Losing my drive

Tangodelta29

Tangodelta29

Well-Known Member
I feel like over the last week or two I've experienced a huge decrease in my age old desire to fly. It is quite an unfamiliar feeling as I haven't changed it in about a decade. It just seems like I'm not as motivated as I used to be :confused:, and it comes as a shock to me. Have you guys ever experienced temporary downfalls, or mini depressions, as far as flying is concerned? It's like I don't care anymore, maybe its because of all the bad times and hardships and furloughs and stuff, I don't know.

I feel lost. Like the thing I've admired so much for so long, isn't really what I thought it was. :(

Any Ideas?
 
Tangodelta29 said:
I feel like over the last week or two I've experienced a huge decrease in my age old desire to fly. It is quite an unfamiliar feeling as I haven't changed it in about a decade. It just seems like I'm not as motivated as I used to be :confused:, and it comes as a shock to me. Have you guys ever experienced temporary downfalls, or mini depressions, as far as flying is concerned? It's like I don't care anymore, maybe its because of all the bad times and hardships and furloughs and stuff, I don't know.

I feel lost. Like the thing I've admired so much for so long, isn't really what I thought it was. :(

Any Ideas?
Click to expand...

I know what that feels like, but from already working at a 121 carrier.

Never lost the drive when I was going to school or instructing though, but that was during the hiring boom and it was all about getting time and moving up.

Its just a result of the slow economy and backwards moving industry. Focus on something else for awhile. I just got a cool 1/5th scale gas powered RC car. Damn...who cares about flying. :D
 
Become a flight instructor...not only will that keep things exciting, but it will keep ya on your toes. :pirate: Hang in there buddy
 
Is it wrong to feel this way when going through training? I enjoy being in the air and handling the controls but it always felt like a chore to go for a lesson. I gave it a break now and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

It's scary considering that flying is what I've always wanted to do.
 
After teaching foreigners how to fly, really tested my patience and it really took a toll on my desire to fly. So you're not alone, if you don't enjoy it try something else. There is a lot of other things aviation related besides flying.
 
BCTAv8r said:
Is it wrong to feel this way when going through training? I enjoy being in the air and handling the controls but it always felt like a chore to go for a lesson. I gave it a break now and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

It's scary considering that flying is what I've always wanted to do.
Click to expand...


I actually felt like that when I went through training. I'd go in and throw down a couple hundred bucks on another lesson and think to myself 'what a waste', this isn't fun. I could have a lot more fun at the bar for 50 bucks. And honestly, a lot of training isn't fun. I had a blast through the private and beyond that it started becoming a chore because I wasn't flying for fun. A lot of training really isn't all that fun (tell me day three of practicing 8's on pylons and lazy 8's is fun because it's really not). I pushed through and got all my ratings to get a flight instructing job where all I did was work. I took very few days off, made little money, and spent a lot of time wishing I had went to law school. But, then I took a 135 job where I have weekends off, get a steady pay check that's good, have plenty of free time (not necessarily at home... but free time at an outstation is much better than sitting in an FBO waiting for a potential student)... and now it's worth it. I love it. I watch every NFL game and NASCAR race on TV, I spend my days restoring a car, and can afford to buy bottled beer. After my getting my commercial (i wanted to give up during but had too much money invested) I very seriously thought of giving it up and probably would not have looked back and while flight instructing I felt the same (although I enjoyed the actual teaching). But, now, I love it. I had to push through a couple years of questioning my choice to learn I'd made a good one. That's just me though... everybody's different.
 
Yup. Been there before, pretty sure I'll be there again. The key is to change things up. Go fly for fun. Fly a new airplane. Fly somewhere you haven't been before. Or maybe even take a break, and before you know it you'll start feeling that itch again...
 
gomntwins said:
I actually felt like that when I went through training. I'd go in and throw down a couple hundred bucks on another lesson and think to myself 'what a waste', this isn't fun. I could have a lot more fun at the bar for 50 bucks. And honestly, a lot of training isn't fun. I had a blast through the private and beyond that it started becoming a chore because I wasn't flying for fun. A lot of training really isn't all that fun (tell me day three of practicing 8's on pylons and lazy 8's is fun because it's really not). I pushed through and got all my ratings to get a flight instructing job where all I did was work. I took very few days off, made little money, and spent a lot of time wishing I had went to law school. But, then I took a 135 job where I have weekends off, get a steady pay check that's good, have plenty of free time (not necessarily at home... but free time at an outstation is much better than sitting in an FBO waiting for a potential student)... and now it's worth it. I love it. I watch every NFL game and NASCAR race on TV, I spend my days restoring a car, and can afford to buy bottled beer. After my getting my commercial (i wanted to give up during but had too much money invested) I very seriously thought of giving it up and probably would not have looked back and while flight instructing I felt the same (although I enjoyed the actual teaching). But, now, I love it. I had to push through a couple years of questioning my choice to learn I'd made a good one. That's just me though... everybody's different.
Click to expand...

Good insight. That is the exact way I feel. It sucks to see so much money go at one time when I'm otherwise quite conservative with my money. I've gotten to the point before where I'd wish the weather was bad so I could cancel my flight.
 
That sounds completely normal. Last year, after I got laid off, I went through a four month period where I just did not care if I flew. I would go every so often, but only because I wanted to add time to my logbook and money to my bank account, not because I wanted to go. After that four month period my drive came back and when it did, it came back stronger than ever.

Alex.
 
BCTAv8r said:
Is it wrong to feel this way when going through training? I enjoy being in the air and handling the controls but it always felt like a chore to go for a lesson. I gave it a break now and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

It's scary considering that flying is what I've always wanted to do.
Click to expand...

It kind of depends. When I was in college, I really didn't enjoy training at all. Answering "14 amps!" and having a instructor say, "technically, it's 14.7 AMPS, we're going to have to XT you on electrical systems" has a way of sucking the life out of you at 0530 when you'd rather be mountain biking or recovering from beer funneling from the previous night.

Solo cross countries were great and plugging around the sky in a non-training environment was a lot of fun, but going out with another student and a CFI to work on ground ref maneuvers at the time was like pulling teeth.

I liked to fly, but I really hate training because in the back of my head, I always wanted just to go drill some holes in the sky and to have the other guy shut the heck up or get out of the airplane! :)

CFI'ing? Loved it. If the job market was better (don't want to take up a spot for a guy wanting to build some flight time because I've got more than plenty) and I CFI was still valid, I'd be all over that during my days off.

Airline flying? I love takeoffs, landings, problem solving and laying over. But droning around in cruise flight with the autopilot on is a little mind numbing after a while unless I've got something else to occupy my time.

Would I do it all over again? Absolutely.
 
Thanks for all the replies already:)

I think taking my mind off of it for a while has/will help. Sometimes its easy to get carried away when thinking about the future...

I'll try going for a fun flight with a friend or two.

too bad we've have had like 2 weeks of rain, with another full week of rain forecasted.:banghead:
 
Ive been feeling the same. Hard not to when for the moment what career path you are on, you're as likely to take two steps backwards as one forward. A quick check in my logbook this time last year and I see I was scheduling 4, even 5 flights a day. Now after two lessons I'm almost hoping that the third doesn't show.

I agree with most everyone else, find something else on the side that you can channel some focus and passion towards. Flying is a great gig but it takes alot to make it your everything lock stock and barrel.
 
People's priorities can change as they age. I still love aviation, I probably always will but I have recently come to realize that my love of it isn't what is best for me as a career. Instead what I always considered my second choice has always been what was really best for me. At least in terms of a career.

My signigifigant other and I were just over on University looking at planes land and takeoff at KPHX earlier today, we were there for an hour or two. When it was time to go I packed up and left, both mentally and physically, no regrets, no feelings of remorse, or thinking I'm making a mistake. No longings to fly that A320 from PHX-CLT. Just of feeling of it was a cool time to sit with someone I care about, and look at planes.

That's my story, maybe you losing your drive is a tell tell sign that aviation isn't right for you, at least for career aspirations. Maybe you just need a break, and you'll be right back there. Either way it at least definitely warrants further investigation for sure!
 
I still think it's ebb and flow.

Like I'm headed out in the morning and I'm dreading going to work. But I'll betchya a dollar once I get there meet up with the crew, I'll have another fantastic time. Drop my bag off in the lounge after the trip and I'll probably be a little envious of people leaving that day across the ocean again.

If you eat, sleep, breathe aviation I think it's a killer. But if you can balance it with non-aviation interests to help balance out the drama, it can certainly be a good career.

It really just depends on who is asking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top