Should jtrain take recall?

[jtrain609]

Honestly John what could you possibly get from a thread like this? No one knows your situation like you do. No one knows your dreams wants and desires like you do.
People telling you stay in law school but they continue to fly at the airlines???
People telling you to go back to Expressjet but have never sat reserve at EWR.
Just as Doug says don't take investment advice from pilots, I wouldn't necessarily take advice such as this from pilots either.

Acutally, Mike, I generally like hearing the input of people here. This forum has made my first career, and assuming there is a second, I'm confident it will make that one too. Even losers such as yourself have provided me with valuable insight over the years

 

[jtrain609]

Been posting from my android phone all day. Thanks for the great discussion and commentary everybody, I'll have more to add once I get to a real computer.

 

[Cav]

I say take the bypass and put the decision off a little longer until you're forced to make it. Your outlook in year 2 of law school will likely be much different from that of year 1. At least that is what my lawyer friends say. It's easy to say that the grass is greener while you're stressed out sitting in a library at midnight on Sunday. One might feel the same sitting on a FedEx plane at 3am missing your wife. Just food for thought.

My gut says that you should stick with law but only you can make that decision. There's something comforting about working in a field where you have more control over your own destiny with virtually limitless avenues you can take. But that's me and I'm in no way saying that I don't enjoy my chosen profession. As you know there is a boatload of risk in this business that you have to be comfortable with.

You said it yourself that you miss flying not flying an RJ. Your legal career may allow you to have a financial comfort level to enjoy flying on your own time. I think that would be pretty cool.

Good luck with the decision. I enjoyed the time we flew together at XJT. I'm confident you'll make the decision that is best for you and Emily whatever that may be.

 

[thehobbit]

I think that goes with nearly every flying job. Even as flying fighters, a "dream job" for many, the lifestyle and average 14+ hour days at work (any less, and you were seen as a slacker), made what little fun the flying was (IT was demanding work too, mind you) become tiring very quickly. For example, we'd have available aircraft come up on the flying schedule in the unit on say an afternoon or a Friday, and they'd ask around if anyone wanted to go on the flight just to fill the scheduled line....and there'd be trouble finding people to want to do so sometimes. I know there are those probably reading this that think that is flipping crazy, but until one experiences the lifestyle as a whole and for a while (just as with the airlines or any other flying job that has its nuances), they won't truly understand the sentiment.

The bold I don't understand, what could keep you busy for 14 hours a day?

 

[MQAAord]

The bold I don't understand, what could keep you busy for 14 hours a day?

Perhaps that's part of the problem? Having to be at work, on duty for 14+ hours, but NOT being busy? That would make for a pretty sucky workday...

*not a fighter pilot, never have been one, just guessing....*

 

[Crockrocket94]

I wouldnt.

You've been there done that, try something else.

 

[dasleben]

Perhaps that's part of the problem? Having to be at work, on duty for 14+ hours, but NOT being busy? That would make for a pretty sucky workday...

*not a fighter pilot, never have been one, just guessing....*

Done it. I held a line last summer that had 14 hour days and 6 hours scheduled block. Holy sit time, Batman. It sucks.

 

[germb747]

I say finish law school man. You're still near the bottom of the seniority list if you're recalled; they'll throw you back on the street in a heartbeat next time the economy hiccups Plus, IIRC your posts from a year ago, you seemed really bitter with the regional airline line of work and were ready to move to another calling. Aren't you happier now overall? I don't think I could ever take a job at a regional--they flat out abuse people and don't pay you guys half of what you're worth. As a lawyer, you could pull in six figures, buy your own plane, and then fly it if, when, where, and how you want to. Tough decision, I know, because you've now seen both sides. I love flying, but if for some reason I can't do it anymore, I'd probably want to go to law school (if I happen to be smart enough to get in, that is). Good luck!

 

[Hacker15e]

The bold I don't understand, what could keep you busy for 14 hours a day?

Just flying a single 1.5 hour sortie can easily take 12 hours (in the F-15E world at least). That includes, obviously, the mission planning, brief, sortie, and debrief, plus all of the time spent in between those events (50 minutes for ground ops, an hour for the post-flight mx and preparation for the debrief, etc).

The mission planning is what took the longest for us...especially for a Surface Attack Tactics sortie. That could be a 3-4 hour process in and of itself.

So, obviously, you're only able to get to your "desk job" work once that plan-brief-fly-debrief process is done. Depending on who you are, that desk work can be very significant.

At my last job, a 'normal' day was a 0500-ish showtime and going back home about 1900.

 

[Hacker15e]

Perhaps that's part of the problem? Having to be at work, on duty for 14+ hours, but NOT being busy? That would make for a pretty sucky workday...

Naah, that's definitely not the problem. I usually had so much on my plate that I was only able to take care of "the alligators closest to the boat", and had to decide which tasks were going to hurt the least when I ignored them.

It's generally not like there is a mandatory duty day where you'll be at work between such a time and another time regardless of if you have something to do or not.

 

[Ophir]

hey everybody,


as some of you know, expressjet is recalling, and i'll be within about 15 numbers of recall here really soon. So here it is folks, you get to decide my fate! Should i take recall, or become an attorney?

stay in school!!!!!

 

[joliet]

I voted no because I am sure there are pilots junior to you who would NOT hesitate. Therefore in my mind, you should quit airlines, or aviation altogether.

Let those who have the drive, and desire get around the speed bump that is Jtrain.


:bandit:

 

[DPApilot]

Perhaps that's part of the problem? Having to be at work, on duty for 14+ hours, but NOT being busy? That would make for a pretty sucky workday...

*not a fighter pilot, never have been one, just guessing....*

I had a 10 hour day last weekend and all I did was pump 15 gallons of avgas and pull out one airplane. I must say I would take 10 hours of constant fueling and marshalling over that any day!

 

[germb747]

I voted no because I am sure there are pilots junior to you who would NOT hesitate. Therefore in my mind, you should quit airlines, or aviation altogether.

Let those who have the drive, and desire get around the speed bump that is Jtrain.


:bandit:

...because we all know that nobody could ever do better for themselves than to fly for a regional airline

 

[esa17]

Get the law degree and become a dang consultant for 9x the cash.

 

[PFGiardino]

Finish what you started. There's thousands of things you can do with a JD, even if you dislike practicing law, it will help you market yourself into whatever niche you find. Worst case scenario... just wait around for the second next PILOT SHORTAGE!!!!@!@!@@!#!@#!!

-Guy who doesn't know you at all.

 

[juan valdez]

For example, we'd have available aircraft come up on the flying schedule in the unit on say an afternoon or a Friday, and they'd ask around if anyone wanted to go on the flight just to fill the scheduled line....and there'd be trouble finding people to want to do so sometimes.

haha from a mx perspective in medium lift, so very true.
We would need to do a ground turn (engine run) or try to get one last test flight in before sunset and it was ALWAYS impossible to find pilots for it. Even the one who was supposed to be the dedicated "test pilot" for the day.

Jtrain, seems you did a lot of complaining and hatin on the job once you got furloughed, now you seem to be leaning the other way again. Only advice I can offer is that I feel the same about the military after leaving it. I miss it but have to remind myself about all the bad things. BC I know if I ever went back in I would hate it again within a month.
You may not be the same or it may be a totally different situation but like someone said, you always only remember the good.
If it's not for you and you hang up your wings, from a professional standpoint, oh well. It's not slap against you, youve been there, done that and perhaps didn't like what you saw. Or maybe you did.

Good luck in your decision process though.

Oh one last tid bit, whenever I'm at work (line services) I always mutter to myself "shoulda been a lawyer, or gotten into oil business." Seems those are the two most common people who come through in their own planes or on a plane.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

A few people above bring up a good point: a law degree opens up a lot of doors, not just the door to actually practicing law. Pretty much everyone in senior management at AirTran has a JD. It's just an incredible resume booster. MBAs don't impress too many people nowadays, but a JD still does.

 

[C150J]

John,

Is this your final recall notice? If not, by all means, I would strongly encourage you to defer such decisions until you must make them. I don't think there's any use in worrying about it unless you can't bypass.


J.

 

[ppragman]

Though I doubt you'd value you my opinion on the matter, I'd say stay in school. If you want to go back to the aviation world when you're done with law school you can. Getting a flying job isn't that hard, with your 1500hrs of total time too, you could probably get some summer gigs flying banners or something in the summer between terms, or go someplace where seasonal jobs are common for a few months. When you get done with law school you could get a freight job and work part time for a small law firm, or get back into the regional world and try to affect change in the union realm of things.

Or to put it another way, if you chase "fun" and "money," rather than taking the challenging road to finish school, you'll regret it forever (or at least I would, and I've had the opportunity to quit school and make craploads of money, but I didn't). Be a man, finish what you started.