That may be the wrong question, largely because it's too simplistic. During my career I've had more lucrative assignments, or ones that offered more time off, or ones that had this benefit or that, but I wouldn't say there's been a clear progression of good to better to best. Likewise, I don't see a point looking back when I would say "I've arrived." I've been doing this considerably longer than skyhigh claims to have been involved, and intend to continue flying for a living.

As a rough estimate, I'd say ten years to establish myself, but it was fifteen years to reach turbine equipment. (Does that imply having arrived?).

I've left jobs that paid better to fly equipment that paid less, but offered other things that I wanted, or schedules that I wanted, or a change in circumstance, or a location I preferred, and I've left jobs for better pay but with what some might think of as a downgrade in equipment. Probably the most disparate equipment move I've made was from large heavy equipment to singles, but with a significant pay increase and a drastic increase in time at home.

I've also done a lot of temp and seasonal work, some of which paid very well, and some of which I took simply because I wanted to supplement, or just wanted to do a particular job. I'll confess that I also took a few assignments simply because they gave me a lot of extra time to do other things (presently so assigned, actually). Leaves of absence from one job to do another have been common during my career, which has been a fortunate benefit from doing this type of work.

An important aspect of working in aviation that really has to be stressed is flexibility. It's true that companies merge, downsize, close, furlough, go bankrupt, and all manner of other change and shifting of purpose and scope. It's true that the more experience one has, and the broader one's background, the more capable one is of rolling with those changes, finding other work, moving up the ladder, so to speak.

If one is committed to just a single track or avenue in the industry, one is subject to all the pitfalls that accompany that avenue. The regional path is a tough one if a fledgling aviator intends to stay, even with ample seniority. The schedules are tougher, the pay is less, and the industry is clogged with the same cookie cutter types trying to climb up. The willingness and ability to move, even laterally, to other paths is essential, and those who feel that jumping onto the regional bandwagon, with no other experience or qualifications or background, will fast-track their careers often find themselves dammed or stymied with.

My first jet job was as a corporate pilot in a Sabreliner. The problem was that the department had made some poor choices with the aircraft, and four months after I came aboard, the aircraft was sold and the department closed. I was preparing to close on a house and property in the small town where we moved to take the job, and that all went away. I was left in a small town with no job and no prospects, nowhere near other airports or operations. I began sending resumes; close to a thousand. I began making trips to deliver them in person, and it was on one of those trips that I met the chief pilot of a charter operation and delivered a resume. That was week three without work, and I was hire don the spot to fly a Learjet. I commuted by car for a time, then moved my family up, where we got a small two story house on a lake, in a very idyllic setting.

When I went to the Sabreliner, I'd been flying large four engine aircraft with a very different kind of operation. I made the change to the corporate flying at the time not because I was looking for work, and not because the Sabre paid more. It didn't. It represented more time at home with my family, and I got that in spades with both the Sabre and the Lear jobs.

Point is, there wasn't a period of time when I took my "dream job." Nor a period of strugglging to get there. My wages weren't exceptional when I flew the Grand Canyon, but I met my wife there, and settled into a very picturesque area in a small town. I joined the sheriff's office, substitute taught high school, became involved in the community. I had several sources of income, picked up fire work on the side, and was quite happy. It was an example of one of many jobs along the way that represented high points in my career for this reason or that. Not all the high points were for the same reasons. Family was always a priority.

I didn't start in aviation with the hope of making as much as possible while flying as little as possible. I started in aviation because I loved to fly. My goal then, and now, is to see and do as much of the industry as I can. One regret, if it can be called that, is not taking a blimp position when I had the offer, because it's something I'd like to have experienced but didn't. I've done a lot of other things, however, and hope to do many more. The ride isn't over yet. I took the 747 job not because it represented the pinnacle of my career, but because it was an aircraft that I always wanted to experience, nothing more. I have experienced it, and it's a great aircraft, but I can say the same for many others.

Then again, my goal, unlike skyhigh's, was never to "live like a king." What I can do is look back over my career and say "I'm glad I did that." I'm comfortable with that, as is my family, which doesn't suffer for my work. My employer is quite satisfied with my work, and I'm satisfied with it, too. It's enough.