Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
...........He goes on to suggest that the reduction in percentage of military pilots means that the industry is at risk since of course military pilots are the best. ...............
My guess is that military pilots are increasingly choosing to make the military their entire aviation career and do not necessarily move on to the airlines upon retirement.
Here is another one from Capt. James Ray of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association. "Twenty years ago, the average airline pilot would maybe work, oh, 70 to 80 hours, about three times a month. Now, that pilot's working 70 to 80 hours every week".
Sully stated:
"I know some of our pilots, who have been laid off, have chosen not to return," Sullenberger said. "I can speak personally, for me and my family, that my decision to remain in this profession that I love has come at a cost to me and my family."
.............."I don't know a single professional pilot who would recommend that their children follow in their footsteps"
.................Skyhigh
Wow........I'd really have to disagree with him on that statement. I've flown in both the military and civilian and seen incredibly talented pilots from both sides. I've seen some incredibly horrible pilots from both sides too. The military is not for everyone, and neither is flying, but to say one is better than the other is not right in my opinion. Some pilots just take more pride in what they do, and therefore they always seem to be better at what they do. It's that way in every profession. The military now requires a ten year commitment after pilot training, so by the time your "dues are up", you've got almost 11 years spent in a profession that requires only 20 to receive a nice pension. Hard to give up such a good chunk of change at that point. (Hence the Reserves and Guard get a LOT of separated pilots who want to keep the bennies and retirement in the equation). I do agree that we spend a lot more time on the job for the pay. Some trips of 12 or 13 hours of flying require being on the road for three or four days.........with sits at the airport (airport appreciation time as we affectively call it) of five or six hours for 1.2 hours of block time. That is unproductive and ridiculous in my book. This profession is hard on the family life, and even hard when you don't have a family. It's just not the fun it used to be. Don't get me wrong........I love my job and the folks I work with, but there's a lot of extraneous BS that comes with it (TSA for example), and that has taken the wind out of the sail so to speak. If I did have kids, I'd let them follow their hearts desire. If they wanted to be in my profession, I'd let them. Why dash their dreams? This is an incredible job............it just has a lot of pitfalls right now.