Originally Posted by
Radials Rule
You claim that you do so much number crunching and research but your "work" is full of holes.....many of which have been pointed out to you repeatedly. SWA, UPS, and FedEx, although nice, aren't the be all end all of a successful and rewarding flying career. As for the legacies? Again, the goal of many....however, not all will be a failure by flying for less than trucker wages for the first couple of years just because they didn't get on with American.
It boils down to that
you decided to end (or pause) your flying career. Whatever issues you have with that should not be reflected on those that decided to stick with it. You say that aspiring professional pilots should be informed and I'm all for that. However, you unrealistically cut down on the industry every chance you get under the guise of keeping folks "informed"
. You're the antithesis of Kit Darby.......in other words, opposite fringes.
You contend that odds are against an aspiring professional pilot that wants to make a successful career of it. That is abject nonsense. With the perseverance that you didn't have, most anyone can have a fulfilling flying career. This is why I think that you're just trying to make yourself feel better by spreading your negativity. Attitude goes a long way, either way. Yours took you the
other way.
In my estimation it is impossible to be able to calculate job satisfaction and everyone here needs to figure that out for themselves.
My analysis is based on the opportunity cost and odds of success virus potential return on investment in terms of pay and QOL. It is my contention that unless someone is a totally gone avjunkie or independently wealthy then they must be considering the financial implications of choosing an airline career.
As such, the small fortune and huge personal sacrifices commonly required to become a professional pilot need to be compared with the potential return that a career in aviation can provide.
It seems to me that most every 19 year old must be banking on a quick, and almost certain trip, to SWA after graduation if they are willing to blow the college trust fund on an aviation degree to then be followed by 60 to 80K (or more $109 a barrel) on flight training. If you were to stand back and measure all that is given in the pursuit of a UAL uniform and right seat in a 737 against more than a decade of your life and the cost of a small house in college and training. I can't see how the 60K pay check is worth it when others with no training costs at all are able to do similar.
I do not have a research staff to fill in all the gaps, however even if you were to cut my conclusions in half they are still tall numbers. Even you must be able to admit that much of ones success in aviation is largely out of your hands. And as such is really not a very sound investment.
SkyHigh