What is it that you HATE about flying for a living and what do you LOVE about it?

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OK, Packer Backer suggested "Talk to several people in the business and ask them 2 questions; What do you HATE about your job and what do you LOVE about your job? Then decide if you can live with the "hate's". "

This forum is better than me heading to the airport interviewing pilots. Show me some love like you did in my other thread pleeeeeeeeease?

that just exited chap 11. Positives: Outstanding people I worked with, chance to operate fantastic aircraft that most people can only dream of (of course I did that in the Air Force as well), pay and benefits. Negatives: A very few A*******s that I was forced to work with, jet lag once I started flying international, behind the clock flying, crummy hotels and sometimes crummy food. I could add more on each side but that's a starter.

FL350,

As far as your question goes. I hated being gone all the time, the low wages, lack of control over ones life and the absence of creativity that the job offered. Flying a Cessna 150 about the pattern offers more inspiration and joy than flying a wide body across the country.

My suggestion is that if you truly love flying you would hate the airlines since they stamp pilots out like beer cans and your job is like the movie Groundhogs Day. The same thing over and over again an unending chain of three and four day trips that trail off into eternity. The pilot makes few decisions and can not stray from the prescribed path and procedures at all. In past postings I have referred to modern day airline pilots as the pinnacle of programed human automation. Pilots are trained to fly exactly the same, use the exact same language dress the same and react the same to every situation. No fun.

As a pilot you also have little influence on the outcome of your career efforts. Most success is based more on luck and connections than how dedicated of an aviator one is. Even now my guess is that by the time you have completed your training and reached a point where you could apply to the regionals the market would have changed dramatically.

As far as pluses go I really enjoyed trips that gave me a day or two layover in New York City and the few times that I was able to stray from standardization.

SkyHigh

Hate: No job security, I am in my 6th straight year of making less than the year before, I am about to be furloughed, no retirement, absolutely no control over my own future with my company, (no matter what I do it makes no difference to coporate), always away from home and that includes all holidays for the last 9 years save one. And finally the never ending stream of starry eyed flight academy graduates that all think they are going to work for a major making an easy 6 figures if only they can land that first "pic" job. So then they go out and work for the scum of the industry for poverty wages that results in all the outsourcing, pay cuts, the continually shrinking major pilot job pool, and the rest referenced above.

Love: I still love flying, how sick is that? there should be a twelve step program to get us out. " Hello my name is Joe, and I'm a pilot"

If I could do a "do over" I would go into a different line of work and fly for fun.

Thank you everybody.

My mom hated the idea of me flying when I first pitched the idea. I said with the license I can go whichever way I want, I'm not necessarily stuck with the airline industry. There are coporates, fedex/ups, hell I can even apply for one of those that fly celebs, don't remember the name but saw it on E! or I can just be an instructor for life. Not sure how good of an idea that is.

Is it my wishful thinking? Say if a pilot gets furloughed, how difficult is it to get a different gig?

I love my free uniforms my company gives me every year and I hate everything else about my company. If you worked here for any length of time you would feel the same way.

Not too hard to actually get another job, but if you're talking airlines, pay and quality-of-life depends on company seniority, so starting over is hard if you have been with the company for any length of time. A senior captain could be making $200K+ with 20 days off per month. If he has to start over, he would likely make $20K with 8 days/month. Big difference...

Other aviation jobs, such as corporate, tend to pay based on your actual flight experience, not seniority, so you can change jobs and not get wiped out.

FL350: You might consider me the female version of SkyHigh. He has it pretty much correct. It's really a matter of whether you're willing to let another human or company dictate your life. Just consider this: the airplane will either take you away from where you want to be, or take you to where you want to be. If you are employed as a pilot, in all probability, it will take you away from where you want to be. If you really want to fly, and don't want to be away from home all the time (that was my biggest problem), you might want to consider being a helicopter pilot. Best of all options, go into some other line of work.

There is no real down side other than job security in my opinion. I would advise putting off having a family as long as possible. You dont need that stress.