Medevac is pretty great - I've never flown 121, but I have serious doubts if I desire to do anything other than medevac in my career because of how great it is. If there was a 121 where I could conceivably be home every night and make six figures with a real retirement plan I might consider it (that sounds like fantasy) - but the steps I'd have to take backward at this point to get there would cause some ridiculous stress in my life that I can't abide with young children. Maybe in 5 to 10 years time I could be in a position where I could go for it, but I doubt it. At this point, the only sort of thing that could realistically be any better than what I do is one of those magical corporate dream jobs where you get paid a lot and have a predictable schedule, but I don't know of many of those - and without jet time or connections I doubt I'd be the type of guy they'd select for that sort of thing. In short, for the first time in my career, I don't see the next best thing out on the horizon to do. There's lots of stuff out there that could be great, but almost everything I can think of would require a significant reduction in quality of life, pay, or both - I can't do that with a family.
I've tossed around the idea of going to one of the fractionals or charter from time to time (I have a few buddies who do that sort of thing) - but truth be told, how much time would I spend away from my family doing that? You don't get any of that time back, ever. At the end of your life, God doesn't add up all of your Hilton Rewards points, your family doesn't care about your double platinum status, and your seniority number doesn't change the fact that you mortgaged the wonder years for wealth in your golden years. Is this the path I thought I would be going down over a decade ago? Hell no. But in the intervening years, I have seen myself and others sacrifice relationships, health, time, money, and our hearts to before the alter of aviation and I've come to realize I can't do that in the same way. Aviation will always be about sacrifice; the very nature of airplanes is tradeoffs - performance vs payload, cruise speed vs STOL, etc. The sacrifices I want to make are for my family, and if I have to sacrifice cool/big airplanes to do it - then so be it. I want to be remembered as a good father more than I want to be remembered as a good pilot.
At this stage in my life, I can only see a couple of directions I go from here. One, I work my way up in the institution here, come up with a side business for a more secure retirement plan, try to get into our jets eventually and retire as a jet captain flying medevac or stay in the King Air and live someplace nice. Two, I get picked up by some corporate thing I can't refuse and go do that until I can retire - of course it must have a schedule that is comparable to this (unlikely I suspect). Three, there's an airline out there where I could be home nightly and make six figures out of the gate or within a couple years (nearly impossible I imagine). But until my youngest is in highschool, I think I can pretty much rule 121 out entirely, and that's at least 12 years away - probably longer.
The thing that makes this kind of job so great is that I am afforded the opportunity to pursue other passions in my life that I otherwise would not be able to explore. I'm going back to school in the fall - it was going to be something technical starting in the summer, but my wife talked me into pursuing a passion of mine and I'm going to go for a second bachelors degree, then probably onto a masters in the subject. I play nearly every other day at the beach with my kids. We make enough to be comfortable - we're not rich, but we're comfortable and can save money. On call, I spend my day reading, hanging out with my family, playing music, or surfing the internet. I essentially want for nothing. I'm planning on starting my own business within the next couple of years that I can run on the side that won't interfere with my medevac job and can build my nest egg. I doubt I could do that and raise a family from the right seat of a 121 jet. I doubt I could do that flying for a fractional, a corporate outfit, or for a charter company. Here the sky is the limit, and I don't have to be the guy whose only human interaction consists of work, work, work, work, contract, work, work, work, work, ILS to mins, work, work, work, work... (Though truth be told, around my flying buddies that tends to be the way I am).
My only legitimate concern with staying in the world of 135 for a career is that retirement is hard to come by. Nearly every little company has a retirement, but the truth is that wages and retirements aren't as good as at the "airlines." The majors are matching your 401k at 12% - that doesn't happen in 135. Wages at a place with a negotiated contract typically match inflation and then some - that doesn't always happen in 135 (though there are lots of places that do). As a result, 135 (and I suspect 91 too) requires you to have a backup plan all the time and to be a little self reliant when it comes to your long term future. This is why I suspect I'll have to come up with a side business to build my nest egg. That said, with medevac it's a lot easier to devote time to your nest egg than if you have a full time flying job where you're frequently gone. We have pilots here who sell property, we have pilots here who consult, we have pilots here who run construction companies... the list is endless. I'll probably try to do some technical writing or consult for some friends, but I haven't thought that far ahead yet - right now, I'm just enjoying having a better paycheck and quality of life than I get could anywhere else I'm qualified to go, and living in paradise.
EDIT who's = whose
