JamesNoBrakes, see my quoted response above.. You know the same goes for you by now :p

And it shouldn't :) one thing I do know is young people should follow there hearts, but you maybe should ask yourself, when you see yourself flying the airplane, make sure your vision of flying matches the reality of flying at the airline level. When your young it's hard to picture yourself at 50, just make sure that you take the steps now to make 50 as fun as possible :)

Well indeed I believe in making sure the sight picture matches up with reality just like any other good approach should :) however I did two 4 month internships with Boeing in college at the Seattle location (BR&T - Boeing Research & Technology) building where I did engineering test evaluations on certain fluids and QA for airline customers receiving airplanes. I certainly loved the company but every single day I always looked out my window at the beautiful planes going past.. Took my lunch across the street to the delivery center and watched airline pilots come pick up brand new airplanes, and yes after work I went to train for my PPL and received it that second summer at 42 hours!

Maybe I don't know exactly how it'll be at 50, but I have a good idea what a desk will feel like 2 years from now and I already don't like the REALITY of that.

Cockpit of a jet could be just another form of a desk :) work to live don't live to work :)

Exactly buddy, Runway 21L cleared for Takeoff, fly runway heading!

Careful there, flyboyxc91, zeal is NOT a substitute for whole lots of work and dedication. Dedication is what happens at 4am, alone, facing a tough weather situation, not looking out an office window thinking about flying.

For the third time in 50 years of flying, I moved back into a management/command position of a flying operation and it is ten times more interesting, challenging. The ability to make a difference, a positive one, on my crews is far more exciting than droning for hours thru the dark.

GF

Thanks for the personal advice Galaxy Flyer, I'm aware of that. I've sat at desks, given seminars through college, had $70,000 job offers after Boeing internships.. And flew every single day after a 10 hour workday because I loved it. I'm simply saying I'm going through my dedication and commitment to flying and entering the industry KNOWING what possibilities both good and bad lie ahead. I've been considering them since I was 6 years old.

Please,
Go to Trans-States, Hulas's will tune you right up, and please stay away from Skywest, we already have too many Kool-aid crack heads. The real beauty of this industry is, after a few years, your dream will be like road kill, except it will not be as pretty.

This isn't about being any type of Kool-Aid bud, just about the commitment to flying and the passion SOME pilots still have for it.

Someone with some savvy or OP should make the actual Voter Graph thing so people can vote and have the data show itself.