This is going to be free-form. It might not make sense, will be far more about my selfish emotional needs, maybe you’ll get something out of it, maybe you won’t.
Anyway, I’ve been at SouthernJets since 1998. There are people I loved to fly with, people that I sculpted my leadership skills (or lack thereof) from, people I’ve come to depend on when I have conundrums or even simply run into at the layover hotel, share some old stories and help me feel progress through my career. You know, the people that keep you grounded but cognizant of your career growth. The type of people that you won’t see for ten years, but when you do, it’s like you just flew “yesterday” — or the “Hey man, I did something stupid, this is what the situation was, this is how I handled it, my copilot hates my guts (I think) but I didn’t see any other alternative” that can talk you off the ledge.
As the years go by, there’s been a gradual outflow of these people because of retirements. After SouthernJets offered the “Early Out”, literally 99% of them, save a few, took advantage of it.
And that’s good because circumstance presented them with a great opportunity in a time of grief and rebuilding an industry after turmoil isn’t the funnest thing. I’ve already done it twice and looking at #3 isn’t the most “savory” prospect.
I guess what I’m trying to say is cherish your mentors. Value the people you look up to because one day, they might all (or in my case, nearly all) be gone in the blink of an eye. They will live on, professionally... attitudinally, through you, but still... it really sucks watching your heroes hang it up. A guy who taught me how to properly walk a picket line, another who was the captain during my first engine failure, a guy who had a landing gear failure on an MD-90 that “made everything ok”, pilots who pushed me to do more because they saw potential, a pilot that took me under her wing and mentored me in learning how to do my ”side job” with the airline when the opportunity bestowed itself upon me and I said “there is NO way I can do this”, one that impressed upon me that I need to be more confident with myself because I had issues with never quite feeling that I truly belonged (and sometimes still do), the captain I made fast friends with that we’d make him a home cooked meal, head to the layover hotel and make sure he had at least a family dinner during a PHX layover.
I could tell stories for days, and I will, but perhaps over beers otherwise I’ll type a terabyte of ASCII.
Hope that made sense. Even if it didn’t, it was pure catharsis for me to write. “Thanks” if you got this far. There’s way more but I need to refill my cocktail.
Anyway, I’ve been at SouthernJets since 1998. There are people I loved to fly with, people that I sculpted my leadership skills (or lack thereof) from, people I’ve come to depend on when I have conundrums or even simply run into at the layover hotel, share some old stories and help me feel progress through my career. You know, the people that keep you grounded but cognizant of your career growth. The type of people that you won’t see for ten years, but when you do, it’s like you just flew “yesterday” — or the “Hey man, I did something stupid, this is what the situation was, this is how I handled it, my copilot hates my guts (I think) but I didn’t see any other alternative” that can talk you off the ledge.
As the years go by, there’s been a gradual outflow of these people because of retirements. After SouthernJets offered the “Early Out”, literally 99% of them, save a few, took advantage of it.
And that’s good because circumstance presented them with a great opportunity in a time of grief and rebuilding an industry after turmoil isn’t the funnest thing. I’ve already done it twice and looking at #3 isn’t the most “savory” prospect.
I guess what I’m trying to say is cherish your mentors. Value the people you look up to because one day, they might all (or in my case, nearly all) be gone in the blink of an eye. They will live on, professionally... attitudinally, through you, but still... it really sucks watching your heroes hang it up. A guy who taught me how to properly walk a picket line, another who was the captain during my first engine failure, a guy who had a landing gear failure on an MD-90 that “made everything ok”, pilots who pushed me to do more because they saw potential, a pilot that took me under her wing and mentored me in learning how to do my ”side job” with the airline when the opportunity bestowed itself upon me and I said “there is NO way I can do this”, one that impressed upon me that I need to be more confident with myself because I had issues with never quite feeling that I truly belonged (and sometimes still do), the captain I made fast friends with that we’d make him a home cooked meal, head to the layover hotel and make sure he had at least a family dinner during a PHX layover.
I could tell stories for days, and I will, but perhaps over beers otherwise I’ll type a terabyte of ASCII.
Hope that made sense. Even if it didn’t, it was pure catharsis for me to write. “Thanks” if you got this far. There’s way more but I need to refill my cocktail.
