go where the next job is, it is living in flop houses with 4 other pilots and one bathroom down the hall, it is not buying any new underwear for one year, it is driving a car that you jump start from the battery you keep in the apt on a charger, it is being 100% subservient to your bosses wishes until you can move to your next job and he gives you a good recommendation, it is saying no to your brothers birthday party, it is saying no to being home a Christmas. Come to think about it, this sounds alot like being in the Navy, except for the underwear part. They made us get new stuff. You need a talent for flying, you need a most gracious personality that focuses on what you can give and not what you can take, and a goal is sight that you will pursue no matter what. Family, girl fiends (more than one night) , babies, do not count, they only get in the way. I have had more than one flight student, older guys starting flying in their late 40's early 50's, tell me they wished they had it all to do over again, they would gone into flying as soon as they could of, but Suzy (girl friend) wanted the house, the babies, the family lifestyle, and they thought there would be time later, but once the commitments come and you elect to honor them, there is no later, until all the kids have left home and you are semi free again. I know this post will probably bring out some different views, because it so politically incorrect, and besides I am semi management in a bottom feeder industry, so what would I know about an aviation career. But you ask, so here is my input from the prospective of 35 years in this business.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

and besides I am semi management in a bottom feeder industry, so what would I know about an aviation career.

Wrong. You are management in a bottom feeder company, not industry!

But you ask, so here is my input from the prospective of 35 years in this business.

Nobody asked, you just like to hear yourself talk, with over 7000 posts!

 

[pilotyip]

Posting jealousy?

[/SIZE][/FONT]

Nobody asked, you just like to hear yourself talk, with over 7000 posts!

Lets see you have been a member since June of 2006, I have been a member since 2001. I think I see posting envy, I got a head start on you and you are jealous and can not contain yourself. BTW Didn't your mother, priest, Boy Scout leader tell if you can not say something nice, don't say anything at all?

 

[say again]

Actually, he did ask in the thread title.

 

[GINCHBLASTER]

would you trade me?

Yes

Should I just suck it up, be a man and provide for my family in a job I hate?

Yes

 

[Scope out RJ's]

Lets see you have been a member since June of 2006, I have been a member since 2001. I think I see posting envy,

Wow, that's it, you got me. Maybe I can become a management pilot at some ******************** hole outfit in some ******************** hole city and when I'm not firing guys for flying broke airplanes I'll post on FI!

I got a head start on you and you are jealous and can not contain yourself. BTW Didn't your mother, priest, Boy Scout leader tell if you can not say something nice, don't say anything at all?

Did your mentor tell you if you can't post anything smart not to post at.
You just can't fix stupid.

 

[PoorJetDriver]

Why not find a better job outside of aviation or retail (economy willing) and continue to fly on you own time? Don't think so narrowly of the choices. I have a wife and 2 kids and I wouldn't do this all over again and I wanted to fly more than anything since I was a child.

 

[cjdriver]

Why not find a better job outside of aviation or retail (economy willing) and continue to fly on you own time? Don't think so narrowly of the choices. I have a wife and 2 kids and I wouldn't do this all over again and I wanted to fly more than anything since I was a child.

Two questions for you, and the other 121 guys here:

1. What would need to change about your job to make you happy that you chose flying?

2. Did you want to fly as a kid, or did you want to be an airline pilot? There is a difference there, and I winder if the people that aren't happy flying most often answer the latter. Think about this seriously before answering.

This is not bait, but a serious, introspective interrogative.

 

[CA1900]

I finished my certificates and got into flight instructing in the mid-90's. I wanted to be an airline pilot, the industry seemed to be doing well, and getting to a major seemed an achievable, realistic goal. I instructed for a few years (loved it, but couldn't pay the bills), made it to a prop regional, and then the industry fell apart. My airline cut in half, and that was before 9/11!

Now the major jobs are few and far between, replaced by outsourcing to jet "regionals" that pay half as much, work twice as hard, and don't have nearly the quality of life.

I gave up on the airlines and went to a large fractional a few years ago. I was happy with the decision, and loved the work -- and now we're furloughing hundreds of guys. I didn't get caught in this wave, but if there's another, I surely will be. Then it's back to square one.

The biggest thing I miss in my life is some semblance of job security. I thought I had it, but this furlough has reminded me that there really isn't such a thing in aviation. While I enjoy the work, I don't enjoy the stress, nor the poverty. My average salary over the first 7 years of my airline career was under $30K. Flight instructing was even lower. Realistically, could you raise your family on that?

If I could go back twenty years, yeah, I'd totally find another line of work. As much as I enjoy the day-to-day, the overall experience just wasn't worth the tradeoffs. I chased that carrot only to find somebody else ate it years ago.