Take Flight
Sometimes I can scarcely believe my luck. I often feel as though I should pinch myself. I mean come on, who gets to do this and get paid for it. Is this for real? I love my job. I must, however, add a caveat. There are days, not a lot of them mind you, where a job, is still work. I mean, it's not like winning the lottery and being able to do only what you want, when you want. But its not such a bad deal to do something that can be so fun, so educational, where no two days are alike, and get a paycheck on top of it to boot.
A little background first. I did my training at Flight Safety Academy in Vero Beach, FL. I was among 8 or so people for my ground school class for my Private Pilot class as part of the commercial pilot program. My biggest complaint about the experience is the disservice the school did to their students by pushing, airline, airline, airline.
I guess the point of this entry is just to say that there are so many more opportunities to be a pilot than just flying for an airline. I mean these days, more than ever, an airline pilot is scarcely more than a bus driver. I don't mean any offense to anyone who flies a passenger aircraft at all. They do a great job, have enormous responsibility, and put up with a huge amount of BS, all for a fraction of what their predecessors were paid. The days of the huge pensions are all but gone, along with the prestige and automatic sex appeal. But let's face it, even the flying itself is pretty mundane.
Most of the pilots I've spoken to didn't get into aviation to Take off-engage autopilot-disengage autopilot-land-repeat. We do this because we love to fly. Like all the other times I have tried to make a hobby an enjoyable job, it often becomes more work and less play over time(like doing IT work while I was in college because I loved computers, but then I never wanted to touch a computer when I got home). That being said, it's all about choices and the thing that Flight Safety did was fail to present any alternatives.
They gave it as an A) or B) choice. Get certified, get your instructor ratings, to build hours to fly for the airlines, or get certified, give us more money, and we'll get you qualified with less hours to fly for the airlines and get you an interview.
I meet pilots all the time in airports that do not fly for the airlines, having left them for a better quality of life, or never went that route to begin with. And, you know what, they love their jobs way more than any of the airline pilots I talk to. Some of these guys are fish spotters flying out scouting for the fishing fleet. They might be cargo pilots that fly local courier routes. Maybe they're contract pilots that fly special charters for researchers or back country sportsman. Or the folks I fly with who get to do steep turns over a pod of whales at 700 feet, or fly gorgeous coastlines with a laser for mapping purposes The common thread I see is that we get to really fly, back to basics, real world, what-can-my-aircraft-really-do style flying. The airline guys, God bless em, usually just lament about contract disputes, and bad schedules, and more days on the road. So if any budding aviator happens across this, I would like to say, research and try to find a way to really fly. If you want to fly for the airlines, or FedEx or UPS, bravo, really, it's a respectable choice. But don't rule out the other kinds of flying. When it comes to a flying career, the sky truly is the limit.
A little background first. I did my training at Flight Safety Academy in Vero Beach, FL. I was among 8 or so people for my ground school class for my Private Pilot class as part of the commercial pilot program. My biggest complaint about the experience is the disservice the school did to their students by pushing, airline, airline, airline.
I guess the point of this entry is just to say that there are so many more opportunities to be a pilot than just flying for an airline. I mean these days, more than ever, an airline pilot is scarcely more than a bus driver. I don't mean any offense to anyone who flies a passenger aircraft at all. They do a great job, have enormous responsibility, and put up with a huge amount of BS, all for a fraction of what their predecessors were paid. The days of the huge pensions are all but gone, along with the prestige and automatic sex appeal. But let's face it, even the flying itself is pretty mundane.
Most of the pilots I've spoken to didn't get into aviation to Take off-engage autopilot-disengage autopilot-land-repeat. We do this because we love to fly. Like all the other times I have tried to make a hobby an enjoyable job, it often becomes more work and less play over time(like doing IT work while I was in college because I loved computers, but then I never wanted to touch a computer when I got home). That being said, it's all about choices and the thing that Flight Safety did was fail to present any alternatives.
They gave it as an A) or B) choice. Get certified, get your instructor ratings, to build hours to fly for the airlines, or get certified, give us more money, and we'll get you qualified with less hours to fly for the airlines and get you an interview.
I meet pilots all the time in airports that do not fly for the airlines, having left them for a better quality of life, or never went that route to begin with. And, you know what, they love their jobs way more than any of the airline pilots I talk to. Some of these guys are fish spotters flying out scouting for the fishing fleet. They might be cargo pilots that fly local courier routes. Maybe they're contract pilots that fly special charters for researchers or back country sportsman. Or the folks I fly with who get to do steep turns over a pod of whales at 700 feet, or fly gorgeous coastlines with a laser for mapping purposes The common thread I see is that we get to really fly, back to basics, real world, what-can-my-aircraft-really-do style flying. The airline guys, God bless em, usually just lament about contract disputes, and bad schedules, and more days on the road. So if any budding aviator happens across this, I would like to say, research and try to find a way to really fly. If you want to fly for the airlines, or FedEx or UPS, bravo, really, it's a respectable choice. But don't rule out the other kinds of flying. When it comes to a flying career, the sky truly is the limit.
posted by IFly at 7/07/2006 12:20:00 PM
2 Comments:
What a blessing it truly is that you are doing what you love and getting paid for it. And your post actually reminds us all to remember to think outside the box -- whether it be concerning career or anything else that holds meaning for us. We should all never stop being visionaries in our own lives.
Thank you so much for your kind words. And for expanding that we shouldn't limit ourselves in any aspect of our lives lest we miss amazing opportunities.
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