Good thread
 

I am starting over in the right seat of an md80 at a major after 14 years in the left seat at the regionals.

My rose colored glasses were obscured years ago. I too am looking to get out. Not sure to what just yet.

Most people suffer from burn out after doing the same job for 15 years or so. I had planned for this 20 years ago when I started flying.
So to read from colleagues who made the decision to make a change is insightful. I most likely will pursue something completely outside of
commercial aviation. Money is important to me, but the ability to be available when I haven't been the last 20 years is paramount. Ie nightly, weekends and holidays.

I am under no illusion that hard work and unpleasantries are a part of most endeavors. For me its just time for a change.


Good luck to all.


Thanks to all for sharing.

I'm reading all the despair on this thread and it is bringing me down. I know the airline world has been stagnated but those days are behind us. Getting out of the chase now seems premature. The car has crested the tall hill and is just beginning to accelerate towards big pay and nice working conditions. Don't lose sight of the prize. Seriously. The light at the end of the tunnel is just ahead! If you still like the flying, don't bug out just before the payoff.

YMMV
 

Two years ago, I was stuck as a regional FO making $40k per year. No upgrade in sight.

I was ready to quit aviation all together. My exit plan was to become a car salesman. I created my resume, sent the emails, went to the interview, and was offered a job at the local Ford dealer.

After a day or two of deliberation, my wife talked me out of it.

Luckily (very very luckily), I found myself working for a Legacy airline only 6 months later.

Two years after I almost quit to aviation industry, I once again love my job. Sitting reserve (by choice) at home, work 7-10 days per month, in a hotel maybe 5-6 nights per month. The pay is ok too.

I know I was extremely lucky, but sometimes there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Wasted lives
 

I akin aviation to that of a lottery. Some might hold a golden ticket while most keep pulling the lever and dropping in more wasted years of their lives to no avail. The regionals are counting on the 20% who will keep holding on until there is nothing of their life left. They fill their ranks with low wage slaves who believe that there is nothing else out there for them and wait aimlessly for the hand of fate to descend and rescue them from this folly.

I sat next to plenty of guys who saw their best years and life opportunities swirl down the drain because they held on too long and I learned from them. Any career that has so many so eager to throw away their lives for so little is a poor place to invest ones self.

Go where you are wanted and your contribution holds some value. My job today is not easy nor is it fun much of the time but my life is one hundred times better than anything I even dreamed of as a pilot.

Work to live don't live to work.

Skyhigh

P.S. Even those who think they have got it made usually only so for a short while. Aviation is fickle at all levels. As pilots our fate is largely out of our control.

He's back and still playing the classics!

That is not even a sentence. What language are you attempting?

So melodramatic, and yet so wrong.

The regionals aren't counting on anything. Those who apply and seek work may get hired. Those who desire to leave do so. Nobody has a pistol to anyone's head. The regionals generally receive those so wholly unqualified that finding work elsewhere isn't in the cards, and they pay accordingly. Those who choose to remain do so knowingly and of their own free will.

You typically rabbit on about being captured and deceived, unable to discern the truth for yourself and incapable of researching the job, and this despite your claims that most all of your family is involved in aviation in this way or that. Such a level of ignorance is possibly unprecedented, yet you bask in the claim.


I worked a hundred days this year, or will have, and that includes days off, for six figures. Been going strong for several decades.

The truth is that you gave up early in your career and can't stop trying to drag the world down into your self-pity. Had you put in the effort, perhaps you'd have some measure of success, too.

Restricted to spewing your bull only once every six months now?

Considering that most people change careers 7-8 times in their lifetime I don't see a big deal in changing careers. I personally find it rewarding being able to say I've done multiple things in my life. Everyone's priorities change(or not) during their lives so it's understandable to look for new pastures. Pros and cons in both, but in the end you gotta do what makes you happy. We shouldn't define happiness by other peoples measures but our own. Good luck and enjoy the journey. You only get one ride...

...........

In time
 

Noble Opponents and Dissenters:

I get it that many of you guys are long lost and beyond reach or salvage. I also acknowledge that perhaps the universe needs guys like you to pull the plow. Others however have full lives and greater hills to climb than waiting in line for their chance at the left seat in a regional jet. They recognize the profession for what it is and are in this section trying to improve their position in life. Please don't fault them for wanting to better themselves.

I take pause and wonder why you keep trolling the "leaving the profession" section unless you harbor secret dreams of punching out yourselves? Hopefully you think about that and my words will not come back to haunt you in later years. Many of my most ardent opponents on APC came back as allies once they realized the truth.

You are paying the price for the aviation dream. :) Might as well dig in and own it right? Some of us have real lives to live.

Skyhigh