Your life as a Pilot
 

What is your experience earning a living as a Pilot? Your work/home balance? Your experiences. What would you change, good or bad?

It’s NOT a job, it’s a lifestyle that pretty much consumes you. You’ll miss holidays, miss family events, be away for when someone at home is ill, etc. I told one friend of both parents dying while he away away. A friend had his basement flooded while on the other side of the world. As ranchers say, “don’t buy a ranch to big that your wife can’t manage if you’re away. Same in aviation.

GF

It’s is entirely what you make of it.

Depends. I currently fly 3 days a week, home every night, and no flying on holidays/weekends. And I make close to 6 figures.
There are many different career pathways in aviation.

I agree. Give an unhappy pilot any other job of his choosing, and chances are that within a year he will be unhappy again. :(

Truer words were never posted! As I leaned early, flying would be a great job, if I made as much money as my brother-in-law thought, as much time off as my neighbor thought and as much a** as my wife thought. But, it is a lifestyle, not a 9-5 deal, don’t forget that.

GF

I’d be bored stiff. Married happy as anyone, have things to do and interests at home, but I really liked flying. Retired but will probably start contracting.

GF

Im home 6 nights a week. I make my own schedule, for the most part, meaning I still have time to skateboard 4 times a week, go to the gym 6 times a week, and play music 3 times a week. Im paid well above my standard of living and I live in Socal. I fly 800 hours a year. Life is good.

There's a pilot job for every type of personality/lifestyle, its just a matter of research and luck.

It has its ups and downs.....

One day you are up and flying high....

Then suddenly one little artery blockage requiring a stent and you are down....

(hopefully I will have my medical back by the end of this summer, then I will be back up)

Yes, there is the point.... its not a job it's a lifestyle.

Ok, it makes difference, small airfield pilot (like CFI or other) or airliner.... I find airliner job slavish, as I hear from budget airliner friends.... I am not sure anymore if I dream about it or not...really. Not as free as it seems...

With small, friendly airports even if you fly only 2hrs that day, it will take your whole day :D its not possible to go to an airport, fly the 2 hours and go home.....
and husband / wife, if an outsider, will calling and texting like crazy...- why are you still on the airport? - what can you do there all day? ...and when they are out with you on a sunday, they start to whining and getting bored.... :P

I think in this lifestyle is the most important thing is to have a partner who is into flying on ANY way (glider, ATC, or even just a hobby spotter)... because the main problems come not from flying an airplane but from your background.

OR if the partner is policeman, military, whatever, not an accountant in 8 hours, there is a chance than he/she will understand.

Do you mean what kind of pilot life? :) airiner? parachuter? CPL pilot? agro? instructor? small or big airport?

Whether you choose to enjoy your career and have a great life of challenge and adventure, or whether you find it a miserable experience to be endured, you're right.

Been a CFI, worked for a very small regional, a big regional, and now a major. I can say being a CFI was fun, I lived where I wanted to live, created my own schedule and was finally getting paid to do what I loved. Flying for my small regional was a bad, but necessary experience. Lived in bumville North Dakota, stuffed in a 1 bedroom crash pad with 8 other dudes, making below minimum wage, working longer hours than I’ve ever worked. Only time in my career where I second guessed my choice. Then the bigger regional started hiring so I left. Better pay, better schedules, better plane, overall better everything. The pay was still not much but it was at least livable at this point. Then I made it to a major and life has completely changed for the better. As a Line holder, I’ve never had less than 15 days off, or if I bid reserve I can get most weekends and holidays off. Pay is phenomenal. And finally living where I want and feeling settled for the first time in a while.

I’ve seen many people quit this career in the early stages and it’s usually because they can’t make the money work. Luckily I had a sugar mama, and I was young with very few responsibilities. I don’t know if I would be where I am if I had started later in life with a kid when I started. The job itself is like what others have said, it’s what you make of it. Go out with your crew members and explore every place you go, and it’s fun. If you slam click on every layover you’ll be miserable and make others around you miserable.

Nothing worse than a slam-clicker on the crew.

Sort of depends on the “slam-clicker”, I’d think.

GF

After paying the Hertz girl's baby-sitter, I'm not hangin' with the boys.:D

"It's not a job, it's a lifestyle".

True.

It's also not a career. It's a lottery.

Making it to the big leagues says nothing of one's dedication, professionalism or skill.

Some win with a fabulous experience.
Other's will get perpetually screwed over like a red headed stepchild.

Good luck.

That should be posted over the entrance at every singles’ bar. :D

It's a job.

It's a career.

That really depends on what you consider the "big leagues" to be.

I've routinely made six figures at times flying a single engine airplane part time, and it has very much been a function of professionalism and skill. Those who relied on luck died, or risked it. Professionalism meant being proactive enough not to rely on luck.

Success in this business has a great deal to do with one's dedication, professionalism, and skill.

It's a job. Depending on which part of the industry you're in, there may be an associated lifestyle which is non-traditional and non-avoidable.

It's a career. But there are some risk factors beyond your control which a typical white-collar professional isn't subject to, ie medical issues, and the seniority system. If you're high seniority and your airline gets merged, bought, bankrupt, stagnates, or even your base relocated you can't easily make a lateral move to escape the consequences, you either have to grin and bear it or start over at the bottom of another list. Most other 40-50 something professionals can get another job in the same (often better) pay range if needed or desired.