I tell you, when I first saw some of Skyhigh's stuff on this forum, I thought what a negative nancy.

However, over time, his position and posts have gotten much more cognizant. I still don't agree with him, but new guys shouldn't think this career is all peaches and cream.

I am an optimist, and a firm believer that you make your own fate.
There are plenty of examples of people like Weaclrs and plenty of people like Skyhigh.

The question becomes what kind of person are you.

Back in
 

Every day I scan the environment for a flying position that would fit my needs. Since the regionals are taking so many guys these days there have been a few tempting situations lately. In the end my heart says "yes" while my mind says "no".

All I need to do is to sit back and recall what a 5:00AM show was like for Horizon Air or how wrecked I was after an east coast red-eye and even my heart says "no".


Skyhigh

Know thyself
 

But those aspects of the career, as well as sitting reserve, apply to even the "dream jobs" and always did, even during the "glory days". The only way to avoid them was to stay senior on a lower-paying seat and bypass upgrades. Most guys' hearts said "no" but their wallets said "yes". :p

Here ya go SkyHigh, and it's close to the salary you are looking for.
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ad.php?t=11525

Well said Tom........but he isn't interested in facts from those that have been there..

Agreed. My father used to say (and I think his father before him) that good luck was nothing more than good preparation and persistence creating opportunity.

I'm still relatively new to this industry. So I don't have a good personal reference to the "glory days". However I have learned this: If a pilot doesn't love the process of professionally and safely moving an airplane from point A to point B, if advancing the throttles for taxi after pushback doesn't send a little charge through him, if watching the sun rise over NY after an all night trans-con from OAK doesn't put an involuntary smile across his face (no matter how tired he is), then this probably is not the career for him.

Funny how you recall what a 5 AM show was like, but not what it was like to be done with your workday mid-morning just as often...

Good for you WEACLRS! Thanks for sharing your story. Took me 11 years to get to CFI, then 2 1/2 years of teaching, charter then regional. It definitely takes persistence in this business.

Skyhigh, we have a lot of folks where I work who have a retirement check from doing something else, and now work for our regional for fun. I admire you wanting to be an entrepreneur, but can you do both?

Honestly, its people like that I would rather see stay away from the profession. You are talking about making an airline job a fun hobby, while the concept is nice to think about, putting yourself in a situation where you have other money coming in and thus are willing to accept the low pay of a regional brings the bar down for everyone else who is trying to make a living off of flying.

true, mccube, but at the same time, everyone else who's in the biz is already accepting the low pay by working for it, and all we're doing is trying to change what the paygrade is. Hopefully, even if skyhigh (and any other retired individuals) was in this after the fact as a "hobby" they'd be willing to put up a fight for better pay to help their "hobby" become more of livable profession as opposed to a fleeting dream.