There are some pilots flying today who are relict's from 30 years ago when things were better. Senior and Safely insulated from furloughs and most of the losses of the industry they remain mostly unscratched and read the horrors like most others in the news. I am sure they are happy and proclaim the industry to be just and sound. The current generation however has a much different perspective. They are the ones who have taken most of the brunt of the changes made over the last 15 years or so. When my generation started out we had higher expectations than what the career can currently provide. No matter how fun a job is to me it must be able to justify itself in regards to compensation.

In addition I think that happiness and flying varies greatly if one is married with kids or single. As a bored and lonely single person a phone call from crew scheduling is a welcome parole from the cold and lonely one bedroom apartment. What could be better than a hotel room where the towels are clean and you don't have to make the bed. It is even better for the captain since has has the FO as prisoner and can make him into his indentured buddy. Without the forced interaction of the work environment most of these guys would go a week without talking to a single person.

I am sure that when given the true facts most rational people would turn down the opportunity of an aviation career. The numbers don't' add up. In the last decade o two the job has lost so much that it doesnt make sense anymore. Those who are trapped in this reality I am sure are miserable. Soon the airlines will be populated mostly by single people since they are the only ones who can afford to live on the pay and to be gone so much.

In closing; happiness in the airlines varies with expectations. If you expect to be treated well, paid a fair and just wage, enjoy career stability, security and have a compensatory amount of time off then brace yourself to be unhappy and miserable. On the other hand if you are a lonely, meager, avdork whose home is adorned with issues of flying magazine on the coffee table and aircraft posters on the walls then you have found your place in the sun.



SKyHigh