What is your goal

This uniform.

30air.xlarge1.jpg
 
I've always had an intense fascination with international long haul flying.

Large, immensely powerful airplanes that two to three people are trusted to fly thousands of miles and never touch the ground until they are on the other side of the planet absolutely fascinates me. Then you get an overnight with a different culture in almost every city. Domestically I've found most cities to be more or less the same, the only major difference being a different accent.

I know I'm overlooking many negatives to it, but international long haul is still my goal.

That said, one of my biggest weaknesses is forgetting to slow down, look around, and appreciate where I am now. Often I get too focused too far down the road and get extremely frustrated that I'm not where I want to be yet.

My first job out of college was an eye opener for me. I absolutely hated the town where I went to college. I don't think it was the town so much as the fact that I had extreme culture shock when I arrived. I made my goal to work hard and escape as soon as possible.

The end result was me failing to fully enjoy my college experience. To me that was ok as I was going to be flying for a living soon and life would be great! Then I got my first job at an absolute scumbag flight school. It all dawned on me then..."I delayed gratification for this?"

tl;dr: Don't forget your goals, but slow down and enjoy what is around you now as well.
 
Beep said:
I'd be willing to bet that the position comes open often enough that it'll be yours if you keep in contact with them, and make sure they know you're still interested.
:)

I understand the career funk thing, I think we all feel it once we start taking active measures to move up and on.
Click to expand...
Follow up to that, if the position opens up that often is it really somewhere one wants to work? Idk. I've got guys I was at school with (granted, guys who were several years ahead of me) upgrading to regional captain or going to class at majors. I stayed employed in aviation after graduating during the one of the worst periods in recent history for aviation employment and even have had a pretty decent career the last few years with the numbers on the check, the numbers in the logbook, and the size of the airplanes continually getting bigger but I can't help but wonder if I went wrong along the way.
 
Roger Roger said:
Follow up to that, if the position opens up that often is it really somewhere one wants to work? Idk. I've got guys I was at school with (granted, guys who were several years ahead of me) upgrading to regional captain or going to class at majors. I stayed employed in aviation after graduating during the one of the worst periods in recent history for aviation employment and even have had a pretty decent career the last few years with the numbers on the check, the numbers in the logbook, and the size of the airplanes continually getting bigger but I can't help but wonder if I went wrong along the way.
Click to expand...

Well, if people are moving on to better things then I'd say its worth a shot, if they're just scrambling for anything to get out of there...
As for the rest I don't think I'd say you went wrong along the way, I just see it as separate paths in the same industry, sometimes they diverge, sometimes they cross, and sometimes they do both. As long as you can hold your head high, take pride in your work, and keep working to make things happen I think you'll get to where you want to be!
:)
 
Actually, I was being deceitful. All I really want to do is fly a JJJEETTTTTT!!!1!1!1 :D

(Sarcasm)
 
Screaming_Emu said:
I've always had an intense fascination with international long haul flying.

Large, immensely powerful airplanes that two to three people are trusted to fly thousands of miles and never touch the ground until they are on the other side of the planet absolutely fascinates me. Then you get an overnight with a different culture in almost every city. Domestically I've found most cities to be more or less the same, the only major difference being a different accent.

I know I'm overlooking many negatives to it, but international long haul is still my goal.

That said, one of my biggest weaknesses is forgetting to slow down, look around, and appreciate where I am now. Often I get too focused too far down the road and get extremely frustrated that I'm not where I want to be yet.

My first job out of college was an eye opener for me. I absolutely hated the town where I went to college. I don't think it was the town so much as the fact that I had extreme culture shock when I arrived. I made my goal to work hard and escape as soon as possible.

The end result was me failing to fully enjoy my college experience. To me that was ok as I was going to be flying for a living soon and life would be great! Then I got my first job at an absolute scumbag flight school. It all dawned on me then..."I delayed gratification for this?"

tl;dr: Don't forget your goals, but slow down and enjoy what is around you now as well.
Click to expand...

If that's really your thing, you could get hired at Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar. They have been taking regional pilots.
 
Aviation wise as long as the pay, QOL, and travel is good (I'm single and I like being on the go). I don't know/care where I end up. If by some cosmic fluke I end up flying for Virgin Galactic, Delta, a G650 cool. If end up flying my company's Lear 60, or a good part 91/135 that my company provides insurance for then cool as well.

On the other hand I don't want to end up at a scum bag outfit. Like ever.
 
I havent quite figured out what my goal is. I am fascinated by international long haul. But right now something with an autopilot sounds amazing. It seems to be an ever changing goal, so we will see what it is a few years down the road. Currently I enjoy what I do but I am trying to find the next step.
 
Fly my own aircraft, vacation when I want and make enough money to pay the mortgage.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
If that's really your thing, you could get hired at Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar. They have been taking regional pilots.
Click to expand...

I've thought about that, but I'm not crazy about the idea of bringing my wife to the Middle East and leaving her there. I am looking at other expat opportunities though. Definitely seems like an attractive option.
 
A150K said:
Fixed wing EMS has always interested me. A more short-term goal (as in hopefully in the next few hundred hours) is trying to break into the freight world. I do have good contacts at 2 of my local freight operators, so I just have to figure out how to get my XC time up, which is something I'm having a hard time getting instructing (I do have a small time corporate gig, but at <100 hours per year, it's only a fraction of the flying I do). Perhaps a season of flying survey is in my future? Not only would it get me good XC experience and 135 IFR mins, but it would probably get me close to ATP mins too....
Click to expand...

Lol I also want to get into EMS Fixed.

Anyhow SA at ABQ is a good company. Hope you get on with them or lynx soon!
 
Live on a lake and fly my amphib to work. But for now I'll enjoy my days exploring the outdoors as cheap as possible and live with ground delays all the time so I can shoot the expressway visual into LGA and the VOR 13L into JFK in the same day. Today was a good day...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top