mswmsw

I was a 22 year old Captain for a very small sched Part 135 commuter airline in 1976 ....... and by late 1977, I was a full time Depty Sheriff for a very large Sheriff's Dept in Southern California. There were a variety of reasons for the switch, but the most basic of them was that, at 22 years old and with 2000 hrs of flight time, I was just bored with "gear up, autopilot on"; I knew that airline flying just did not have enough of an adrenaline kick for me, and I couldn't see myself spending half my life away from home and sleeping in hotels, with a job that was, to me, basically, too boring to spend the next 38 years doing. So I "switched", and became a cop. I spent most of the first 20 years of my LE career working uniformed patrol, detective and undercover assignments, both as a Deputy and as a Sergeant, almost all of that time in "inner city/ghetto/high crime areas". To this day, I still miss the time I spent working uniformed patrol in the County territory near "Watts" in South Central Los Angeles in the early 1980's; that was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on, and, even to this day, the only job (or assignment) I ever had where I did not want to leave at the end of my shift, and could not wait to get back to, the next day. (I didn't want to miss anything; it was that fun and entertaining.). For the last almost 12 years, I have been flying helos and F/W at our Aviation Unit, which is also fun......... just not quite as much fun as working patrol in the "inner city". Add in decent pay (at least for the bigger West Coast Dept's); an excellent retirement; and home every nite, and it was, at least for me, a career change I have never ever regretted. And even before being assigned to our Dept's aviation unit, I still managed to remain involved professionally in aviation in a part-time capacity, with a variety of part-time jobs "on the side", from CFI to part-time contract pilot, in stuff like twin Cessnas and King Airs.

I guess the big reason for my switch was not necessarily pay issues, but the other "QOL" things, as well as my feeling that airline type flying is just too boring for my "Type A, Need A Lot of Adrenaline Kick Excitement" personality. Just keep in mind that a career in law enforcement is not for everyone. You have to have a somewhat ahh.... quirky (?) ... sick (?) personality, and a perverted sense of humor to make it through a 20 or 30 year career in LE. And you have to be willing and able to use physical force on another person, and even kill someone, if need be; if you can't do these things, then you will not last long in a LE career. Also always remember that you put yourself in harms way every day. I've been to a lot of law enforcement funerals in my 30+ years as a cop; it is a pretty sobering experience, especially when it was someone you knew or worked with at some point in your career. Feel free to PM me if you'd like more info.