Originally Posted by
Std Deviation
They say money can't buy happiness but I find it's more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle!
That being said, I've been in aviation as a career since 1991. Did the CFI gig, flew checks single pilot in MU2s, owned a flight school, became a regional FO and CA (company liquidated), did the fracs (Flex), and left for one of the 142 schools to teach a few years ago. I really only planned (like anyone can plan in this business right?) to stay at the 142 two years and then go back to flying. I got lazy. Home every night was great. The salary would achieve six figures in a few years, okay 401K match (not stellar by any means). Liveable. Doable. Then the corporate mentality went into overdrive. My official program manager position was eliminated. I was tasked with things I had no passion for and did not want to do to fill a void, "we need someone to teach XXX, and it's you."
Oh, you know how to do Powerpoint? We need these courses rewritten. Twelve hour days looking at a computer screen was not what I signed up for. It was miserable. At the end of the day Friday I would hear, "We're going to need you to come in on Sunday and teach International Procedures (for the 4th Sunday in a row).
At some point you realize you're trading your time for money. And the time is finite. It's the most valuable resource you have (not the bank account, new cars, boat, airplane or whatever). As I've written on these forums I'm qualified for the majors but can't get there without the recency of experience afforded by the regionals. Yes, it's a financial bite but I'm right there with you guys. Except for me it's like starting over. I'll be honest I enjoy $80 bottles of wine and craft beer. It's now Sutter Home and $2 PBRs. But they taste so much better at 2am when I don't have to worry about someone calling me about the Powerpoints.
Very well said! What you said about "time" is very true!
A very well compensated desk job is almost all the time a never ending job. For me, typical day is 8am to 5pm all meetings with people booking even my lunch time. It would be politically incorrect to decline those lunch time meetings. And then 5pm comes and realize you have 200 new e-mails in your inbox plus whatever powerpoint presentation to work on. Yes, I am home every night, but tired, stressed out and my little one doesn’t get to see me that often. Most of the time she’s already sleeping. The work day often extends to 11pm, midnight or sometimes 2, 3 am and still need to show up the next day fresh and the same thing starts all over again! Yea, 6 figure salary: very nice but at what cost?