What is this job to you?

What is this job to you?

  • Just a business decision. I’m in it for the money.

    Votes: 9 10.5%

  • I’ve loved airplanes since I was a kid, what else would I do?!

    Votes: 66 76.7%

  • I like my job, but I don’t geek out about airplanes or airline history.

    Votes: 25 29.1%
  • Total voters
    86
ZapBrannigan said:
Both used the same words to describe how they ended up as airline pilots - “This was just a business decision for me. I don’t have a passion for aviation.”
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I believe it. A poll just came out that’s making the rounds on multiple news sources. It’s a poll of Gen X, Millenials, and Gen Z about how much annual salary and how much net worth you’d need to feel like you’ve made it.

Don’t even bother looking up Gen Z figures. It’s off the charts insane. Worse, something like 70% of them think their Gen Z figure is attainable.

Unreal. They’re in for a rude awakening.

Anyway, I have no doubt that we have had people in the ATP-style fast track to the airlines that started with 0 and made it to a major in 5 yrs that have no interest in aviation. They’re in it for the big bucks, which they saw on Instagram as young adults.
 
I dig the job and love the always learning and staying humbled by the dynamics. Where you work makes or breaks the career satisfaction, which bleeds into general sustained love for aviation. The more you hate your place of employment and suffer from burn out, the more you just hate aviation. At least that’s how it’s worked for me.

This last year, I’ve fell in love with the career all over again. Though I’m not huge into GA, I enjoy being around all airplanes and always look up when I hear a plane

Earlier this week, I went for a quick surf before work. Even while out in the water I’d look up at planes flying up and down the coast, it’s just habit. I had a moment where I thought my life couldn’t get any better, being out on the water, knowing in 5 hours I was flying a jet to Cabo where I could go in the water the next day without a wetsuit lol.
 
I always have loved everything about aviation and even the airline world ever since I was little. I can’t hold a medical at the moment, but I’m happy to just be a flight attendant and be around the environment. I like it so much, I left more stable management jobs to return to it. Plus, I think the pay is decent for the type of work. It pains me the amount of flight attendants that are not into aviation and it shows in how they conduct themselves on the line.
 
So I’ll chime in too, I suppose.

I don’t love aviation, but I used to. Up until about my early 20s you could fairly describe me as being passionate about aviation. I couldn’t get enough of any of it. But at the time aviation was not really attainable. Then I started flying and that was enough to fuel my passion for it. I stopped hanging out at airport fences, reading books on airplanes, and only being able to talk about B-52s or whatever. Fast forward to today and I guess the love is still there but it’s still filled by my job. That’s quite enough airplanes for me, thank you.

And about my job, I do love it and can’t really imagine being as happy doing anything else. With that said the actual flying is easily my least liked aspect of it.
 
Maurus said:
I enjoy this job because I enjoy flying. If you don't enjoy flying in general then you are going to be miserable.

Personally I haven't cared much about GA since I left it behind. I do keep my CFI stuff current but I haven't used it in over a decade.

I do pay attention to other aircraft out there and look them up if I don't know what they are. I don't read flying or AOPA magazine anymore since I don't find their stuff to be especially relevant to what I am doing.

Basically I am mixed bag. I enjoy aviation a ton. My focus is more airline specific these days. I do find myself thinking back to the fun of flying GA but I also think about the costs involved along with the reduction in safety. It is hard to justify when I already fly at a job I enjoy. Also, women still don't care that I am a pilot and I don't think owning a plane would change that 😅
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Pretty much this.

I'm an aviation nerd through and through. Grew up spotting and dreaming. Made it to where i wanted to be flying the plane I want to fly. Anyone that knows me is sick of the MD11 and me talking about it.

I have absolutely zero desire to get back to GA, i would probably fly corporate again to pay the bills if i had to. The lack of professionalism and standardization on that side drives me nuts. I'm a lot less bored flying for the airlines than i was flying corporate, it was all alot of BS not involving flying over there. Honestly my only real complaint these days is union drama.

My next big decision will come once I'm kicked out of my seat. I really have zero desire to show up and fly a 767 a couple weeks a month. I'll need to add something in to make it check some boxes for me or I'll pivot to maritime...been making plans on that for a bit.
 
poser765 said:
So I’ll chime in too, I suppose.

I don’t love aviation, but I used to. Up until about my early 20s you could fairly describe me as being passionate about aviation. I couldn’t get enough of any of it. But at the time aviation was not really attainable. Then I started flying and that was enough to fuel my passion for it. I stopped hanging out at airport fences, reading books on airplanes, and only being able to talk about B-52s or whatever. Fast forward to today and I guess the love is still there but it’s still filled by my job. That’s quite enough airplanes for me, thank you.

And about my job, I do love it and can’t really imagine being as happy doing anything else. With that said the actual flying is easily my least liked aspect of it.
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One of the ways to beat the fun out of a serious hobby is to make it your job.
 
So you can put me in the “this is all I’ve ever wanted to do camp”. I’ve been fortunate to enjoy every type of airplane I’ve flown for a paycheck, I can’t think of better way to make a living.

I was flying with a 25 year old FO the other day and he still flies GA for fun so I think there is still hope. We were climbing and leveling off through cloud layers and he remarked how cool this was and I agreed, for me that never gets old.

As for making a hobby into work I will say that I became a ski patroller during my time off during Covid and had a blast. I was a volunteer, but the little local mountain I was at operationally treat pros and volleys the same. There was a large cross section of age and experience up there and some of the pros had been working on the mountain in one form or another for 30+ years. While they can get a bit salty, they still love to shred and were just a blast to be around and have an after work beer with.

So I think it has a lot to do with personality over just beating a passion to death.
 
mikecweb said:
Pretty much this.

I'm an aviation nerd through and through. Grew up spotting and dreaming. Made it to where i wanted to be flying the plane I want to fly. Anyone that knows me is sick of the MD11 and me talking about it.

I have absolutely zero desire to get back to GA, i would probably fly corporate again to pay the bills if i had to. The lack of professionalism and standardization on that side drives me nuts. I'm a lot less bored flying for the airlines than i was flying corporate, it was all alot of BS not involving flying over there. Honestly my only real complaint these days is union drama.

My next big decision will come once I'm kicked out of my seat. I really have zero desire to show up and fly a 767 a couple weeks a month. I'll need to add something in to make it check some boxes for me or I'll pivot to maritime...been making plans on that for a bit.
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Can I ask, why the difference / hate for the 767 vs MD11? Is this strictly a seniority and schedule thing? Or more the airplane itself? Or something else?
 
Soku39 said:
Approaching 40 I go out to dinner with other friends and all of their jobs sound miserable. Endless zoom calls, they answer emails all night and all weekend. long. They work 70 hour weeks in the hospital, have moronic bosses, people in sales spend more nights a year in hotels than we do. It all sounds miserable for the salary they get vs time invested.
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Interesting observation.

So, I will again be the designated d-bag and say what needs to be said: There is a whole population of people in this world that are "takers".

There's a lot of them.

We all know people both now and then that skirted around the edge of being useful. Just hung around people who did actual stuff, or had actual skills and/or talent.

The sole "talent", such as it is, they do have is inserting themselves into the money stream. Sometimes they do go into politics, which is the ultimate expression of power minus talent, but that requires some level of a D20 charisma roll, and some have better modifiers than others.

These people insert themselves, have zero value added, and do nothing but take. They cajole the system into thinking that they are necessary, when the exact opposite is true, and then drain resources for their own benefit. They often will get into a position of directing people with actual talent or skills to be more "productive" (for themselves), and indeed, can create an entire hierarchy of other takers to advance their personal goals, with none of the risk.

What is mystifying for me is why the people with the skills and the talent tolerate it.
 
I grew up around airplanes and have always loved general aviation. To this day I fly GA, including gliders. I still do some instruction here and there. When it comes to work I couldn’t imagine flying for an airline. I saw that suck the life out of guys I learned to fly with. So I stuck to corporate side and have lucked out and get to fly Gulfstreams to cool places around the world. I don’t make wide body captain pay but I make narrowbody captain pay and work less then 10 days a month. I am a big believer you have to find balance. I enjoy the time off with my wife and daughter more than I miss the slightly bigger paycheck.


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