House committee votes to raise pilot retirement age to 67

CFI A&P said:
You're calling an generation of pilots spoiled, yet you received considerable assistance from your parents to get to your seat. Which is fine, many people get help from their parents or relatives when starting out. Just classic situationally unaware of pot calling the kettle black.
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Oh please. That was NOT the point.


The spoiled comment was in regards to:


* wanting only a job that is emotionally and socially pleasing to them.

* wanting not to work weekends

* wanting not to shave

* wanting to do recreational drugs.


NONE of those have to do with parents and their money. This is a fundamental mindset difference between someone like me, and the new generation.

Those things were written as a reason Gen Z doesn’t want to pilot. And I rebutted those things as entirely pathetic for the new generation.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Oh please. That was NOT the point.


The spoiled comment was in regards to:


* wanting only a job that is emotionally and socially pleasing to them.

* wanting not to work weekends

* wanting not to shave

* wanting to do recreational drugs.


NONE of those have to do with parents and their money. This is a fundamental mindset difference between someone like me, and the new generation.

Those things were written as a reason Gen Z doesn’t want to pilot. And I rebutted those things as entirely pathetic for the new generation.
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You've told us here about the help you've had with housing, tuition and such to get where you are.

This may come as a shock to you, but people choose work for all sorts of reasons. Income, QoL, schedule, interest in the field, etc. Are you surprised that an 18 year today may spend a few hours on APC researching the career and decide, nah I'm good. "First it takes over $100k in training, then how many years do I have to spend listening to grumpy captains talking about how their salary that is three to five times more than mine and it still isn't enough? Or their political ideologies while I sit here squirming because I'm on probation? Or ten years of redeyes, or upgrade is X years away because retirement could be raised to 67, or autonomous operations are coming..."

No wonder youth isn't that excited for this profession. Instead they could sell boob sweat or make absurd TikTok videos and earn the same living, without having scheduling tell them "sorry about your day off, but we're going to extend you."
 
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CFI A&P said:
You've told us here about the help you've had with housing, tuition and such to get where you are.

This may come as a shock to you, but people choose work for all sorts of reasons. Income, QoL, schedule, interest in the field, etc. Are you surprised that an 18 year today may spend a few hours on APC researching the career and decide, nah I'm good. "First it takes over $100k in training, then how many years do I have to spend listening to grumpy captains talking about how their salary that is three to five times more than mine and it still isn't enough? Or their political ideologies while I sit here squirming because I'm on probation? Or ten years of redeyes, or upgrade is X years away because retirement could be raised to 67, or autonomous operations are coming..."

No wonder youth isn't that excited for this profession. Instead they could sell boob sweat or make absurd TikTok videos and earn the same living, without having scheduling tell them "sorry about your day off, but we're going to extend you."
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I will give you cost of entry as the only valid point. The rest of it is a rant, about grumpy CAs, their finances, their complaints, politics, redeyes, upgrades, retirement age. None of those things mattered at age 22 in 2006. And that was when majors were in BK era making dirt crap wages. And I still couldn’t wait because it was what I had really wanted to do.


The fact you’d push for TikTok or Instagram as careers tells me all I need to know about your mentality.

News flash: I’ll take a pilot career on avg then some kid trying to “make it” on Twitter or Instagram for a career.

Earn the same living? Very few tiktock or Instaidiots are earning 400-500k+. That will NOT be the case for the avg guy entering. Whereas in the pilot profession, as long as you get hired at the big 6 pax or big 2 cargo, you will make that money.



I didn’t look at money, I just thought the idea of airplanes had intrigued me from Avery early age and the thought of being a pilot was awesome. And that I could make a career out of it? Sold.

I’d rather fly with someone who has a passion for flying, versus just there for a paycheck. I’ve flown both types, one just inherently makes a trip better, the other worse (or boring).
 
Would someone please tell me when I get to keep working to pay taxes when I'm still healthy, sound, fit & fiddle; completely in conformity with a 1stClass; capable of a greaser with a 20kt Xwind on a wet, short strip; aware that I should give Qs wide berth; able to calculate a descent gradient without a calculator; and can still run a marathon faster than most influencer-induced poser-participants who entered the race 'cause FaceTwat told them it would be, "like", "cool"??
 
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Inverted25 said:
I think it’s all about finding your balance and a job that allows you to have that. I fly corporate. Work around 10 days a month. Get to travel the world. Both planes are less than 2 years old. When we are on the road we have a very liberal expense policy. Nice hotels. We can expense attractions(boat rides/amusement parks etc). I’ll make 300k this year. I don’t make new contract airline pilot money but I also work a lot less and have a amazing QOL both at home and on the road.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I didn't quite pull in that much, but my last job was on that track, and I would have made it there, but given that I got started in 2006-2007, it took me quite a while to "get there." I'm not complaining, I loved it, and it was "worth it," but I can see why people would look at the job and say... "this sucks." There are a lot of advantages to "not flying professionally" if you have a job that you like and find rewarding that pays enough to feed you.

My student loans for college and flying totaled about $65k all said - racking that much debt to get a flying job made sense to me as I literally couldn't have seen myself doing anything else, but if there's something that you like, "about as much" as flying that doesn't cost that much, why not? Now that it's around $100k to go zero to hero... I would probably be more cautious.

I eventually became pretty mercenary, too. It became obvious to me that the professed finances of this industry were nonsense pretty quickly. Since I took a 50% pay cut and moved across the country in 2011 to build turbine time at 3000TT I haven't really forgiven the industry. It got me to a good place, don't get me wrong I don't regret anything, but the career sucked for at least 5 years and was largely built on •.

I'm glad "kids these days" don't have to do that, but it was pretty freaking challenging and I can totally understand people looking at the industry and saying simply "thanks but no thanks."
 
poser765 said:
Second comment from the hip… lol are we really complaining about gen z pilots bitching about working weekends or not being able to grow a beard… lol or smoke weed even?? Like, dude, complaining about working weekends is some how a “this new generation” issue?
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I am convinced that many people simply stop evolving once they reach a certain level of success.
 
JordanD said:
Sounds like a hell of a deal for socal these days.
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Sadly, it really is. Which is why despite baby #3 coming, I’m in no desire to move fast. Lost 3 bids so far.


First one was 1.298m list, I bid 1.380m, lost to a high 1.550m.

Now my agent calls me and says hey remember that first house? You can get it, it’s coming on the market for rent at $6,800/mo.



My first thought was, Eff that guy for being an investor with no skin in living in that house. My second thought was, who the hell blows 1,550,000 only to get 6800/mo in rent?! And about 1500/month is property tax, so really 5300/month.
 
poser765 said:
Would someone kindly tell me where the line is between being entitled/spoiled and no longer willing to put up with crap.
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Meh... These days?? Probably the moment some real-paid quack writes a scipt for you to go pick up an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety/anti-social/anti-septic/anti-authority/anti-diuretic/ante-bellum/ante-diluvian/aunty-Em for you at the local, legal, street corner dealer (aka Pharmacy).
 
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Cherokee_Cruiser said:
I will give you cost of entry as the only valid point. The rest of it is a rant, about grumpy CAs, their finances, their complaints, politics, redeyes, upgrades, retirement age. None of those things mattered at age 22 in 2006. And that was when majors were in BK era making dirt crap wages. And I still couldn’t wait because it was what I had really wanted to do.


The fact you’d push for TikTok or Instagram as careers tells me all I need to know about your mentality.

News flash: I’ll take a pilot career on avg then some kid trying to “make it” on Twitter or Instagram for a career.

Earn the same living? Very few tiktock or Instaidiots are earning 400-500k+. That will NOT be the case for the avg guy entering. Whereas in the pilot profession, as long as you get hired at the big 6 pax or big 2 cargo, you will make that money.



I didn’t look at money, I just thought the idea of airplanes had intrigued me from Avery early age and the thought of being a pilot was awesome. And that I could make a career out of it? Sold.

I’d rather fly with someone who has a passion for flying, versus just there for a paycheck. I’ve flown both types, one just inherently makes a trip better, the other worse (or boring).
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When was the last time you gave a Young Eagle ride or spent time mentoring someone that is just starting out?

Those are all very real concerns and reasons why young adults do not pursue this profession. Not only that, there are members of this board that left the profession for reasons similar, or medical issues. One friend of mine grew up in an aviation family, but chose not to pursue a professional career for the same reasons. They’re doing alright in their field, making good wide body FO / ULCC CA income and don’t have to wait for the hotel van 30x a month.
 
CFI A&P said:
When was the last time you gave a Young Eagle ride or spent time mentoring someone that is just starting out?
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Last month; In both prop and jet.

I've created and taught whole curricula -arts and sciences- based around the aviation locus. Last week, I added a new geometry unit concerning the volumes and measurements of spheres based on the structures and dynamics of honeybee swarms. It's actually pretty cool; Did you know honeybees fly an ever shrinking zone defense pattern to protect the Queen? In the next lesson unit, we might consider how the function of the individual in a honeybee hive serves to further the collective interest and survival of the entire hive and the hive's entire progeny. We might compare and contrast the brilliance of the individual honeybee to the bombast, buffoonery, befuddlement, and BS of the individual human. We might discuss how those differences might affect the survival of the species.

Now that it's out there, pretty sure Meatball is gonna try to ban me... Darn it! He might find me a little different, though; I'm a spoke, woke bloke who didn't never toke! Come at me. Good luck, Meatball.
 
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CFI A&P said:
When was the last time you gave a Young Eagle ride or spent time mentoring someone that is just starting out?

Those are all very real concerns and reasons why young adults do not pursue this profession. Not only that, there are members of this board that left the profession for reasons similar, or medical issues. One friend of mine grew up in an aviation family, but chose not to pursue a professional career for the same reasons. They’re doing alright in their field, making good wide body FO / ULCC CA income and don’t have to wait for the hotel van 30x a month.
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I haven’t done Eagle rides but I have mentored pilots early in their journey.

To each their own. But I really don’t want to hear complaints about not being able to do recreational drugs or have a beard as reasons not to be a pilot.
 
Professional aviation can be a tricky gig to put all your eggs into. Especially ones where flying is their primary and/or only job they do. One easily be one failed medical, or even potentially a bungled checkride, away from losing the job.

I like having multiple professions that I can do and am qualified in, where the flying part of it is secondary. Definitely nice to have a number of fallbacks.
 
MikeD said:
Professional aviation can be a tricky gig to put all your eggs into. Especially ones where flying is their primary and/or only job they do. One easily be one failed medical, or even potentially a bungled checkride, away from losing the job.

I like having multiple professions that I can do and am qualified in, where the flying part of it is secondary. Definitely nice to have a number of fallbacks.
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Absolutely. If one can, they should have separate income streams on top of flying.
 
MikeD said:
Professional aviation can be a tricky gig to put all your eggs into. Especially ones where flying is their primary and/or only job they do. One easily be one failed medical, or even potentially a bungled checkride, away from losing the job.

I like having multiple professions that I can do and am qualified in, where the flying part of it is secondary. Definitely nice to have a number of fallbacks.
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True. That's why we have unions. Professional aviation WITH unions obviates many of those greedy, capitalist bothers.
 
CFI A&P said:
You've told us here about the help you've had with housing, tuition and such to get where you are.

This may come as a shock to you, but people choose work for all sorts of reasons. Income, QoL, schedule, interest in the field, etc. Are you surprised that an 18 year today may spend a few hours on APC researching the career and decide, nah I'm good. "First it takes over $100k in training, then how many years do I have to spend listening to grumpy captains talking about how their salary that is three to five times more than mine and it still isn't enough? Or their political ideologies while I sit here squirming because I'm on probation? Or ten years of redeyes, or upgrade is X years away because retirement could be raised to 67, or autonomous operations are coming..."

No wonder youth isn't that excited for this profession. Instead they could sell boob sweat or make absurd TikTok videos and earn the same living, without having scheduling tell them "sorry about your day off, but we're going to extend you."
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Lol, as a kid, I wanted to do it for $18/hr flying a EMB-120 just as much as I want to do it now with people going from PPL to A320 in 2-3 years. Seeing how much better its gotten, I'm shocked that today's airline pilot career isn't infinitely more appealing. Especially now that you don't even need a degree to get to the majors. And most of them probably aren't as scatterbrained as me and will have a way easier time making it happen too.

Then again, I know I'm extremely less motivated by money and more motivated by doing what I want at all costs than the average person. But flying is a passion, right? So now that this passion pays you boring ass tech coding wages to fly freggin jets around the world, I don't see the issue. Especially if you don't take a college loan.

Then again, we had people turn down the ramp tower because it was 4 10-hour shifts vs 5 8-hour shifts. "But...you get an extra day off and we get a total of 6 weeks of paid vacation a year". "Yeah but, those extra 2 hours each day, I can't do it". I guess some people would rather work 5 days a week almost every last damn week rather than be totally gone from home X days a week than home with nothing to do the whole ass rest of the month. To each their own.
 
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