SkyHigh

I have to concede the positive to guys like you. I have no experience with it in regards to aviation.

Perhaps you could tell us some happy things?

Skyhigh

UASIT

My father said he made it in aviation when he graduated pilot training and got his wings with the best bunch of guys he's ever known. He was humbled to have been given the opportunity by his country to serve along side people much better than him. He never forgot that he was a pilot and that people expected him to do a professional job everyday. He made it a point to never let down his squadron mates, his country, his family...

I wish I had been medically qualified to follow in his foot steps...

SkyHigh

I am sorry it did not work out for you. In any case these days you might have been given a UAV anyway.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

Airhoss,

Tell us some cool legacy airline pilot stories about being respected by your employer, fancy hotels and the satisfaction that must come from receiving a fat paycheck for doing something you love.

Most of us here will never be able to experience that stuff. Please share.

Skyhigh

de727ups

"Perhaps you could tell us some happy things?"

I could, but it wouldn't be in keeping with the tone of your forum here. People don't come to the "leaving the career" forum to hear about success in aviation. I'll leave it for another time.

SkyHigh

You are right. Perhaps you could open a new thread someplace else?

Skyhigh

ClutchCargo

If you had stayed at Horizon and upgraded to Captain you would have been at least competitive for a major/legacy airline job. Instead you chased a shiny jet job as an F/O. F/O time doesn't mean squat to airline hiring departments.

However, with the kind of attitude you display on this board it is highly doubtful you would have been offered a job much less make it through your probationary year.

BTW- I'm enjoying a nice 36hr layover in Marina del Rey.

Ski Patrol

sky high "Say goodbye to friends, family, financial security, home, hobbies and most everything else that people value in life. If you are prepared to all that and have a well placed uncle you might make it."


Are you serious? At least we know where you are coming from......

Work to live or live to work I suppose.

brianb

Your kidding , right? Sky keeps spouting the truth about "aviation" but he never seems to mention ANY positive in regards to that supposed truth. If he just wants to say that aviation sucks and thats all their is to it, then fine, he has an opinion. The truth always includes both positive and negative my friend.

Airhoss

First of all Ski Patrol lets break this down.

Take the drama out of the Skyhigh post and it leaves you with,

Meet new friends that's what life is all about, keep in touch with the ones you want to and see your family on your time off. They also have these things called telephones now days and a new fangled contraption called the internet. So I wasn't exactly saying "goodbye" to my family and friends.

Financial security....Are you kidding me? I was making more as a pilot in Alaska the first year I got out of school than at any other time in my life. The net sum total of my financial obligations were rent and beer money. No wife no kids and no debt. That came later...

I've got a buddy who's a park ranger he just lost his house, another who is a telecommunications electrician who just lost his. There are foreclouser signs everywhere around here. NOTHING is "secure" at the moment.

I haven't lived at home with mom since I was 18, so missing mommy and home especially by the time I started flying in AK wasn't an issue, and my hobbies were flying, hunting, fishing and chasing tail. So for everything but the tail chasing department Ak was working just fine for me.

I still don't miss my mommy even though she lives in another town.

I was doing what I most valued in life at the time. I was free, making a decent living and doing exactly what I wanted. And I'm still doing it today though my values have changed somewhat in the last 22 years.

So yeah none of that was a "sacrifice" to me at the time. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do and I knew exactly what I was getting into.

So I guess it boils down to this..

Homesick mommas boys who are risk averse and have hobbies like flower arrangement and tennis and a value system that doesn't include flying, traveling and adventure need not apply.

And in all seriousness trying to start this career with a spouse and kids at "home" would be next to impossible. This is a single mans /woman's career at the start.

I was a civilian I could go home anytime I wanted. The poor Navy and Marine guys are gone and truly secluded for months at a time. Give me a friggin break!

Of course bringing up a happy aviation story in "leaving the career" is like talking about skin care products at a leper colony. So I apologize in advance.