Although I don't agree with everything you say. I will say this you are pretty dam% good with a keyboard. How about a book? Shattered Aviation Dreams. BTW I think this type of problem happens in a lot of proffessions, maybe just more so in ours.

 

Thanks for the complement!

It is prevalent throughout society. Aviation does however seem to take a larger toll. Often when reality doesnt match with our self concept the results can be devastating. People can become heavily invested in aviation and have little else to turn to when things don't go well. I will never forget the day I went to an interview to be a stock person at Costco. They asked why a 36 year old college educated 757 pilot was in their store asking for an entry level job. That was a very bitter pill.

SKyHigh

 

Bitter pill indeed. Wouldn't a 70K Regional job as a captain be better than the Costco deal, Or an Instructor slot at Flight Safety? Finally your posts got me thinking why we as pilots get so bitter? I have my ideas as to why (4day trips, weekends, holidays, commuting etc.) but will save it for another day. I have often considered leaving it all together myself, but if I did I would go the self employed route. And I know that would mean being married to the business just like aviation.

 

Well, the last time I posted in Regional, I was given a lesson in the Socratic method! However, I have been itching to say this: much has been made and continued to be made about SkyHigh and his pessimism, but his perspective is precisely what newbies into aviation need to know in order to make a fully informed decision. What he has to say is not pretty all the time, but that's life. I am a glass half full person, and I choose to see the value in his posts. I do not always agree with him, but I appreciate his perception and candor. Those who have been attacking him resort to juvenile name calling and hiding behind anonymous call signs. If you have something useful to say, some good counterpoint, bring them on! Last I heard, pilots are never short of opinions.

 

Can you imagine seeing that book on a shelf of the ERAU bookstore? There'd be rioting in the streets! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together--mass hysteria!
Well, I'd read it.

 

If a such a book existed, it shoud be required reading.
Flight schools dont tell you any of this?

 

If I were able to focus for longer than it takes to write a post it would be fun to write a book of some kind. My inspiration comes from what I read from others. Perhaps we all could get together and write a book? We could call it the APC Handbook for Success in Aviation.

Skyhigh

 

I thought about going back to a regional but that would mean another few years of slavery and a return to urban family life. As a stock person for Costco the starting pay was $9.50 (if I recall) with benefits and moved up from there. I could live well on what I would have earned at Costco after a few years but not done so well as a regional captain living in the big city.

I didn't get the job. I applied for several similar positions and got the same screwy look from the interviewer. I am sure they were all thinking "what is wrong with this guy"? I did however get a job offer from a trucking company to be a dispatcher. Turns out the interviewer was an EX- F/A for Horizon Air and knew full well what the life was like.

SKyHigh

 

$70K? If SkyHigh would have stayed at Horizon (despite the waterboarding and electro-genital treatments we undergo) he could be making over $100K easy. But he will blame QX for his decision to bail to an unstable startup. We can make, and all have made, bad decisions; The test of one's character comes when deciding whom to blame.

 

Man I have friends who I am close to from my class that still work there. The only way I could be making 100K while working at Horizon Air is if I won the lottery. I assume that you are one of those guys that throws everything in, per diem, tons of overtime, draft pay, hotel rooms and the quarter that you found in the company parking lot in order to come up with that amount. My unaltered an unashamed pay scale at QX places me at 56K had I stayed.

I am not blaming QX for anything. They did lie to me and treated all of us like 5 year olds. I endured the longest and most miserable 9 leg days of my life there. The worst decision I could make would be to have stayed. If the kind of life and working conditions QX offers is satisfactory for you then have at it.

QX fell far short of what I considered to be worth throwing a career away upon. In fact 100K is not even close to being enough to endure what they dish out at QX.

Enjoy,

SKyHigh