I'd be #29 at UPS

Retirement FTW.
I'm fairly certain the point of this thread is to convince young pilots to go after their dreams responsibly. Get the great job, don't buy a fancy new car, house or boat because you think you've just boarded the cruise ship that'll drop you off at retirement island. If any young folks here want to hear a damn thing from me I hope they hear this. You might be the brightest bulb but you don't know what you don't know. Hire a competent financial advisor, tell them you'd like to retire at 50 and then take their advice. You won't be the flashy pilot parking your Tesla Model S in the employee parking lot nor will you have a house on the shoreline of a lake but once you retire that lake might be in a different country and it'll be your second home. Live at a reasonable level when you're actually going to work, save the extravaganza for when you retire and can actually enjoy it. They should teach this sort of thing in public schools.
 
If I were to go to 65, I'd retire at ~450, according to the Super Secret IPA seniority calculator.

And SCREW THAT. If I can punch out at 60, Ima doit. 62 at the latest. If my idiotic Pilot Investment Strategies pay off, I'll be out of here at 58.

Flew with a guy on his final flight last month. Great guy, good pilot, good Captain, fun on the layover but didn't expect anyone to hang out with him as the Entertainment Committee, etc. etc. Just generally the kind of guy one wants to pattern their future self on (I think he was 62, for reference). And he did not disappoint with the way he left. He only sort of mentioned in passing that it was his last flight. I was like "Oh, wow, last trip?" "No, last leg." Then, and I'll never forget this: He autolanded. "You, uh, want to autoland?" "Yeah, ACARS says it needs one." "Oh. Cool."

So we autoland. Taxi in. No fire trucks, no water cannons. Park. Get in the van, go to the guard shack. "Great flying with you, congrats!" Literally over his shoulder: "Thanks dude, I'm going golfing!" Didn't even skip a step.
 
If I were to go to 65, I'd retire at ~450, according to the Super Secret IPA seniority calculator.

And SCREW THAT. If I can punch out at 60, Ima doit. 62 at the latest. If my idiotic Pilot Investment Strategies pay off, I'll be out of here at 58.

Flew with a guy on his final flight last month. Great guy, good pilot, good Captain, fun on the layover but didn't expect anyone to hang out with him as the Entertainment Committee, etc. etc. Just generally the kind of guy one wants to pattern their future self on (I think he was 62, for reference). And he did not disappoint with the way he left. He only sort of mentioned in passing that it was his last flight. I was like "Oh, wow, last trip?" "No, last leg." Then, and I'll never forget this: He autolanded. "You, uh, want to autoland?" "Yeah, ACARS says it needs one." "Oh. Cool."

So we autoland. Taxi in. No fire trucks, no water cannons. Park. Get in the van, go to the guard shack. "Great flying with you, congrats!" Literally over his shoulder: "Thanks dude, I'm going golfing!" Didn't even skip a step.

Stay single! :)
 
I do occasionally check my Baird account and ask myself if I’m gong in to work that day.
Its a fight to hang in some days. Eligible to retire from the bank (56) but still need to work so work it is.

After 40+ positions were eliminated (entire work center) i cant say it feels as safe as it did last week. Having a 3rd party vendor coming is a bit unsettling.

But hey…it is FT remote.
 
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If I were to go to 65, I'd retire at ~450, according to the Super Secret IPA seniority calculator.

And SCREW THAT. If I can punch out at 60, Ima doit. 62 at the latest. If my idiotic Pilot Investment Strategies pay off, I'll be out of here at 58.

Flew with a guy on his final flight last month. Great guy, good pilot, good Captain, fun on the layover but didn't expect anyone to hang out with him as the Entertainment Committee, etc. etc. Just generally the kind of guy one wants to pattern their future self on (I think he was 62, for reference). And he did not disappoint with the way he left. He only sort of mentioned in passing that it was his last flight. I was like "Oh, wow, last trip?" "No, last leg." Then, and I'll never forget this: He autolanded. "You, uh, want to autoland?" "Yeah, ACARS says it needs one." "Oh. Cool."

So we autoland. Taxi in. No fire trucks, no water cannons. Park. Get in the van, go to the guard shack. "Great flying with you, congrats!" Literally over his shoulder: "Thanks dude, I'm going golfing!" Didn't even skip a step.

Sounds almost exactly like my last flight. Flew a IAH out-n-back afternoon turn. Was the first day of the MLB World Series in Oct 2021….playing in Houston that night. F/O was a great dude and friend. I didn’t plan the return leg and gave it to the f/o who insisted I fly it. I didn’t want the after flight party/cake in ops. My plan was to always treat it as any other flight. Get off the jet, get on the Disney tram to the parking lot and go home. No fanfare or group hugs, just leave like I had arrived 34 yrs prior. The people I cared most about knew and we had said our goodbyes days/weeks prior. Didn’t want my family and friends meeting me at the jet at 2am and going through the UPS security gauntlet when they’d rather be in bed.

Just prior to pushback in IAH (preparing for my final leg back to SDF), I noticed two fire trucks at the entry/exit point of our ramp. My immediate thought was must be an inbound emergency aircraft or hazmat spill. I thought, “damn, hope that doesn’t delay us on my last flight..typical!”
We block out on time after my farewells to the mechanic I had known for over 30 yrs as we both had started at UPS around the same time. As we got closer the the Fire trucks, at the exit point of the ramp, I got the lights and full water gun salute. I looked at the f/o and asked how they knew it was my retirement flight? He shrugged his shoulders and just said maybe a little birdie told somebody? I almost broke down right there, not for the water gun salute but the thought that my f/o (along with the mechanic and a few others) had secretly setup the whole thing without me suspecting anything all day. A flood of memories hit me hard as I taxied through the water. I then thought really bad that the rescue team had to come all the way out to the cargo ramp and sit while waiting for us while game one of the World Series was going on. I’m sure they’d rather have been back at the station watching the game.

A little conversation of congratulations ensued on ground frequency between other company flights and ATC about the trucks and the water salute. Feeling emboldened I asked ATC for the rwy 26R for a quicker taxi and you know, it’s my last flight and all. Their response…”Sorry, unable..taxi 15L blah..blah. UGH! Slapped back to reality! Anyway, got back to SDF. Met by one management Captain who escorted me out of the security shack, took my ID shook hands and wished me well in retirement. The end…..
 
Its a fight to hang in some days. Eligible to retire from the bank (56) but still need to work so work it is.

After 40+ positions were eliminated (entire work center) i cant it feels as safe as it did last week. Having a 3rd party vendor coming is a bit unsettling.

But hey…it is FT remote.

Oof. I wonder who started a company, declared themselves experts and the Feds bought off on it?
 
It used to fairly common I feel for pilots to mention it was their or the other pilots last flight but I haven’t heard it in a long time now. I used to always ask if they wanted one last go around.

I was on a ‘Fini Flight” a few months ago, it was… ‘interesting’ on a number of different levels.
 
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