Two years ago I posted this thread with the promise of returning in two years to update:
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/le...ast-trip.html?
I updated about three months later here:
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/le...-regrets.html?
My alarm went off today that it was time for an update, and boy was I glad it did. Fun to look back on the last two years.
First, after I posted the first followup, I became so busy with my legal career that I didn't have time to read the replies, nor the PMs that came in. For that, I apologize. But I also find the responses very interesting in hindsight.
So here goes, the two years in a nutshell:
I planned to work part time on the side doing discovery work with my JD while flying for the airline. I approached a law firm working on a very public airline incident to see if they needed such work. They offered me a full time job on the spot. Though a large firm, they did not have many actual aviators in the company. I took the job, because of that pretty number after the $.
It quickly became apparent that office life was not my thing. My windows faced a major airport, and all day I watched planes take off and land. I listened to the tower on LiveATC. When Virgin Galactic crashed, with a friend on board now deceased, I cried at my desk. The bossman called me weak. Maybe I am. If crying over the loss of fellow aviators and friends is weak, please let me stay that way.
The legal environment is very backbiting and demoralizing (shocking, I know). There was no crew. No team. Everyone was so used to doing what it took to take down opposing counsel, they didn't know when to turn it off. Everything was a competition and anything was fair play. Want the chocolate cookie at lunch? Make sure no one else knows, or they'll take it just to spite you.
I became the expert in aviation incidents - reviewing accidents and drafting NTSB-like reports, as those aren't allowed in as evidence generally. I was fairly well respected in that arena. I also became our client liaison as I could speak to them in their language. Not tooting my horn. I sucked as a lawyer. But I had a few skills as an aviator that applied.
I got more and more depressed in the office environment. No camaraderie, no shooting the **** in the hangar, just throat cutting day in and out. About a year in, a friend of mine that had wanted to get me into a corporate outfit flying their jet called and said they'd be hiring for an aircraft I was typed in. I'd stayed flying small aircraft, got my tailwheel, and flew aerobat on weekends, but my jet time was nearly expired. I interviewed and a few months later, gave my two weeks to the firm and was back in the cockpit. Haven't looked back once.
Now, I'm stupidly happy. It's been almost a year at the corporate show. We have a great schedule, fantastic respect from management, solid aircraft, and I work with the best team. They are my family. This job combines that which I loved about the firm (initially) and that which I love about flying.
Basically, in summary, all those that said that I was in the rebound phase and would miss flying soon enough were right. I couldn't stay away. And I'm glad I didn't.
I would love to use my JD for something, but every time someone says to me, "You spent all that time and money on your law degree for nothing," I reply, "I spent more time and money on becoming a pilot and this is where I belong." Maybe time will tell what the purpose of my JD can serve, but if not, that's ok. I'm back in the office that I love, 39,000' above the old one.
It's not like I have any sage advice here. All jobs have their pitfalls. I think if I had moved to live in base for the airline I would have been better off. I commuted because of a relationship that ended while I was at the law firm and freed me to pursue what I really wanted. I see now clearly my pilots friends are no more suited to office work than I am. We are a unique breed of human - and while some will do fine and not look back, it's worth a second though.
I left for a job that theoretically addressed all the things we hate about airlines. Six figures, good pay, great future, home every night (though late work nights were the norm). I could drink beer at lunch! But none of it made up for that feeling of pushing those thrust levers forward...
I got ripped apart on my last post, I hope I won't here, but I understand if you do. This isn't exactly the ending I know many of you would hope from such a story.