Originally Posted by
Widow's Son
Skyain'tsohigh,
Enough of the pity party. Horizon is a great airline and you demean a lot of great folks who have made it their career. They may not be getting rich, but a maxed out Horizon Captain is still in the top 5% of wage earners nationwide.
There is also a lot to be said for security. It is far more comfortable to make 50k a year and know that it will be there every pay period than 100k and always be wondering if your next check is your last.
I don't think you have a clue as to wages in the real world. I also don't think you're ever going to match in the grounded world what you could have had at Horizon.
Since I first started flying 30 years ago, there have always been boo-birds giving me all the reasons that I shouldn't follow my dream. I am sure glad that I didn't listen to them.
If you are convinced you are going to fail, then you are absolutely right.
For all you young wannabes out there, if you think you were born to fly then go for it because you won't be happy doing anything else. At its worst, flying for a living still beats the pants off of working for a living. As you climb the ladder you will see others fall, but that is life and is inherent to any profession worth having. One thing about pilot culture is that pilots are the last ones who will ever admit to making a mistake and are bred to always find someone or something else to blame when things don't turn out.
I compare wages with a comparable level of effort and sacrifice. The average of every wage earner has every McDonalds worker and newspaper boy thrown in there. Pilots live in a false word of expectations. Pilots at the regionals have been kept down so long that they throw a party if they break 40K.
You have to look at the big picture. I would have much rather earn a living wage from day one than to have burned almost 20 years at below poverty levels dreaming of making the big 50K to 90K. Things have been on a down hill slide for the last 30 years. Project that slide into the future and a Greyhound bus driver probably will earn more.
In the end I have to ask myself what is the real path of a winner ? To find a place where my efforts are appreciated or hang on to a suckers bet? Horizon Air might be a safe place to hide out but I am not satisfied with mediocre. To me to have stayed there and not reached for my dream would have been would have been a loser's choice.
I made more last year than in all my years of flying combined. Every firefighter, teacher, union heavy equipment operator, long haul truck driver, urban police officer and 18 year old recruit in the military will earn more, have more and retire better than a pilot at the regionals over the same time period.
SkyHigh