My Soap Box
 

Flying is not a job for comfort or glory. Wealth is something you are going to be lucky to find in aviation. It is one of the top ten statistically dangerous jobs as reported by the government. You will know several pilots, some good friends, who will die in an airplane. You will miss family events that are good and bad. You may be thanked with nothing but a cold shoulder for your efforts. Economic uncertainty is always looming.

Flying is a calling. It has to be in you or it would be a horrible job. Flying will take you places you may never have gotten to go. Flying lets you see nature like few people see it. There is a tremendous satisfaction obtained by controlling a complex machine in a complex enveronment. It is a rush to go someplace without any visual guidance from the earth itself. At the end of the day, even though you are tired, you will have to spin down from flying. You will make friendships that are solid. You will feel good when a passenger thanks you, when you deliver the organ for the transplant, when you bring the part that keeps the assembly line going. You played a part in something, no matter how small. You may find yourself mowing the lawn that flying made it possible for you to buy, and find it pleasing. You get tired of talking to everybody outside work about airplanes, but you still do it.

Start the engines, feel and hear the power come to life. Wave to the lineman as you taxi out. Feel the wheel come alive in your hand as you rotate. See the earth fall away.

YOU ARE A PILOT. THIS IS WHAT YOU DO. THIS IS WHO YOU ARE.

You will become disgruntled, but it still boils down to that. Even with all the missed events and sacrafices, you think it is worth it.

::applause::

Great post!! Sometimes we forget why we do this... thank you for the remider! :D

Fantastic, this is what it is all about, you are so right.

Thanks guys,

Im glad to know I have company. There is room on the soap box for you.

I've been in aviation all my life, so has my dad, my father-in-law, and more. I don't know one person that has been killed in an aircraft accident. I didn't realize it was so dangerous.

Sad, but true
 

Yep,

Google "top ten most dangerous jobs", or go here:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/26/pf/jobs_jeopardy/

Airplane pilots are second only to loggers in deaths per 100,000 workers.

It said small plane pilots: crop dusters and bush pilots, not airline pilots. I feel better now. Small planes are dangerous. I don't fly them.

I don't think small planes are dangerous on their own, they are just used in some operations that carry more risk. Landing on a sand bar in a river in AK to deliver mail involves more risk than landing at ANC. Pilots flying light twins often fly into airports with either a non-precision or no approach, at night into black hole airports that may not have vertical guidance information, with short, narrow runways that may be coverd with snow, ice, or wildlife.

There is no excuse for not being safe, but things can reach up and get you quick, so you have to be on your toes.

Well, the good thing about small planes that makes them safer over large aircraft is that if you lose your engine you could put it down in a parking lot. I remember, it was before my time at the flight school but, as a promotional advertisment they got authorized to land aircraft at the local mall. They put the aircraft inside the mall like they do with cars. You can't to that with a 757:p Though I would rather fly a 757:D

Soap Box
 

We all start out with that same attitude however years of disappointment, losses and setbacks can rob you of that joy. It seems to me that the trick is to stay in love.

Throughout the years I have lost many friends. I was a CFI at Merrill field for a few years. Four of us were good friends. Two died flying. The rest of us have quit.

As everyone knows; my opinion is that at some point if aviation doesnt start to love you back you had better save yourself or else you might wake up one day and realize that you lost far more than you ever intended to.

SKyHigh

The only pilot that I knew that is dead now died on a motorcycle.

Piston engines quit more than turbine engines. It's not just the type of flying, it's the equipment too. 11,000+ hours and I've never lost an engine.

More
 

It is more than just the piston engine. The type of flying that piston planes generally do is more dangerous. Jet planes mostly are in a highly controlled environment with several people involved in the air and on the ground with every flight. The operate from controlled airport to airport under IFR.

Piston planes are involved in everything from basic training to para-cargo. There are fewer controls and usually only the pilot in command is there to provide his own data, support and decision making.

SkyHigh

Piston planes are very dangerous, but much more fun. I own a piston plane and remember fondly all the great times I had in it but I will most likely never fly it again. As a father of four young sons I can't take the risk anymore.

Think about how risky floating around in space on a rock called earth is?...Besides the sun is an exploding mass thats own mass holds it at bay. It reduces by about 4 million tons per minute I might add, and that's right in our own backyard...So risk away and reap the rewards!...lol

[QUOTE=SkyHigh]It is more than just the piston engine. The type of flying that piston planes generally do is more dangerous. Jet planes mostly are in a highly controlled environment with several people involved in the air and on the ground with every flight. The operate from controlled airport to airport under IFR.

Piston planes are involved in everything from basic training to para-cargo. There are fewer controls and usually only the pilot in command is there to provide his own data, support and decision making.

I have to side with Sky High. His statements have merit. However, piston engines do fail more than turbines. Turbines also don't do occasional wierd things like hickup or burp out of the blue like a big piston engine does on occasion.

While it may not be the whole risk, operational related risks are the majority.

While I am not senior by any means, I have been around aviation for 17 years. I still have the positive feelings I describe. I have developed hardened, skeptical view about the job to balance them with.

Great post!

Risk
 

I can't do anything about the sun. If it explodes then so be it. I can however wear a helmet when warranted and avoid unhealthy and dangerous activities. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow but I have a duty to do my best to be here for the people I have in my care. Unbridled risk without regard for the consequences is something that is irresponsible at best for a family man.

SkyHigh

Besides I wouldn't wish to separate myself from what truly are the best times of my life.

well said....

Nicely put

Amen...

Like you said...it is a calling. Not everyone is or was cut out for it!