Originally Posted by SaltyDog (Post 169657)

Sky,
I am your age. Your posts remind me that "Nothing in the world can take the place of perserverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education
will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."
--Calvin Coolidge
I'm a 3 brain celled idiot , I suck as a pilot :D , but I am and was too stupid to quit. ;)
That is what the folks on APC share, and we and our families are generally happier than the those of the road warriors or their packages we fly and the neighbors in the communities we live. :D
You may be persistent, just not in the flying game, regardless of your family defense. Fine. Personal choice, but your rhetoric is so biased it is amusing to the rest of us. Sad for the new folks who you unfairly slant only negatives without sharing any positives. Credibilty thus = 0
I do wish you the best though.

Originally Posted by Eric Stratton (Post 169680)

what's really ironic is that most of those talking up the airline industry are cargo pilots. not too many regional pilots or non-cargo FO's saying how great it is...

Originally Posted by SkyHigh (Post 169662)

I understand that you guys are willing to throw everything into your careers. There was a time when I was willing to do that as well. I moved around a lot, went to college and played the same game as anyone else here. The difference is that in the back of my mind I had a nagging thought that I could do better. After 911 and my company shut down I had the chance to find out. I suppose that if all I was about was being a line pilot then it would be easier to make continued sacrifices.

One of the worst things that can happen to a pilot is success in another field. Sitting on my desk is an envelope that I received from the engineers in the mail yesterday. It is the conclusion of a years worth of occasional work. I probably have less than 100 hours of effort into it. Later today I will take those documents into the city. It is a small thing but the results are that I will create an asset for myself that will be worth more than a year of the highest annual 737 captains wages. Not all deals go that well. I have many struggles and losses, but it is much easier and offers a much better life than any pilot job I could find right now.

At one time a pilot career was worth throwing your entire life away over, moving the family, being gone all then time. Why do all that? Making a living shouldn't be that difficult. 9 out of 10 UAL guys have passed over returning to their companies. DAL and some AA pilots are doing the same. They have all discovered that it is much easier and better paying to sell insurance, write mortgages or build houses. At one time a flying career bested most others. Today it isn't all that easy to see the benefits. You guys are all hard core pilot types. In the end I suppose that that is where your skills are used best.

If you can't live where you want and earn more than a real estate agent than why even do it? I love flying but not that much. It was fun as a bush pilot but the airlines are kind of a drag. Why do it unless I was able to get some significant benefit from it? I have paid my dues. Enough to have reached a place where I should be at least worth a middle class income. SJS isn't just for the RJ kids. It is prevalent throughout the industry anymore.

Once a week a woman comes to help my wife by cleaning the house. If I were still pursuing a flying career my wife would be the one who was out there helping to clean other peoples houses to help make ends meet.

SKyHigh

Originally Posted by SkyHigh (Post 169665)

I haven't been able to experience any of the positives of an airline career so I will have to leave that to you.

At some point "staying the course" becomes foolish. Persistence becomes a habit and habits remain due to laziness to change or a reluctance to leave behind all that has been previously sacrificed.

I believe that my "bias" is due to the fact that most here are still lulled by the sirens song of aviation. Once the spell is broken the world looks very different. 9 out of 10 UAL pilots agree.

SkyHigh

Originally Posted by SaltyDog (Post 169869)

Skyhigh,
There you go again. :confused: Your facts are inaccurate and your being untruthful in your assertion. Did you mean to be?
Please post your "facts" that "9 out of 10" and I will start listing the facts of the majority of those UAL pilots who chose to simply remain in there new flying careers than return to UAL. i.e SWA, corporate, fractional, cargo. I've run into literally dozens of these happy folks still flying. Amusing, you only cemented the accuracy of the Calvin Coolidge qoute :D
Still all the best. Good job on the deal.

Originally Posted by HangOn (Post 169775)

Wasn't it last week that you were going to fly a T-Craft around for 50 hours to meet the AS currency requirements??

Originally Posted by the King (Post 169763)

The cargo captains made it. They reached the top. They can't stay there forever though. Everyone retires, which means they will eventually be replaced. If that's a dream job for someone, it's nice to know you know someone who made it. That's called hope.