Yeah 12 more. That really sucks and makes the light of hope ever that much darker. After making suck a profit last quarter and everyone starting to get excited and some growth this summer. This stuff happens. Ussually, i get mad but this actually makes me sad for me and the other 96 that are on furlough. This makes 1/7 of the pilot group on the street.

 

That sucks. How far back does that go now. October 2006?

 

I have been reading your posts and you kind of sound like my Grandpa. Why do you feel the need to justify your actions or anyone elses? I got into Aviation because it was my calling. Why? I dont know. I do know that flying is and always has been a passion for many people and that no matter what information or advice was presented to them in a negative light, they would still pursue it weather in a professional or private manner. I was told alot of negative and positive things about the aviation industry. I choose the positive. Maybe you should to.

 

I am glad that you brought that up. Why would I be so proud of a miserable little Cessna 150? Well unlike you I have a life outside of aviation. Besides the 150 I have a wife and five sons to take care of. I am not interested in loosing anymore treasure to aviation.

I have owned several planes in my life. Besides the 150 I have owned a float plane, piper apache and half of a cherokee 140 with my brother. When I was 22 I bought my first plane, a 150, with a flight student. I trained him and his brother how to fly in it. I also used it as a business training others as a bootleg instructor in Anchorage AK. Eventually I bought my partner out and at one point it was my only possession. I lived on peoples couches and in laundry rooms to keep my dream alive. On days off I would fly into the bush landing in villages and on stream banks to fish and camp. On one trip I met an air taxi owner who eventually hired me to fly for him. His minimums were higher but he liked my displayed independence through being an owner/operator.

Soon after getting the bush job I sold my 150 for a nice profit and bought a Taylorcraft on floats. Throughout my early years as a 150 owner I was constantly worried about maintenance problems. If something big came up I did not have the money to fix it. I flew it on several trips up and down the Alcan. Every time I mad e the long journey through the Canadian wilderness if something had gone wrong, a cracked cylinder or dinged prop, my only option was to abandon the plane and hitch hike to my destination. However it never let me down. The Taylorcraft however was always breaking down and in need of a cash infusion.

I owned the Taylorcraft for 13 long years and finally sold it. At the time my brother campaigned for me to buy a Cessna 182 (and still does). I don't have a need for something that big. I don't have anyplace to go where I would not want to drive anyway. I do not like to pack my plane with passengers. All I want is guilt free fun of being able to fly whenever the mood strikes. I don't want to feel obligated to fly due to the high opportunity cost of having a costly monster in my hangar.

Most of all however I like my latest 150 because when I climb into it I am transported back to those swash buckling days as an alaskan bush rat. It offers me great guilt free joy to fly it. It is pure fun. I have access to other planes to fly but I stick with it.

In addition I think that a smaller plane is better fortified against the future. In a few years avgas could be $10 a gallon. Insurance, maintenance, parts are all a concern. The real goal is to stay airborne and a 150 is the best defense against an uncertain future. In a few years I hope to upgrade to a Cessna Skycatcher. It offers LSA and access to owner maintenance. I believe that the Skycatcher and LSA is going to be a great hedge against the future.

Skyhigh

 

Aviation was my calling as well. Yesterday I was an auto shop having a discussion with the shop manager about the performance of graduates from well known auto mechanic academy. He told me that those with a natural interest and aptitude do better than someone who decided one day to become an auto mechanic.

As a young person I had a life long interest in aviation. I took my first lesson at 14. In college it was as though I did not even have to study. I absorbed the information easily. I had an natural aptitude and lifelong interest. Why then is aviation different? The reason is that an auto shop is willing to pay more for those with true ability. The airlines and aviation are free to hire people based upon a wide range of traits not limited to true aptitude.

As a pilot hard work or natural ability does not assure you of anything. Many decades of disappointment and loss forces one to see the situation from a different vantage point. I don't think that it can be classified as negative but as being more honest.

A lot of pilots go through their careers with an approach similar to beaten wife syndrome. The more aviation dumps on them they keep popping back up with a forced smile on their face. Others can see the black and blue marks but the pilot faithfully soldiers on.

I would rather take an honest view of the situation and make a new plan for success in life. In that capacity I am not here to be a sad sack and ruining everyone's state of denial but to help others who are interested in trying a different approach. The difference between a pilot and a mechanic is that good mechanics are rare. Auto shops will pay more and strive to promote a good mechanic.

Skyhigh

 

"In that capacity I am not here to be a sad sack and ruining everyone's state of denial...."

Oh Please. When will you learn you have no right claim that everyone sees the career from your shoes.

Not everyone needed to have five kids and live in a small central Washington town with the strong desire to be home every night. You have mentioned on this site before that you'd not consider Southwest airlines as a worthy job because they didn't have a base in the Northwest. Sky, you put so many roadblocks in your path to being a happy pilot you were doomed to fail.

I'm glad you post, though. It gives people an idea about how not to pursue the career....

 

How long did it take to come up with that? Seems like you spend more time on here then doing anything else with your life like spending time with your wife and 5 kids.

Anyone else ever lived in a laundry room? Cause I sure haven't. Maybe you should have sold the airplane, not gotten it when you were only 22 and used the money to live on instead of living like a hobo in a laundry room.

 

Amen, man.

SkyHigh, to state to dashtrash300 that, "Well unlike you I have a life outside of aviation." was pretty low, if I may opine. I know most of the Dash guys from said operator on here and I felt the need to chime that in. And just because a life in professional aviation didn't work out for you doesn't mean that everyone must hate it.

 

Furloughs will be in January 2010, 12 pilots...catches all those in the 21 November 2006 class. The "plug" is from the 19 October 2006 class.

 

Thanks man! But don't worry about it...I manage to keep a life outside of aviation AND a life in aviation so I just brush it off.