Shackone,

If I didn't know any better I would think that you were a 20 year old kid with a bad case of Shiney Jet Syndrome.

Some of us here are in a position where we have to evaluate career options based upon a need to earn a real living. Though I may not have lived through a 30 year career in the airlines I do have a valuable perspective given the fact that I am still a candidate with 20 to 25 years remaining. In your case if I want to know how things were in the 1980's we will call you.

I assume that you were referring to my decision to leave Horizon Air in regards to my "bad choices". No one knows what the future will hold. Had you been in my situation with the information that I had at the time I doubt you would have done any better. If you wish to play armchair quarterback about my career decisions then perhaps we could do the same with some of your life choices?

I knew that I could have stayed at Horizon Air and lived a lower middle class lifestyle in a big city that I wasn't excited about. I took a risk to reach for my dream. Every choice to jump to another company is a risk, but if we were to stop taking risks then none of us would advance in life very far at all.

In summary for your information: The regionals are below the mark. Low pay, long days and a guaranteed lifetime of employer abuse. I signed up for a better life than had I not invested into pilot training and education. The latest generation seems bent upon self destruction by displaying the same attitude that you do.

SkyHigh

 

But you do know better...so why say it?

All you have is the prospective of a loser. You played "I'll Bet My Career" and lost. I suppose there is some value in learning from other's mistakes, so you do provide a certain service here to folks wanting to pursue a career in aviation...you basically are a road map of all of the potholes not to step in.

I'm still here, BTW...still in the game. Call anytime you want.

It wasn't so much your decision to leave a prosperous regional so much as it was your 'roll the dice' decision to throw that Horizon seniority away and go to a 'shot in the dark' outfit like you did. That was the mistake...had you gone to a better established carrier, you may well have done OK.

But you didn't...with all of that aviation expertise you claim to have, you chose a failure. Such is life.

Please do! Which ones would you like to contest?

You chose poorly. Now quit whining about it and get on with your life.

I hope they do. I teach personal responsibility along with professional flying skills. I emphasize the positive and push the idea that a bad attitude is a self-fulfilling prophesy. I didn't 'self-destruct', nor do I think anyone else will either who keeps those ideas in mind.

You aren't the first person I've known in life whose response to a setback was to wallow in self-pity. You were faced with a fork in the road of life...you picked the wrong way to go.

By contesting your posts here, I hope others will not do the same.

 

SkyHigh,

Good post and I agree with you.

I just wanted to add something, and this works in any career field. The name of the game is personal finance and the goal is success.

Start out with a plan, a budget. List the money coming in and the money going out. List all of your debts and pay them off starting with the least balance and working your way to the higher ones. Once paid off, don't borrow ever again.

Live below your means. Fit your lifestyle into your budget instead of the other way around. If you're in love with a particular house, but you will be a slave to the mortgage company for the next 30 years, consider a more affordable house. Save more and spend less.

Retirement. Don't count on anyone but yourself to finance your own retirement funds. If you do end up having a pension, then consider it an unexpected surprise. Play like you are the only one in town for retirement, and maximize your 401k and IRA contributions. Who knows, you might even retire earlier than expected.

 

Shackone,

I get your point about having a positive attitude however at some point it becomes self defeating and destructive. If someone isn't here to express the down side of aviation or anything else for that matter then nothing will change. All progress in human history was made by a dissatisfied person.

I am here saying that the dream that the flight schools are selling isn't true. Life as a regional pilot isn't compensatory to most other lines of work requiring similar sacrifices. The pay and working conditions are bad. Opportunities for a better life are scarce and the trend is for things to get worse. You are comfortable with being a door mat I however am not and I am sure that many others here feel the same.

You equate a required positive attitude and my position is that your brand of Mary Poppins "all is well" position is a lot of what has driven the industry into the ground as far as compensation and QOL goes.

SkyHigh

PS either you are "still in the game" because you are broke or too much of a aviation geek to have a life outside of the flight deck. Most guys your age are happy to hang it up and play golf with their grand kids. It seems to me that most of your anger towards me is that I am committing blasphemy to the religion of aviation. In the end it is just a job and it needs to be worth the efforts.

You are the one who needs to "let go".

 

Never happen, GI!

Badmouth a positive attitude all you want. You are the poster child for its opposite.

BS!! Leave the heavy thinking to David Carradine...he's more entertaining!

That I might agree with. This promotional hype that 'anyone can be a pilot' is just that...promotional hype.

Me? How am I a door mat?

There are a few reasons why this may be the case, but a positive attitude is not one of them.

I'm definitely not broke...6 figures+ last year, more this year. Half a mil in the bank that I don't touch. But I am an aviation geek...guilty as charged.

The little lady wanted to retire to a condo in C-Springs...I just couldn't...and can't...see it. No grand kids yet but I have no doubt my son is working on it. Maybe when that happens, I'll consider it.

I start a new class on the 4th, and I'm looking forward to it. Two young guys, excited about flying the 170, and I get to beat them about the head and shoulders for two weeks...plus an oral and the type rating. I love it! They'll be my guys. Why would I give that up?

True enough. The problem is, and has been, the paucity of your own efforts. You rolled the dice and shot craps...and now you want to muddy the water for those that are just coming to this profession. They don't need a cheerleader...but at the same time, they don't need a harbinger of doom...and that's all you have contributed to this discussion.

No way...I'm having too much fun.

 

Great job. At FedEx they started a program where we brought "the Old Guys" back after retirement to teach in the school house. Not all, just the ones they thought would be good positive influences and good instructors. I think it's working out pretty well.
I never figured out why anyone thinks just because you turn 60 you should lose the love of flying that has carried you thru a career. More power to you. keep doing it till it aint fun no more......

 

Shackone,

I enjoy our debates however I think it all boils down to expectations and perspective. Perhaps had I entered the profession as a military retiree at 40 with a nice check rolling in every month on top of my airline pay I would have had a different opinion.

As a 32 year old man who was trying to start a family on $492 take home pay every two weeks it wasn't so much fun. Though I know that you don't believe me even after almost 9 years at Horizon I still would only be making around 54K. The median income for a family of four in the PDX area last year is 68K. A 1200 SQ Ft starter home is around 280K.

Today I have a stay at home wife and four young sons. There is no possible way I could support them in a manner that I would regard as even close to acceptable on 54K or $44,280 after taxes. (lower class for a family of four and I have 6) Back when I started in aviation my intent was to have a job that I enjoyed but it also had to provide an income that was suitable enough to provide for at least a middle class life style.

I don't care how much fun a job is if you are not earning a living or have the hope of earning one anytime soon it can become misery. If I had the same choice to make today I would take the same risk. Going broke slowly was never in my set of expectations.

SKyHigh

 

We get it shyhigh, Your career didn't work out. Let it go.

 

People who have self respect and who are intrested in self preservation need to know.

SkyHigh

 

This is about the best advice that I have seen on this forum. Take what SkyHigh says and listen to him.

Some of us are fortunate to be flying and making a good living at it. Some of us are not. For those of us who still are, remember that it can be here today and gone tomorrow. i.e., don't rest on your laurels.

Most people say that it is important to do something that you enjoy. I won't argue that point. However, I will argue that enjoying what you do doesen't pay the bills and eventually you need to increase the income.

I read so many posts of guys who love to fly jets but hate the fact that it is very difficult to even buy a decent meal while on the road. If you are doing something you like and simultaneously taking a loss (not generating enough revenue), you have a hobby and not a career.