SkyHigh

If you are referring to Mike Rowe his position is to not follow a passion at all but rather to find the opportunities that currently lie at your feet and pursue them with passion to succeed.

A friend of mine was set to take over his fathers electrician business. He chose instead to follow his passion to become a geologist. As a result his father gave the business to another child. Many decades later my friend wishes that he had taken the opportunity that was right in front of him over following his passion. As a wealthy business owner he would have been able to avidly pursue his geology passion with the financial resources that came with his fathers business instead of working an entry level job past 50 years of age.

Following ones passion is a fairly recent concept in the western world. If you are able to find Mike Rowe's article he explains how it came about. When grandpa says "love what you do and you will never work a day in your life" it is not a license to go crazy. It means to develop passion for what you do (Even if it is pulling wire for a living.) and you will never work a day in your life.

Life is very competitive. To seek success in an arena where you do not have some advantages going in is taking the long road to say the least. If your dad is the chief pilot of a legacy airline then by all means pursue that. However if you have to finance college plus flight training and then get in line at a regional to become one of a thousand anonymous faces all competing for a shot at a decent job with a legacy airline then there are easier ways to earn a living. Following ones passion is a good recipe to ruining ones best chances in life.

Skyhigh

hindsight2020

Indeed. Quite a few regional pilots could take heed...

Mike Rowe: Don't Pursue Your Passion. Chase Opportunity.

JohnBurke

You don't.

There are many paths in aviation and many ways to get there.

You were blind and foolish enough to follow what you thought was the easiest path of least resistance, without any forethought to ask questions or do research, and you failed at every turn. You've outlined it numerous times, and continue to come here to convince others that your failing heralds theirs.

My own career is proof positive that if I could do it, anyone could do it, even you. The difference is that I didn't quit. Go figure.

You're a miserable person, whether you admit it or not. No person happy with their choices (and the results) would return here again and again as you do to spread your gospel of sadness and martydom. You say abandon ship, don't follow your passion, and yet this is what you did, and look at your own case. You whine incessantly that the industry did not allow you to "live like a king," yet how's your opulent kingdom now?

We all get it. Aviation destroyed your life We play our worlds smallest violins just for you, and we cry for your loss. Then we get on with our careers and quickly forget, because quite frankly, the worst day on the job for me, doing what I love, is far, far better than some of the best days doing something I don't.

Build yourself a little bronze shrine and count the flowers that people drop there in your honor, and be done with it.

SkyHigh

Get over yourself John.

Seems to me that you are here trying disparately to justify a bad life decision by putting down dissension and those who are promoting a different option. I am sorry if my posts are painful for you however others here are trying to save themselves.

My entire point here is that things improved greatly for me once I was forced out of aviation. I learned that there is life out there beyond corporate enslavement. You do not have to sell your best days to crew scheduling. I am not crying for "my loss" but rather promoting the fact that there are far better places to invest oneself in this life.

I do agree however that there are more ways to fiance an aviation career other than school loans. I worked my way through college and flight school. I did have a few thousand in school loans that were paid off in short order but nothing like what the kids of today have been burdened with. When presented with this option however the young I have encountered return a solemn look. Having to wait till you get to 1500 hours before applying to a regional stinks and paying your way through flight training and college is no fun at all.

Lastly why do you spend so much time here in the "Leaving the Career" forum? What do you have to gain or offer other by throwing occasional tantrums and embarrassing yourself? If you want help getting out of the situation you are in just ask and I would do my best to help you.

Skyhigh

PS. More than ever "anyone can do it" however the question is if one should. It is a massive investment for a thin promise of a return.

JohnBurke

My present pay rate is five hundred an hour, plus a daily rate, expenses, etc. How's yours, now that you quit for the promise of a thick return and the life of a "king?" It was you saying that you quit because the industry couldn't provide you a living "like a king," wasn't it? How's it going, king?

I've got no need to live like a king, but I can tell you that my investment is hardly a thin return. Perhaps if you hadn't quit...

One should, if one feels driven to do so.

The only reason, really, is to address your lies. It's what you do.

A bad life decision? How so? My job has taken me to nearly every country on the planet, every continent except antarctica. I've travelled considerably more than I'd have ever done, had I not been employed as an aviator. It lead me to meet my wife. It allowed me to experience things that few ever see or do. It provides a living for me that's considerably more than I'd have ever had via other routes I might have taken. It has also allowed me the time to do and life as I choose. Last year I took a month during November to do nothing but focus on national novel writing month, just because I could, and felt like it.

Does that sound painful to you?

Tell me again about living like a king, and how quitting aviation got you there.

There mere fact that your attempt at a career failed and you quit doesn't hold true for the rest of us.

JohnBurke

Skyhigh spends a lot of time discussing what he perceives as negative aspects of the industry. His views are untrue and frequently use falsehoods and inaccuracies. What skyhigh does not do is discuss the positive aspects of his separation from the industry. Particularly in a form about leaving the industry, in which participants may be considering departing aviation (or may have already left), one might suppose it relevant to show how leaving the industry benefitted skyhigh.

We've established that what skyhigh has said about family, work experience, industry statistics, job force statistics, national incomes and expenses, and other aspects of his rants, are incorrect or outright lies. There is no need to expand on that further, unless he continues to perpetuate the lies.

What is needed, the burden upon skyhigh, is a showing of his meteoric rise to success upon his separation from aviation. On numerous occasions, skyhigh has stated that he entered aviation in order to "live like a king," and left aviation because he was unable to do so. Surely it's expedient for those considering leaving to understand the quality of life, as a king, upon departing the industry for other climes.

You spend an inordinate amount of posts doing nothing but tearing down the industry and attempting to discourage others from participating in aviation as a career. If you're truly serious about leading the misguided out of the light, then pull back the curtain and show us what lies ahead, for those who would follow in your footsteps of shame. Show us the kingdom, skyhigh.

tomgoodman

His kingdom is not of this world.

RV5M

I remember reading SH's posts in flight school like ten years ago. Imagine yourself posting the same thing on the same forum for ten years. Can you? Can you imagine the kind of person who would? It seems pretty effing crazy to me. Why try to argue with someone like that?


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SkyHigh

I wanted a career that I could build a life upon. A profession that appreciated me and my contribution enough to accommodate my needs when they came along. A profession that provided an upper middle class lifestyle and that built value overtime. I wanted to have some control over where and how I lived. I wanted to be challenged and able to climb as fast and as far as my abilities would take me. My message does not change.

Other people are meant to be pilots. They don't care about having a personal life at all. All they want is a dark flight deck and empty apartment. To them I say "all my best wises". This is the "leaving the profession" section of the forum. Plenty of people become disillusioned with aviation and come here to seek advice and motivation to move onto something else. What compels dissenters to come here to stir up trouble? Go to the regional section and share top ramen recipes.

Skyhigh

JohnBurke

No, your message doesn't change. It's always been a lie.

Peel back that curtain, show us the life of a king that you lead. You're the pied piper, drawing the misguided and blind away from their dreams, away from their careers, toward a better life where you live like a king. Your words, your platform. Your message of gloom and martyrdom never changes. Where is it that you're trying to lead those who might be idiotic enough to listen to you, or God forbid, stupid enough to follow you?

Show that world. Open the Kingdom to us, where you rule in splendor in your upper middle class majesty. Show us where to go upon leaving the light, to wander in your darkness. Show us the depth of your world of sorrow. It's only fair, if you really want the pilot population to follow you down the rabbit hole. You whine like a baby over your own failings, and wail about the industry, but never open the outer world beyond the walls. Show it, then. Show us your life as a king. We couldn't really give a flying **** what you wanted. Who cares? Show us what you've got.

By "other" do you mean the rest us us, and not you? Clearly not you.

There's your lie again. I very much doubt there's a soul that attends this board that doesn't care about a personal life, and there are very few that don't have one. If they don' have one, it's their fault, not that of the industry. I won't speak for them, however, as I'm quite able to speak for myself. With a wife and children, a stable home, several vehicles, and the flexibility to do as I will, my job enables me. It doesn't hold me back. It allows a personal life, and in fact, led me to my wife, quite literally. It was my job that put me in a position to meet her. Your premise is a lie.

Empty apartment? Hardly. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Your message is a lie, and not a little one. It's a whopper; lies upon lies.

Plenty of people come here to seek advice and motivation to move on to something else, you say? Why don't you give it to them? You don't. You simply moan about your own failed dreams. You've never shown the world they could have, the one you have, the place that they can expect to go upon abandoning their career goals. It's terrible in aviation, you say, follow you. Follow you where? What lays ahead? If those "plenty of people" are to follow you, then they need motivation and expectation of something better than the dark lie that you paint. Give it. Show it. Prove it.

You can't, can you?