"I find it amusing, and down right ridiculous, that some of you think that people like Sky, myself, and others are "No Longer" professional pilots."

I see no reason for Tony M and Sky not to feel free to express their opinions based on their past experience as professional pilots. But it's past experience. Sky is a part time CFI and Tony M owns a Pitts. One is a real estate investor and the other is an MD.

"IMO, once a person has achieved a level of personal success, they're THERE."

Totally disagree. Once a doctor retires, he's a retired doctor. Ex-doctor. No longer part of the professional profession. No longer practicing. No longer studying. He may no longer giving a rip about what goes on in the profession on a day to day basis. And each day that goes by he is less and less up on what's going on in the biz. Same thing for pilots. Once a pilot retires, he's an ex-professional pilot.

Tony, maybe you want to be called Dr M the rest of your days and are thus see yourself as part of the MD profession. I don't see it working that way in aviation. It's all semantics, anyway. What's your point, again?