Why I Left an Airline Pilot Career

Counter point: or it could be one of the better experiences in your life.

Probably a fair number of people here will agree with my sentiment (as some will agree with yours).

I think it really comes down to how much you value flying airplanes. Like he said, for some people, the love of that is so great that it outweighs the negatives. In those cases, someone feels like you. But if someone just really likes flying airplanes, but doesn't live and breathe it, then it's just not enough, and the career leaves someone wanting.

Neither opinion is right or wrong. It's just different personalities.
 
I think it really comes down to how much you value flying airplanes. Like he said, for some people, the love of that is so great that it outweighs the negatives. In those cases, someone feels like you. But if someone just really likes flying airplanes, but doesn't live and breathe it, then it's just not enough, and the career leaves someone wanting.

Neither opinion is right or wrong. It's just different personalities.
There’s a sweet spot you can get to, too, where it ceases to be endless toil and becomes a legitimately good job.

But that is not guaranteed.
 
I think it really comes down to how much you value flying airplanes.

Meh... airplane flying can get fun... for the 10 minutes at the beginning and end of a 6 hour flight that you actually get to fly. But for myself (and lots of other pilots I know) the job is a good one due to the scheduling flexibility and pay potential. Yes, not everybody who starts this job will make it to a place where they get 18 days off a month and are making 300K or more, but not everybody who starts at one of the mystery jobs the @BEEF SUPREME 's biker friends have will be able to sneak out mid week to hit the trails either.

It's mostly about luck whether you chose correctly at the beginning or how long you stick around due to security or fear of change or whatever, once you realize a job isn't doing the things you want it to be doing for you.
 
And yet you wrote it out and hit “Post” anyway. Major lack of class IMHO.
So is the "lmao" smile under posts which contain zero humor.
Sometimes the only way to tell someone he's a dick is to tell him he's a dick.
 
There’s a sweet spot you can get to, too, where it ceases to be endless toil and becomes a legitimately good job.

Good? Maybe. Decent? Sure. Great? Rarely. That's basically reserved for the one guy at the very top of his bid category for a few years.

But for myself (and lots of other pilots I know) the job is a good one due to the scheduling flexibility and pay potential.

I'll give you the pay potential. But we have very different definitions of schedule flexibility. I sometimes think that pilots don't understand what real schedule flexibility actually looks like.

So is the "lmao" smile under posts which contain zero humor.
Sometimes the only way to tell someone he's a dick is to tell him he's a dick.

Okay. You're a dick.
 
This is the only job I can think of where you can make a quarter mil or more and not take the job home with you. No calls. Papers. Projects. Assignment. Research. Nothing! My father and older brother are doctors and they work at least 5x harder than I do for their pay.

I’ve only been at the airlines since 2007, but I absolutely love my job. Even during the “boring” cruise portion.
 
Care to expand on some of this for an outsider looking in? Some of it is apparent. Schedules/time zones, sitting for long periods of time, airport food etc. I don’t mean to create a negative thread but as you age the things you mentioned become more of a focus.

Flying a jet is not flying,it’s operating a computer 98% of the time. It’s boring.
You are absolutely MARRIED to this job until you “make it” to a place where you’re sort of treated like a professional. There’s other jobs like this but most of them you at least get home at night.

Some people talk about the shine wearing off after a year or so. The shine wore off during my first takeoff. Yup, exactly what I thought, a giant mini van lol. Overrated.

So, you start looking at it from strictly a career point of view. I’m insanely lucky, mine has gone very well so it’s worth it. Some people, no matter how hard they try, simply can’t climb outta the muck. They end up trapped by student loan debt with just enough to get by while their marriage fails, their health fails, and overall attitude just goes south.
 
This is the only job I can think of where you can make a quarter mil or more and not take the job home with you. No calls. Papers. Projects. Assignment. Research. Nothing! My father and older brother are doctors and they work at least 5x harder than I do for their pay.

I’ve only been at the airlines since 2007, but I absolutely love my job. Even during the “boring” cruise portion.

I’m studying for CQ and wondering when I can look you in the eye and say:

“WTF dude...?”


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Yeah but to be clear I’ll probably fly with you one day and ask you how the ever loving F studying for CQ isn’t taking work home with me...

????


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Ohhh. I see what you mean.

Well shoot, if that’s the comparison you wanna make even doctors have to do CME (continuing medical education) every year. That’s on top of the regular stuff for their job that they bring home. For us, annual recurrent is literally the one time you have to crack the books to study. But honestly, at least before Covid, you could have enough overnights to just do this learning while away “at” work and not have to study at home. And even at home, if I have to study 3-4 days at home just once a year, I really can’t complain.

I don’t consider this job something you bring home. Park jet, shutdown and secure checklist, and I’m home free until the next time I fly, with zero time spent in my job stuff until the next time I sit in the plane. You can’t beat it in terms of pay vs work required while at home.
 
I jumped off the 121 wagon 8 years ago. Had twins on the way, with a 4 yr old at home. Wanted to be around more. The airline filed for bankruptcy protection on April 1st, and I pulled the rip cord. Wasn’t hanging around for that mess.

Previously had a good schedule, check airman, decent pay, lots of Ref’s when/if I wanted to move up, but it wasn’t worth it at the time.

Ended up in one of those unicorn 91 gigs. Low utilization, 3 pilots, relatively stable schedule. Home for all the holidays, ~ 100hours per year of flying. Usually we can keep status in one of the hotel chains, the owner pays us roughly what we’d be making if we were at a major, or, equivalent for what we could be flying, in my case, ~ what an 8 year CA would be making at a major+ factor for running the department. Full benefits, 401k match, annual bonus, ski trips, golf trips. We’ve been shopping planes, so Sox tickets, F1 tickets etc all tossed in.

As much fun as it is, I still feel the draw of the 121 world, where it feels super stable.

Then 2020 happens. Some people love 121, some don’t. Some are pilots who want to branch out in case flying doesn’t work out. If you’re happy, and making enough to live- then I wouldn’t sweat the choice. If you’re not happy, then make a move.


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The ability to work as much one month as I want, or as little one month as I want is very nice. I didn't really have that option during my charter years. But I felt much more intimate with the plane when I was doing 91/135 work. Like I got used to doing all the petty stuff, and you really learned the nuances of the planes because there were not as many. Now its like getting a hooker, while it gets the job done, there is no emotional attachment for me to the plane and I don't have to do anything like update databases, stock it, clean it, or make sure the mx is done.


TLDR- Regarding flying, corp flying was like being married, 121 was like hiring a hooker or at best a one night stand and I lost their number.
 
The thing that I have to go to once a year, where they put you in the simulator and make lots of bad things happen. The one where if you don’t do good you get fired.


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I thought you guys are AQP and get mulligans?
 
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