JordanD
Chinese Food Enthusiast
Procedurally required max power static takeoffs are fun too. I thought we were going to pop a wheelie when we released the brakes the other day.
Get there as fast as you can or enjoy the ride (and risk ending up behind the curve)?
- Thread starter flyinghedgehog
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PeanuckleCRJ
Poodle Wrangler
The 737 was sloppy to hand fly, very uncomfortable, and just not a good experience. A good landing on a 737 is a "ehh.... guess I was a bit off" on the bus. We got lots of reps on the little bus, too... just turned off all the automation and turning and burning in the traffic pattern was a lot of fun. I still monitor the engine starts on the bus just like I'm throwing the fuel on, just not moving the switch. We did a good bit of manual starts on first flight of the day at cool/high elevation airports on fifi, too.
I really don't care if I ever use a yoke again... you're doing the same thing with a slightly different input. If your scan is good, the interface doesn't matter.
Big fifi is all that fun, plus way better looking, a couple nice meals, a nap, and exploring places 10 hours away.
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
Pat, I hope you get back to flying soon, you're getting way too introspective and it's hard for all of us.
learhawkerbe400
Well-Known Member
How is flying a beat up pos little plane around for crap money enjoying the ride? Go somewhere you can make enough money to buy your own little plane.
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
Because it was fun? Because I learned a lot about flying that way? Because I got to go all over the country flying a wide array of different and interesting equipment? Because I learned a bunch about myself? And honestly, not that many of the airplanes I got to fly were beat up POS's (though some certainly were). Also, the pay for this sort of work hasn't been terrible (in fact, until very recently, it was much better than entry level - or even 5 or 6 year - regional FO pay).
If I would have gone to RJ world, it probably would have been a better career move - but I certainly wouldn't have flown a PC12 to Adak, or out to gravel lodge strips on the Alaska Peninsula. I certainly wouldn't have explored Middleton Island on a four-wheeler for hours. I certainly wouldn't have learned the pleasantries in a nearly dead language, or helped bury a village elder. I certainly wouldn't have seen buffalo and reindeer from the slopes of Mt. Vsevidof, nor would I have watched Mt. Pavlov erupt in person. I doubt I'd have seen water spouts in a temperate rainforest or humpbacks bubblefeed around my old bosses broken down boat. I doubt I would have seen upside down mountains as I descended through an inversion over the interior, or sand dunes north of the arctic circle.
If I would have gone 121 out of the gate, I doubt I would have been able to do tours in Glacier Bay and Denali national park. If I would have made the "career" my priority, I doubt I would have been able to basically get paid to essentially not work (medevac) on Kauai for a couple years while my sons were little, and if I would have gone 121 I doubt I would have met my wife.
I mean honestly, if I had my choice, I'd go straight to a Legacy at 20 year pay and fly one trip a month, - but that's not possible. What I'm saying is that the things I personally would have had to give up to point my career in that direction are things I am not willing to part with. Of course, your mileage may vary - and in the pursuit of adventure there are quite a few aviators who've met their maker...but I wouldn't trade my adventures for any seniority number at any place - they make me part of who I am today (for better or worse).
Has it always been easy? Hell no - and frankly, I bitched mercilessly about many aspects of it (most notably the cold). I'm not generally considered to be a "religious man" but I will say that many of the things I've been fortunate enough to see as I've been flying "beat up little POS's" around North America have left me in awe at the majesty of the world; some of the experiences I have had have left me a fundamentally different person. While, yes, a solid and stable career is nice, I personally am glad that I got to have the adventures I did, and I'd absolutely recommend the "road less traveled" to any would-be aviator.
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
🦈💜
All dragon~
This response is toxic.
JustinS
Well-Known Member
Enjoy the ride, but when the ride is over and a new one comes along don't pass it up because you're too busy with the old ride. The new ride will take you to places the old ride can't. Although the past will always be nostalgic, don't forget your goals, and remember seniority is KING anywhere you work. So get that dream job, and in the mean time enjoy every second of every day at your current job, because you never know when your number will be called to be the next in line to move on to a new adventure. Also take the difficult days at work in stride and be thankful for the learning opportunity because once you move on you'll always wish you had more experience in your prior position. It's not often the easy days we remember when it comes to experience it's the difficult days. When it comes to reminiscing we always remember the easy days more than the hard days.
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
Screaming_Emu
Joe Conventional
I definitely can respect all this a lot more than "blah blah blah, real flying, Alaska, different rules, real pilot."
Sounds like we are in this for the same reasons but different locations. My biggest irritation with my current job is people who only talk about flying and then don't make the best of being able to see this big wild world we get to explore.
Seeing cluster munitions detonating right in the spot you were aiming for on the range, during a manual/high mils, non-computer aided, low-angle/low-level delivery, has a certain amount of pride in accomplishment for being able to make the bombing triangle work WWII-style with no crutches to depend on.
Or getting the intercom call in your helo that your swimmer is in the door with whomever he/she rescued, after a night low-illumination, X miles out to sea, hover over a swaying ship/boat with few hover references and constant vertigo lapping at you; and only being kept over the target you can't see by the movement instructions of the hoist operator working out the right side door to keep you over a precise spot at a precise height with his/her terse movement instructions like a mini-PAR, as they work to get the swimmer placed in an exact spot and recovered from the same spot.
Every job has its neat aspects. Some more intense or in depth than others, but all have their plusses and minuses.
Autothrust Blue
"Well, on the Brasilia..."
tl;dr
Autothrust Blue
"Well, on the Brasilia..."
However cool, this is not all exactly applicable to "boring" air carrier operations.
ComplexHiAv8r
Well-Known Member
You mean people actually live on this regional pay? I thought this was for my retirement fun.... with travel benefits.
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Screaming_Emu
Joe Conventional
We tried, but senior guys doing this job as a hobby wouldn't leave!
JustinS
Well-Known Member
Did you vote no then?
bimmerphile
Sidestick Wiggler
ftfy
would be interesting to see the replies here knowing who is single, and who is married or with kids to feed. Methinks there would be a difference in career planning/perspective
ComplexHiAv8r
Well-Known Member
No on which one? I'm fighting to load my LoM to the hilt as promised! I have it on letterhead.
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