Originally Posted by
Hedley
What is behind the door is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it is 200 people on United, or 200,000 pounds of military explosives on Atlas. The responsibility and professionalism are the same. If anything, I’d argue that hauling a load of military explosives in parts of the world with very few viable alternates to be of a much more “critical nature”. It’s just a job and we’re all paid to move airplanes from point A to B. Some freight loads itself and complains about the experience, some has to be loaded and can be hazardous.
I have experience with military loads. Missiles, hazmat of all sorts etc. EIA, if you remember them. Anyway, I never said that cargo pilots are less professional. I think people read into a post what they choose to understand, sometimes. Btw, Atlas flies pax also, do they not?
However, what is behind the door does matter. A lot.
All I was trying to convey is that regardless of the cyclical nature of the pax biz, I prefer it because of how safety-critical the job is.
People get into this business for all sorts of reasons. I personally find great satisfaction in safely flying people from A to B.
I expressed a personal preference and people flipped.