tomgoodman

One morning many years ago, I looked down on a rush-hour traffic jam and mused: "Wonder how many of those folks are really happy with the jobs they're going to?" The wise old Captain said: "5%, maybe 10% at most. We are very lucky."

What percentage of pilots are happy with their jobs today? It's certainly fallen recently, but I'd guess it's still higher than the percentage for non-pilots of the same age, education, etc. Perhaps our friends who love their "ground" careers are simply more visible to us than the great numbers who work only because they have to, would quit if they could, and rarely even talk about their jobs.

SkyHigh

Those 9 to 5 slaves get a lot in return. It is easy to be smug as an airline pilot. We easily coast above rush hour traffic and consider ourselves as the "smart" ones. However I don't think that most people are stupid as such. They choose to live within the rules of the 9 to 5 society for many of the perks that it offers. Regular people work when others are at work or school and are off when everyone else is off. Their lives are in sync and because of that they can have a better social life and enjoy more family time than the pilot. Pilots can count on missing most holidays, birthdays and important school functions in trade for a lonesome hotel room. It would be pompous and unfair to assume that the non-flying public have a lower happiness factor than pilots. In fact I would hold heatedly argue that the reverse was the case.

SkyHigh

2dotslow

Generally we can coast above rush hour traffic because we have to get up so damn early to make our show time, or are working through the other end when everyone else is going home. That said, the only times I ever remember feeling a real euphoria about flying was in the military. In fighters, I'd have paid them for the priviledge. Now, it's just a job...'course I'm a lot older and wiser.

SkyHigh

Right on !!

SkyHigh

Freightpuppy

Cool. Why don't all you miserable pilots quit and find another job so I can move up and get a better schedule and all my friends can get good jobs too.

surreal1221

lol. . . finally. . . that pilot shortage I've been reading about for the past decade.

tomgoodman

If SkyHigh is right, a great many pilots will do just that, and the number of applicants will fall dramatically. After all, none of us "think that most people are stupid as such". No need for arguments, heated or otherwise. People will vote with their feet, and that will quash any "pompous and unfair" assumptions we may harbor.

2dotslow

From what I read, you're a co-pilot with UPS, bad attitude and all. Cool. I'll be retiring soon enough, but in the meantime perhaps all your friends can hook-on as waitresses, secretaries, nurses, or the like...

surreal1221

lol. . . ouch. The minority hating just keeps getting worse.

SkyHigh

It would take a lot more SkyHigh's to get the message out there before we would see a dent in the pilot supply.

I had an interesting conversation with a guy yesterday. He drives a delivery truck for a local lumber yard and has worked for the same place since he was in high school. He is married and has children and at 33 will have his home paid off. No college or help of any kind. Now he is moving on to drive a logging truck for the Indian reservation and with the extra money he expects to buy a cabin and be retired by 45. Pilots have tunnel vision. We are in a rut and don't realize that the outside world has been passing us by in regards to pay and quality of life. The working class will become the middle class and most with fancy jobs and college training will slide to the lower end. In ten years welders will be higher paid than pilots (if they are not already now).

For sport I enjoy telling the workers on the job site how little pilots at Horizon Air earn and watch their faces turn white. Spoiled middle class kids in the university system will not be dissuaded when they are faced with the prospect of getting a real job. However, Most rational adults when presented with the same information will run from aviation like their tail was on fire. All we need to do is to get it out there.

SKyHigh