chrisreedrules
Master Blaster
Well here I sit. I finished up my last trip with my aerial survey company about a week ago. A year of living out of a suitcase has taught me a lot. I loved the varied flying and I will cherish the experiences and great people I met, but I hated the lifestyle when it was all said and done. I missed my family and my home a lot when I was on the road. So here I sit... With the 1500+ hours and all ATP mins I worked hard to achieve over the past few years and yet something feels different. I don't feel the same drive to "get to an airline" that I used to. In fact, I'm not overly thrilled about the airline career at all anymore. Part of that feeling comes with the realization that because I own a house in NE Florida, it's not so easy to just "up and move" my family somewhere to chase the dream and live in base for QOL. I am bound to my current residence for more reasons than one at the moment and I'm not complaining about that, I really like it here. I have some plans to take a couple months off to do some "fun flying" and to work on a home remodel. So here are my options as I see them...
1) I have an opportunity to volunteer with a prominent organization that flies warbirds around the US starting in September. I can volunteer with them for as little or long as I like but this is basically a "dream come true" kind of opportunity for me. Before I was even a private pilot, if you asked me what I would do with aviation I would of told you this is what I wanted to do. I just never expected the opportunity to come at this time in my career. This is not a paid gig. So it will not be paying any bills or putting any food on the table. One thing I am considering is to just work a normal job again or go back to school all the while getting my kicks flying with these guys. Work for money, fly for fun again...
2) Get my ATP done in a local twin and see if that alone will open up any opportunities for me. Preferably local opportunities. Unfortunately, there aren't many good 135 or 91 operators here so I don't know what if anything will come from this.
3) Take a couple months off, finish home remodel, get my ATP, apply at regionals. Suck it up and deal with the commute.
Not sure which path I'm going to take just yet, and I'm not even really sure why I posted this here... I guess I'm just a little torn and I'm at a point where no matter which path I take, there are a lot of questions left unanswered for me. Any decision feels like a leap of faith to some extent and I'm not used to making decisions based on faith. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated and thanks for reading my Monday morning musings.
1) I have an opportunity to volunteer with a prominent organization that flies warbirds around the US starting in September. I can volunteer with them for as little or long as I like but this is basically a "dream come true" kind of opportunity for me. Before I was even a private pilot, if you asked me what I would do with aviation I would of told you this is what I wanted to do. I just never expected the opportunity to come at this time in my career. This is not a paid gig. So it will not be paying any bills or putting any food on the table. One thing I am considering is to just work a normal job again or go back to school all the while getting my kicks flying with these guys. Work for money, fly for fun again...
2) Get my ATP done in a local twin and see if that alone will open up any opportunities for me. Preferably local opportunities. Unfortunately, there aren't many good 135 or 91 operators here so I don't know what if anything will come from this.
3) Take a couple months off, finish home remodel, get my ATP, apply at regionals. Suck it up and deal with the commute.
Not sure which path I'm going to take just yet, and I'm not even really sure why I posted this here... I guess I'm just a little torn and I'm at a point where no matter which path I take, there are a lot of questions left unanswered for me. Any decision feels like a leap of faith to some extent and I'm not used to making decisions based on faith. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated and thanks for reading my Monday morning musings.
