Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I've worked in several other fields, mil and white collar, and have plenty of buds from the mil reserves who are cops... FBI, Deputies and everything in between.
Airline aviation is essentially zero drama compared to most other careers.
In the old days I did used to intervene in the cabin, usually with the intent of smoothing feathers, talking down down BOTH an FA and a pax, avoiding delays, and getting everybody where they needed to go.
Not anymore, after all the youtube and twitter shenanigans 99% of airline pilots just stay in the cockpit, lock the door if necessary and call for customer service and LE if needed. Goof off on your phone will other people deal with drama.
Drama with cabin crew? Don't date them, avoid most of them on layovers, and be nice to them. Even the ones with chips on their shoulders who are looking for drama. Nasty FA ignores your request for coffee, etc? Grin and bear it. The bad ones cannot pick fights with EVERY pilot they fly with or they won't have a job.
White collar office politics is toxic, and you usually have to play the game... if you get outmaneuvered it can sideline your career, or get you on the layoff list (there's ALWAYS a layoff list, and the economy will turn south eventually). It's simply unavoidable, and the sociopaths thrive in it.
LE is treading a very fine line between getting shot, getting jailed for murder, getting fired and losing their cert, and getting sued for everything they're worth. Go online and watch videos of all these entitled, outraged karens who try to turn every routine traffic stop into a kent state massacre and federal civil rights case.
Yes, make sure you have more than one path to success.
Also if you're going to do it, get on with it and hustle... the retirement wave is peaking, and the current unprecedented opportunities will not be available for too much longer (it probably won't stop suddenly, but rather taper off into the next decade).
Don't make the mistake of thinking it's safe to stay at a regional, despite the astronomical pay raises, that business model is in serious question. If you have 25 years are are 59 years old OK I get it. But under 40 (or 50) with no seniority skin in the game needs to focus on majors.
Yes, exactly. I don't know if I'm gonna get shot right now, end up in a civil lawsuit, do the wrong thing as a supervisor, I do my best to stay out of it and do the right thing. It has worked out very well for me in the last 12 years or so.
Aviation isn't without risk. You are responsible for many passengers and it's go go go. one wrong thing you do, and that line between life and death can apporach fast. there are no rooms for any errors. I would assume if you put the flaps up or gear up too late, it's documented and you'll have some explaining to do.
But there is so much drama here. other people critique your work whether you did good or bad. you do 100 things that are good and get very little appreciation, but one little mistake, your career is on the line. you have other officers/supervisors fighting you for that next rank up. Don't even get me started with the weird things between female/male cops. It's stressful. a friend of mine who used to be cop like me but got back into aviation and now going to delta from frontier is the one who has been telling me flying is so much better and there is no better time. he said the worst drama he had on his flight yesterday was he had to call an FA to block the door with the galley thing so he can use the bathroom. He loves his job, shows me his schedule. shows me his salary and I'm jealous. Very jealous.
my only hurdle is I need to finish up CMEL/CSEL, get the almost 1000 hours somehow and get this dang ATP-CTP done. I am going to sell my beloved corvette and that should be enough to get me to finish my commercial, and allow me to buy about 1000 hours on a plane share time building thing. I believe I might be able to reach this goal in about 12 months.
I looked at MESA and that program they have where you payback your hours you build up, but I can't leave me job and dedicate 7 months to flying 144 hours a week and move away 3.5 hours leaving family behind lol. I don't even know if they're accepting applications.
I will just need to rough it out and get as much flight time as I can get and either try planesese at 750 and take a paycut for a year or two, or build upto 1500 on my own and get to a bigger airline, regional or major.
it's alot of thinking and a career change to better provide for my family at 38 is scary.