CBS Morning Story on UAL's Aviate Program
02-20-2022, 12:13 PM
#21
Disinterested Third Party
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,009
I don't regret a single sortie flown in the middle east, or over fires or in the night with a crying patient's wife as she watched two medics struggle to keep her unconscious, bleeding husband alive on his way to a trauma center. Do I wish there had been one more? No, I wish her husband didn't die and I wish I a lot of things. Wishes are irrelevant, but I can also think of many, many times over the years that prior experience paid off, came back as a lesson learned, gave needed insight.
Greatest generation? No. Just another generation.
Spoiled? No. Not remotely so. Earned every bit? Yes, and then some.
Grateful for every jot and bolt and bang and bump that sums up the experience over the past few decades? You bet. I really got shot at. Maybe you did too. Doesn't matter so much, nobody will put that on a resume, and nobody who reads it will care. I flew back and forth through thunderstorms. Research. Holes in airplanes from lightning strikes. Rolled inverted, iced beyond what I thought the aircraft could bear. Stick shakers and pushers. Looking back, wouldn't turn it in for anything. Somewhere, a bit of that remains, that insight, that experience and what's it done for me? Convinced me I never want to be in another thunderstorm, so long as I live, thanks. I've had enough. But, it's experience, and experience is knowledge, the kind that isn't found in a book, isn't handed down, but earned and can only be had first hand. Skipping that, skipping all the myriad experiences one might have doing anything, boxes, spray booms, charters, whatever, is to miss out on golden opportunities in favor of that brass-ring seniority number to ride until one does or retires, and no thanks. No thanks, at all.
You can keep your entitlement and chutzpah. My hand is raised. I'll take one more round, and raise you one. My parents weren't spoiled, either. My mother war born in the rubble as bombs fell on London, my grandfather fought for his life behind the smoking action of an anti aircraft gun, and I was raised by a single woman who worked two and three jobs with a broken back, in pain, and was far from spoiled, in an abandoned house that had no heat, in a place deep with snow. We had no TV, no thrift store second hand clothes and counted lucky when we got a quarter for an ice cream, let alone the means to get ahead. Much as I appreciate your arrogance and high horse, everything I have wasn't given, but hard earned, including the experience and the insight. My hand is raised because I don't mind one more flight, one more job, one more bag, one more fire, one more trip through the grand canyon, one more landing in a field or road or dirt strip or sand bar. I don't regret the experience. I'm grateful for it . All of it.
Entitlement is the expectation that it be given you, else it's not worth your time. Gratitude is knowing that you've earned your stripes, and the satisfaction in being thankful for the opportunity to have done so and the lessons that have some with it.
Try it.
Greatest generation? No. Just another generation.
Spoiled? No. Not remotely so. Earned every bit? Yes, and then some.
Grateful for every jot and bolt and bang and bump that sums up the experience over the past few decades? You bet. I really got shot at. Maybe you did too. Doesn't matter so much, nobody will put that on a resume, and nobody who reads it will care. I flew back and forth through thunderstorms. Research. Holes in airplanes from lightning strikes. Rolled inverted, iced beyond what I thought the aircraft could bear. Stick shakers and pushers. Looking back, wouldn't turn it in for anything. Somewhere, a bit of that remains, that insight, that experience and what's it done for me? Convinced me I never want to be in another thunderstorm, so long as I live, thanks. I've had enough. But, it's experience, and experience is knowledge, the kind that isn't found in a book, isn't handed down, but earned and can only be had first hand. Skipping that, skipping all the myriad experiences one might have doing anything, boxes, spray booms, charters, whatever, is to miss out on golden opportunities in favor of that brass-ring seniority number to ride until one does or retires, and no thanks. No thanks, at all.
You can keep your entitlement and chutzpah. My hand is raised. I'll take one more round, and raise you one. My parents weren't spoiled, either. My mother war born in the rubble as bombs fell on London, my grandfather fought for his life behind the smoking action of an anti aircraft gun, and I was raised by a single woman who worked two and three jobs with a broken back, in pain, and was far from spoiled, in an abandoned house that had no heat, in a place deep with snow. We had no TV, no thrift store second hand clothes and counted lucky when we got a quarter for an ice cream, let alone the means to get ahead. Much as I appreciate your arrogance and high horse, everything I have wasn't given, but hard earned, including the experience and the insight. My hand is raised because I don't mind one more flight, one more job, one more bag, one more fire, one more trip through the grand canyon, one more landing in a field or road or dirt strip or sand bar. I don't regret the experience. I'm grateful for it . All of it.
Entitlement is the expectation that it be given you, else it's not worth your time. Gratitude is knowing that you've earned your stripes, and the satisfaction in being thankful for the opportunity to have done so and the lessons that have some with it.
Try it.
02-26-2022, 10:29 AM
#23
New Hire
Joined APC: Apr 2019
Position: Student Pilot
Posts: 5
Since this is one of my first replies to this forum maybe I should give a little background. To start with, I'm 47 years old and just about to get my private pilot rating. I have 56 hours (most of it in a C172). I have always wanted to become a professional pilot but finances, family, and so on slowed it down. I'm finally in a position where I can start building my hours to become a full time pilot.
To several of the points raised here, I agree with you on these entitled morons thinking that they should be handed a Captain's rank and take off into the skies. For me, I wouldn't care what I'm flying, as long as I live my dream. If that means flying charters or tour flights in a C210, cargo flights for Key Lime, working as a CFI, or ultimately becoming an ATP rated pilot working for Southwest, I'm ok with that. It's the opportunity to be a part of something I love.
It doesn't matter what your nationality, religious background, or political beliefs are. If you're a pilot or have had a taste of flying, everything else falls away to the fundamental loving of aviation.
To several of the points raised here, I agree with you on these entitled morons thinking that they should be handed a Captain's rank and take off into the skies. For me, I wouldn't care what I'm flying, as long as I live my dream. If that means flying charters or tour flights in a C210, cargo flights for Key Lime, working as a CFI, or ultimately becoming an ATP rated pilot working for Southwest, I'm ok with that. It's the opportunity to be a part of something I love.
It doesn't matter what your nationality, religious background, or political beliefs are. If you're a pilot or have had a taste of flying, everything else falls away to the fundamental loving of aviation.
03-31-2022, 07:21 PM
#24
On Reserve
Joined APC: Feb 2022
Posts: 12
Originally Posted by Bulldog1653
Since this is one of my first replies to this forum maybe I should give a little background. To start with, I'm 47 years old and just about to get my private pilot rating. I have 56 hours (most of it in a C172). I have always wanted to become a professional pilot but finances, family, and so on slowed it down. I'm finally in a position where I can start building my hours to become a full time pilot.
To several of the points raised here, I agree with you on these entitled morons thinking that they should be handed a Captain's rank and take off into the skies. For me, I wouldn't care what I'm flying, as long as I live my dream. If that means flying charters or tour flights in a C210, cargo flights for Key Lime, working as a CFI, or ultimately becoming an ATP rated pilot working for Southwest, I'm ok with that. It's the opportunity to be a part of something I love.
It doesn't matter what your nationality, religious background, or political beliefs are. If you're a pilot or have had a taste of flying, everything else falls away to the fundamental loving of aviation.
To several of the points raised here, I agree with you on these entitled morons thinking that they should be handed a Captain's rank and take off into the skies. For me, I wouldn't care what I'm flying, as long as I live my dream. If that means flying charters or tour flights in a C210, cargo flights for Key Lime, working as a CFI, or ultimately becoming an ATP rated pilot working for Southwest, I'm ok with that. It's the opportunity to be a part of something I love.
It doesn't matter what your nationality, religious background, or political beliefs are. If you're a pilot or have had a taste of flying, everything else falls away to the fundamental loving of aviation.
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