High School to Cockpit

ppragman said:
You were also a few years older than this cat when you jumped into a 207 for the first time - I don't think I'd be telling a 24 or 25 year old the same thing, especially if they had bills to pay and responsibilities, etc. At 19 though, it's different. Get those adventures, have some fun, really truly learn how to fly, have legitimate adventures.

Also, good god I know who you worked for up here - I know I have the reputation of trying to work for the worst jobs in aviation (shoutout to my man @z987k ) - but damn, you basically started at the crummiest places in the industry. I'd be burnt out too if I had to do what you did. Still - strapping on a 207 at 19 and blasting off to parts unknown was a really good experience for me that I recommend for everyone who can do it.
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True. I also dont really enjoy flying per se. My favorite thing is the airline flying, and flying approaches to minimums. The 207 flying was my least favorite flying. Was it better than instructing? Yes. But other than that, I dont really miss that.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
I suspect when you’re on your back in that nursing home, you’ll be thinking “I wish I hadn’t wasted those X years on ‘adventures’ instead of getting my seniority number ASAP. I wonder how many holidays with my family it cost me once I finally got to Brand X?”
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I mean, I spent very little “time away” from my family staying in the GA world, but yeah, I could see that being a possibility. I doubt for me, though.

ASpilot2be said:
True. I also dont really enjoy flying per se. My favorite thing is the airline flying, and flying approaches to minimums. The 207 flying was my least favorite flying. Was it better than instructing? Yes. But other than that, I dont really miss that.
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I flew plenty of approaches to mins along the way, especially when I went south to fly freight. Still, I really look fondly on flying the 207 in Kodiak and in West AK and in Anchorage in my late teens early 20s, it was formative for me. I think it was a really positive experience and feel like it “built character” (in the Calvin’s dad sense) even though it was challenging and hard work and even occasionally boring. I learned how to be a PIC in piston singles in Alaska, and many of the lessons I learned doing that came in handy later in life.

Personally, for most of my career I was really in love with flying - I mean the physical act of flying the airplane and I liked flying instrument approaches. When that started to fade I was already flying medevac, but it took over 6,000hrs to start getting “done” with finding that kind of flying fun.

To each his own, but I’d recommend some time doing something adventurous to anyone under 21 getting into the field. If you’re older than 25 (but less than 45) I’d tell you to get to a “good job” as soon as possible, but even though then most work is boring enough and “these are the good old days” - go have whatever adventures you want to have because you don’t know how long you’ll be able to have them for.
 
ppragman said:
I mean, I spent very little “time away” from my family staying in the GA world, but yeah, I could see that being a possibility. I doubt for me, though.



I flew plenty of approaches to mins along the way, especially when I went south to fly freight. Still, I really look fondly on flying the 207 in Kodiak and in West AK and in Anchorage in my late teens early 20s, it was formative for me. I think it was a really positive experience and feel like it “built character” (in the Calvin’s dad sense) even though it was challenging and hard work and even occasionally boring. I learned how to be a PIC in piston singles in Alaska, and many of the lessons I learned doing that came in handy later in life.

Personally, for most of my career I was really in love with flying - I mean the physical act of flying the airplane and I liked flying instrument approaches. When that started to fade I was already flying medevac, but it took over 6,000hrs to start getting “done” with finding that kind of flying fun.

To each his own, but I’d recommend some time doing something adventurous to anyone under 21 getting into the field. If you’re older than 25 (but less than 45) I’d tell you to get to a “good job” as soon as possible, but even though then most work is boring enough and “these are the good old days” - go have whatever adventures you want to have because you don’t know how long you’ll be able to have them for.
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I totally get that. I will always miss Alaska, but flying in the PNW is now my all time favorite. Especially now being in the left seat of a Q400 and being able to hand fly Cat III approaches, the awesome RNP approaches here, and in general the beautiful flying.

If I were to start all over again, I probably would have started at little Ace.
 
ASpilot2be said:
I totally get that. I will always miss Alaska, but flying in the PNW is now my all time favorite. Especially now being in the left seat of a Q400 and being able to hand fly Cat III approaches, the awesome RNP approaches here, and in general the beautiful flying.

If I were to start all over again, I probably would have started at little Ace.
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Remember too that little Ace was having a crash every other year or so when you were getting started.
 
Roger Roger said:
Remember too that little Ace was having a crash every other year or so when you were getting started.
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They weren’t quite that bad but it was still pretty bad as they transitioned from the way things “used to be” to the new reality.

One of my close friends died in one of those accidents; I’d still recommend the adventure. Adventures are always risky, be damned careful, aviation plays for keepsies.
 
Cptnchia said:
How many will even remember anything that far back when lying in a nursing home. More likely trying to remember if you had s bowl movement that morning.
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Regular, smooth and oatmeal-enhanced bowel movements are wonderful things, even at 31.
 
Eh. I got my SE commercial about 3 years 9 months ago and I just passed my CA line check. You can still have some really awesome adventures during those time building jobs that get you to ATP mins, while also flying your butt off to get to a "real job"

right place/right time is 90% of this business
 
bimmerphile said:
Eh. I got my SE commercial about 3 years 9 months ago and I just passed my CA line check. You can still have some really awesome adventures during those time building jobs that get you to ATP mins, while also flying your butt off to get to a "real job"

right place/right time is 90% of this business
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I mean objectively this.

Go fly skydivers or banners or instruct from 250tt to 500tt, then fly 207s in West Alaska from 500tt to 1500tt, then go to the airlines. That’s still at least a year of adventure.
 
ASpilot2be said:
Thats very true. I was thinking of more getting started today.
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ppragman said:
They weren’t quite that bad but it was still pretty bad as they transitioned from the way things “used to be” to the new reality.

One of my close friends died in one of those accidents; I’d still recommend the adventure. Adventures are always risky, be damned careful, aviation plays for keepsies.
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I know several folks who used the twin turbine IFR time at Ace as a springboard for Medevac. It seems like every one of them has a story where they had to have a come-to-Jesus moment with a captain along the lines of “try that shiz again and you can take this airplane back to ANC single pilot”.

Also without going into detail, they still do some stuff that kinda makes one go “huh” when one hears it on the radio.
 
Roger Roger said:
I know several folks who used the twin turbine IFR time at Ace as a springboard for Medevac. It seems like every one of them has a story where they had to have a come-to-Jesus moment with a captain along the lines of “try that shiz again and you can take this airplane back to ANC single pilot”.

Also without going into detail, they still do some stuff that kinda makes one go “huh” when one hears it on the radio.
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One day I will tell the stories. I happened to be there at the perfect time to fly with some really salty dudes that make Colleen Mondor’s stories look tame.

Edit to add:

At least two (maybe more) of the captains could take the plane back single pilot if they were so inclined, two of them pre-dated crews at Ace and came from the MarkAir Express days.
 
ASpilot2be said:
True. I also dont really enjoy flying per se. My favorite thing is the airline flying, and flying approaches to minimums. The 207 flying was my least favorite flying. Was it better than instructing? Yes. But other than that, I dont really miss that.
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This.

To me my biggest memory about GA was being uncomfortable. I didn't hate it, but it was a means to an end. Today's approach to 7R in ANC with a weight that had a 168 knot ref speed with a coffee cup by my side was more enjoyable than anything I ever did in GA. Hell of a lot safer too.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
This.

To me my biggest memory about GA was being uncomfortable. I didn't hate it, but it was a means to an end. Today's approach to 7R in ANC with a weight that had a 168 knot ref speed with a coffee cup by my side was more enjoyable than anything I ever did in GA. Hell of a lot safer too.
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Now that I’m back from Spain next time you have some time in ANC give me a shout, we will go get beer.
 
ppragman said:
Now that I’m back from Spain next time you have some time in ANC give me a shout, we will go get beer.
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Definitely next time. I'm not long for this world today. I'll likely be up searching for coffee in the morning if you're around. Off to LAX early tomorrow afternoon.
 
ppragman said:
I’d be down, but I’m babysitting in the morning, so probably unable.
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No worries. As of now I'll be back towards the end of August. I'll try to give you a heads up.

Tomorrow in all reality my alarm will go off with enough time to get coffee but I'll just turn over, turn it off, and sleep until wake up call.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
No worries. As of now I'll be back towards the end of August. I'll try to give you a heads up.

Tomorrow in all reality my alarm will go off with enough time to get coffee but I'll just turn over, turn it off, and sleep until wake up call.
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Sounds good see ya in August.
 
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