A couple of weeks ago I caught a summer cold. Called in sick. Sucked. I hate making that call because you know they don't believe you.

Anyways I got better and flew a trip and then another, but on that second trip my left ear didn't clear on landing. I had no warning it was coming, not even a sniffle. It was hell. It took seeing a doctor and getting a prescription to make the pain subside after about 7-9 days. It took 3 weeks to restore hearing.

My whole hating sick callers meme is based off of one keyboard warrior on here who said if you can type on the internet you can go to work. That's 100% b.s. You've got to be damn near perfect to fly when you think about the liability involved with our job.

I'm sure if we worked in an office setting we'd down some medicine and go sit in the cubicle with a runny nose. I know I would. But to fly a jetliner several times a day for a few days straight? Screw that, FLY AN MD-88?!?


You can't always go to the doctor for the trivial stuff and our insurance punished that, but the trivial stuff keeps us from being where we need to be do to our jobs right.