Sounds familiar, in 78', just before the "Great pilot shortage".

$600 a month and all the flying that they could shove up your arse. No per diem, no FAA over site, no adherence to flight time/duty time regulations (try 10 or more days in a row, 120 of actual time a month). Overnights two to a room, 4 if it had twin beds. Maybe in a firehouse, or adjacent to an overnight maintenance hanger.

"• Flying an NDB approach was just something you did every day"

The "hub" had a localizer, no DME.

The F/O station had a "repeater" from the captains side.

You are all a bunch of whiners.

Back in my day, we had to fly uphill to work, in the winter, carrying 50 lbs of Jepp charts, using NDB's, down to minimums. Both ways.

ah, the good old days where war stories were war stories.

And you paid the company for the privilege!

Funny how Bedford n pals mysteriously forget that. The new ATP law is problem of course....couldn't possibly be the regional whipsaw that is the problem. No way, not possible.

I know, right?

Did some of my primary training with a gentleman who was the quietest, most humble and retiring guy you'd ever meet. Never talked much about his earlier life. Years later I found out that he had 7 or 8 kills over Western Europe as a P-47 pilot, and I believe he had spent time as a POW.

I wonder if we will see a generation like his again.

No.

Every person I've met who definitely has bragging rights, doesn't brag. They are all old school guys. One guy I flew with (Part 91) was a U-2 pilot and was getting qualified in the SR-71 program before it got cancelled. I had to drag that information out of him. There's no way I'd be able to keep that inside if I had those kind of credentials.

His humility was remarkable.

Yeah, I've learned that the folks who instantly volunteer to tell you about their combat experiences...are usually the guys who never got anywhere near the action.

One of my best private-pilot students was a medical doctor. Very quiet, polite, soft-spoken. If you met him, you'd instantly peg him as an accountant. I knew him for about three years before I managed to find out that he had served multiple tours as an Army Ranger and had fought in the Mogadishu battle depicted in 'Black Hawk Down.' I only got this out of him after a large number of beers, and even then he refused to say anything other than that he had been there and he lost some buddies.

My wife's dad served as a Marine infantry lieutenant in I Corps, 1966-67. To this day he refuses to say anything about the experience, even to his own wife, other than his rank, dates of service, and the fact that he did see combat.

And yet, as a nation, we glamorize and celebrate pop stars, rather than the people who fight and die to keep us safe.

To keep this aviation-related...I learned that SkyWest started with a couple of Cherokees. Who knew?

These guys don't talk about this stuff, because it is very painful and brings back nightmares they want to forget. My grandmother's 2nd husband served on destroyer in WW2. He never said much about it, other than it was hard work in sweltering heat. One day he just blurts out about how his buddies were burned up in front of his eyes and all he could do was watch. Then he went out to the garden to work. It;s not all modesty, they've experienced some awful things.

times have changed, piloting used to be a respected profession.