SkyHigh

I was always very polite to those who I flew with. Besides they usually shared the same opinions anyways. In addition failure is in the eye of the beholder. I was able to get out and salvage my life.

Skyhigh

JohnBurke

I have a real job. I get paid to fly aircraft. Nothing wrong with a Cessna 150, mind you, but my ride is a whole lot more interesting and considerably more challenging.

I have no regrets. You seem to live your life in sorrow, and your path here can be measured by a trail of pessimistic tears and disappointment.

It must really grate on you to know that so many of us have happy, fulfilling, productive, and even lucrative careers in aviation.

Adlerdriver

Pathetic. Perpetuating this attitude is one of the things that has helped to decimate this industry over the last 30 or so years. The guys climbing all over each other to get in line to fly an RJ for 18K a year have successfully diminished their own chances to get into the job they're striving to get. It's a self-licking ice cream cone. The only ones winning are the airlines that can farm out their short haul domestic flying to the lowest bidder.

And if no one showed up with their tube of KY ready to bend over for them, then they would have to pay a real wage. Same thing at the regional airlines. Sooner or later these young guys are going to realize that the dream job at the end of the rainbow isn't the one guys like you are making it out to be - and it isn't worth it. There aren't enough good flying jobs out there for every "persistent" newbie to get one if they stick around long enough and hopscotch from one bad job to another.

They don't have to - if they're not being paid what they're worth, for the skills they possess, then they don't take the job. Pretty simple. Lots of folks are making that choice - did you see hiring bonuses being offered to get guys to take RJ jobs a few years ago?
Yeah.....luck had nothing to do with me not flying for those types. I would never have taken that route - I have to look myself in the mirror each morning.

JamesNoBrakes

So you're doing aerobatics and spins constantly on your flights?

JohnBurke

We got pulled off the fire after just three drops today, due to thunderstorms and radical changes in fire behavior, but drops down canyon with steep runs under the smoke column, up against some very active flame fronts, and some fairly violent low level runs on a wind driven wildfire were interesting enough. I didn't feel the need to spin.

JamesNoBrakes

Oh, so not as interesting as aerobatics all day.

krudawg

Your perspective is based on a military flying basis. Your profile indicates you flew F-15's. As a military pilot you were respected, Paid well and enjoyed a lot of prestige- You were an Officer and a Gentleman. Your accumulated flight-time was bought and paid for by the taxpayers of this country who recognize that it is money well spent. But for the rest of us, the great unwashed, We had to scrape by with part-time or full-time jobs, pay for college and run up bills that are unimaginable paying for flight time and training. We never felt we were too good for a flying job but rather lucky to have one. If the only flying job available was long hours and low pay; we took it and flew enough hours to get the experience to get the next job. Our perspective is quite different. As for me, I spent time in the military, spent time on the ground in a combat zone but did not fly in the military except for the back end of a Huey or a CH-46.

JohnBurke

I think it is, but I'm being paid to do this, not aerobatics.

Tell you what; you go do this for a while, so that you know what you're talking about, then get back to me.