Update
 

Polaris746 -- I'm in the same position you described in 2017. Did you end up becoming a pilot?

If you're already a lawyer, id highly advise against pursing a career change. Just continue being a lawyer, they dont make bad money. Plus, you've probably already invested a lot into becoming a lawyer already.

Old thread, but...

If one counts time away from home, you may start your week with 72 hours or more. I've had a number of 7200 hour work days...meaning I went to work one day and came home the next...ten months later, without sleeping in my own bed in between. It's relative.

Your 100 hours in the office in a given week may seem like the shortest week you ever worked, if you move to aviation.

10-15 hour work days may seem arduous, but mild considering duty days in aviation that can range from 14 hours on the short end, to 30 hours on the upper end. Do you do a lot of 30 hour work days?

When you do your recurrent training every six months, any number of very small mistakes can cause a bust, which can be anywhere from career damaging to career ending, as can be a DUI, or a medical issue. Every mistake you make will become a part of a permanent life-long recordin the pilot record database, reviewed by every potential employer.

The grass is always greener, but it may not be as green as you think.

Note to readers: the above individual has made peculiar life and career choices that have led him to “7200 hour work days.” It is NOT in any way indicative of life as a CFI, regional pilot, or major US airline pilot. Even 15 hour work days are not the norm (to say nothing of 30 hour days), until you become a widebody long haul pilot (which will be years into your career if you work for a major US airline).

If you choose to work for questionable companies or have some weird stigma about networking, you may be forced into the kind of career that the above individual had/has, but just be aware that it is NOT the norm. Working as a regional or major airline pilot will give you a greater quality of life than many people in corporate America, especially attorneys (I lived with an attorney that I was dating for a period of time. Her work/life balance was hellacious).

Just some perspective from the other end of the spectrum.

For the record, I've not been forced into what I have done, nor would I do it differently, given the chance.

It may be true that I've done a lot more than you.

That includes corporate, airline, working as an instructor, fly ag, fire, and a few other jobs along the way.

That one day trip, with a day commuting before and after quickly becomes 72 hours. A three day trip with a day before and after for commuting quickly becomes 120 hours away from home. The attorney who sleeps in his own bed after putting in a 10-15 hour day may not appreciate the difference.

With a typical duty day for many pilots at 14 hours...something I've regularly seen in instructing, corporate, fractional, 135, airline, and so on, as well as various government flying, it's not an exception and it's closer to the upper limit that the attorney original poster cited as unbearable.

The long-haul pilot seeing 18-30 hour duty days isn't deep into his career any more, where many of those hiring into ACMI long haul cargo operations are regional kids with very little experience or years on the job. Especially today. The experience level being hired is breathtakingly low.

As for networking, I've never found it necessary to get a job because I knew someone, and have always done it on my own merits. If you see that as a handicap, that's unfortunate for you. I have a very low opinion of those who beg and scrape for a recommendation to get a foot in the door. I've certainly given recommendations for those who were worthy, but those who grovel seeking out a toe-hold, rather than stand on their own two feet, stand out as pathetic and of small caliber. Those who make contacts for the purpose of using those contacts as toe-holds on their curtain climb to the big brass ring disgust me. No, I don't network, and I'm quite content with my employment, thanks. My comments are not a complaint.

The truth is that aviation is no less tenuous; a small mistake becomes a matter of permanent record. A minor medical issue can cost a job, and a career. The hours can be exceptionally long. The flight hours in a given week are not a reflection of the amount of time dedicated to the job; one might fly a few hours, but the time spent away from home, preparing for, operating, concluding, can be much more than most people put in with a 9-5 job. Even if that 9-5 job goes 10-15 hours a day, and even if that 9-5 job also works weekends, and puts in more than bankers hours.

So far as the implication that the long hours and days only come after years of investment in the career, that's a load of crap. Those who fly long haul can look back at other jobs done to get there, and find they worked harder and longer, doing regional and 135 jobs. The long haul pilot who is doing one trip every few days, one leg, and is home-based may well look back at time spent doing 14 hour duty days with multiple legs a day, commuting to and from work, floating a crash pad carrying peanut butter sandwiches with his luggage and eating in the cockpit during quick turns or between radio calls on short legs, and view those as good experience, but certainly a less desirable lifestyle. The harder work is usually put in during the early years. If the original poster in this five-year-dead thread were to think the grass is greener, that the work is lighter, or somehow more glorious, it's possible he may find the reality not nearly an upgrade from the lift of an attorney as he's described. Such is subjective.

Aviation is not, for the most part, a 9-5 job.

Deleted double post.

Pure nonsense, as usual.

Days in aviation “that can range from 14 hours on the short end, to 30 hours on the upper end.”
What?! 14 hours is the short end? Weird, because I just flew one 3.5 hour flight to Punta Cana for a 25 hours layover. 14 hours is the UPPER END for most folks in 121, so much so, that it’s a contractual limit. What’s the relative percentage of 121 pilots that can fly 30 hours. I’ve done one 28 hour day, once, in my entire career, while working for a shady 121 supplemental.

Pompous and as insufferable as ever.

I quit being an airline pilot some time ago. I miss flying once in a while but otherwise no regrets. The lifestyle was not for me. I know working in Big Law is tough on family life and demanding, so you can consider transitioning to another less training intensive job than flying for the airlines. Don't a lot of your Big Law colleagues go in house at other companies and see a big increase in quality of life? Maybe do that and fly for fun. Although I don't fly GA either.

Just so everyone is aware, the OP started this thread 5 years ago. Lots of necroposters in here.

Thread of the posting dead