SkyHigh

I am happy that you feel that that it is not all that difficult to get out of aviation. Some have better options and stronger fallback professions. I would like to mention however that as we get older doors begin to close and opportunities will dissipate. As we become established as professional pilots it becomes difficult for employers to see you as anything else. Whatever jobs you may have had prior to aviation begin to loose their relevance over time and are not as able to help you either. Also I am sure that when you did your last job search it was during better times and probably right after college. I do not think it would be so easy today and if you ever did try to make a career change it most likely will be during hard times.

Skyhigh

FlyJSH

If you want to be home every night, have every holiday off, make reasonable money, and always have a job, become an accountant.

All other jobs require some combination of the sacrifices we make.


On a side note, I don't work for the majors, but I do carry close to a thousand pax each day.... it just takes me 30 legs to do it

Molon Labe

Sky High, you are correct and I agree with your posts. To all those who say "if you don't like it get out " you are really missing the point. The story is a warning about the path, because it is hard to leave when you get older and have bills to pay. It is much more like the Merle Travis song that has been immortalized by Tennesee Earnie Ford titled Sixteen Tons. If you have trouble relating to this try thinking again, the initial post was a very good example and can be disagreed with(however naively) but should not be bashed, somebody put a lot of hard earned perspective into it.

captain152

I think we could all argue both sides of whether leaving the industry is easy or not until our tongues fall out ... or fingers fall off in this case. There are many perspectives to it and many things to consider, absolutely. The deeper you get into this industry the harder it is to leave, true. Then again, is that not the EXACT same with any industry you go into? You work your way up somewhere and and it's going to be hard to leave. It's how this economy works.

The point SAAB and I were trying to make at the beginning is that we are just sick and tired of listening to everyone b1tch constantly about how badly their lives suck and how much they wish they had done something else. No one wants to be around someone who complains like that all the time. This industry is tougher than a wall of solid steel and it can be a real pain in the butt. The question is whether you can push through those hard times and see the light at the end of the tunnel and continue to love what you do? Most people can, others can't. For those that can't, you either suffer through it and make the rest of us listen to you complain all the time about it, or you leave the industry to something you would rather do. Real estate sounds like a winner for most people.

SkyHigh, as far as knowing what you're getting into.. I have to respectfully disagree with your standpoint. I said that in the manner than all pilot coming into the industry know what they're getting into when they sign on with a regional airline. A brutal job market, brutal industry, brutal pay, brutal management ... but we get to do what we love. The whole point is if you can live with the negatives to continue to do what you truly love.

ACEAV8R

The problem with folks, primarily American folks, is the false hope of "getting rich quick". That whole "get rich quick" mindset will send one straight into debt faster than .......... Every single profession has it's good and it's bad. My mother for instance is a doctor. I remember one Christmas waking up at 5:30am(which wasn't too much of an inconvenience as the gifts were waiting) just to open gifts with her because she had to go to work. Life went on and her children don't hate her for it. Point is everyone made a choice to get into this profession and everyday they make that choice to remain in the profession. Aviation is not only limited to flying for an airline. Hell it isn't even limited to flying. Think outside the box and make money but first get that "get rich quick" bs out of your head because it does not exist. Not in aviation, not in medicine, not even in sales.


And if you really hate what you do, please just leave gracefully and allow someone(like me) else to get a swing at the opportunity.

JetPipeOverht

Agreed, the door is right over there and i'll make sure it hits you in the rear end as i move up one more spot

CANAM

The "get rich quick" theory is a true one. But it's also a hard pill to swallow when you're making $21K/year flying a 90 seat airplane. My buddy drives a truck for Bell and makes $100,000/year. Another buddy $75,000/year for driving a city bus.

tomgoodman

Ah, I remember the golden days before deregulation! The only problems were:
--You needed to be a military vet, under age 30, with lots of jet time.
--Thousands of other applicants met these requirements.
--Regional airlines hardly existed.
--Many legacy airlines were soon to disappear.

The "jackpots" may have been larger, but the odds of winning anything at all were much smaller.

This is true. But it also applies to "gloom and doom" predictions.

JoeyMeatballs

Very good points!

I appreciate the insight from folks have literally been there and done that, SkyHigh quit aviation, not vice versa. He did what he had to do and I respect that but to each his own.


Skyhigh, I was offered the job this August, so the job market was in the dumps.......




Remember

It was never as good as it seemed, and it is never as bad as it seems, or it goes something like that

SkyHigh

I did not know that aviation was such a gamble when I started. I thought that I was buying into a respected profession. Most pilots I venture feel the same or they think that they can beat the odds.

Much of my posts here are spent trying to get people to stop and actually calculate their chances of making it to something that is worth the sacrifices required. It is sobering.

SkyHigh