Airline Pilot Central Forums - You might be a regional pilot if...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbosina (Post 2056258)

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And yet, despite all the above, you acknowledge that this typically bizarre, often frustrating, and occasionally exhilarating existence still more satisfying than spending the rest of your days in a grey cubicle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PushRight (Post 2056299)

You know, I can't really understand this statement at all. I value personal relationships and stability. Flying is very boring. I'd say 99.9% boredom.

What part gives you so much joy?

Well, you obviously never will, then. You either do, or you don't. Enjoy your upcoming grey cubicle, I guess.

For me, having lived through the airline industry for twenty five years now, I can't dispute anything he wrote. Basically a been there, done that experience.

Through all that, I - and many others - have a wanderlust. We want to keep moving. We want to NOT be stuck in the same city or town day in and day out for most of our lives (stuck in a cubicle 5 to 6 days a week for added enjoyment). We LIKE the overall daily challenges of the job (frustrating as they may often be), and look forward to just...getting away. Again, simply due to wanderlust.

I, for one, don't mind spending maybe 2 to 3 nights per week in a hotel room in some city somewhere. During the say, I'll typically get out and explore the area. I oftentimes will find a big gym somewhere and enjoy a few hours working out. Heck, many successful Businessmen/women spend at least as many nights away from home as we do, so I don't consider it all that unusual these days in this world that we live in. Yes, I've had MANY a middle-of-the-night or early morning in which I've woken up completely confused as to exactly where the heck I was, but (again) it basically goes with the territory. Not only that, it gives me a chance to spread out in bed, to NOT be crowded by my dogs (who are my kids), and to just have some alone-time, which is nice.

Personally (and I have many friends in similar circumstances), I've been happily married for 29 years. Therefore, my awesome wife has experienced and lived through the entire 25 year airline career and another couple of years prior as a flight instructor. She has never questioned my career choice. Rather, she has simply embraced it (and the lifestyle) as what I do. It is what it is. We enjoy the ability to have a flexible schedule. We are not tied to the Monday through Friday rat race, with the attendant joy of getting to experience our time off on weekends with the vast majority of people in this country - read CROWDS. We can, and do enjoy weekdays off (no crowds) and typically work weekends - because we can.

Do we spend every night together in bed? No. Most nights? Yes. however, I would say that we possibly appreciate each other's company maybe a little bit more than we might otherwise - simply BECAUSE we aren't together every single night.

Over the years, I typically flew 4 on 3 off trips when I was relatively junior in a bid status, which eventually turned into 3 on 4 off trips, and then "day" trips 3 days per week - home ever single night.

These days, I'm sitting reserve in base, hardly ever flying, home almost all of the time, and occasionally flying a 2 day trip to Hawaii to satisfy my ever-present wanderlust (and my wife comes along sometimes - bonus!).

Besides all that, I still get an overall high satisfaction with flying itself. I flew turboprops down low for years and loved it. Later on, I spent many years flying RJ's all over the country and loved that just as much. Probably more, in fact. These days I fly the larger jets for a Legacy and STILL enjoy the job immensely. 18,000+ hours, and I still enjoy it.

However, like I said, I realize that some (maybe many) don't enjoy the job the way I and many others do. Those people simply don't get it, and never will. It's not in their blood, I guess.