Thank you all for your $0.02. The "bad career, good job" quote pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Out of curiosity, if any of you could do it over again, and trade careers (back when you first began your respective careers in aviation), for a 6 figure desk job....would you do it? Suppose the desk job was 9-5 with little or no business travel, i.e. so you could be home every night by 6.

No, I wouldn't. Aviation is what I love and what keeps me sane...in a strange sort of way. "Do what you love and it isn't work."

Touche. I feel the same way but people in my circle think I'm crazy not to take a desk job paying 6 figures.

I wouldn't go back and trade my career for a six figure desk job. Wouldn't even consider it. That said, there's a big element of timing in this job, and you need to be willing to accept some level of risk that things won't work out as planned, even if you do everything right.

Personally, I love flying professionally and I wouldn't fly much if I didn't have a job doing it (even if I had the means, I have better things to spend my money on). I wouldn't take a desk job if I had the chance, especially since I value my time off.

Seems we all think alike here. I don't know about the rest of you, but I personally find that I get a lot of family pressure to "maximize your potential", i.e. make as much (money) as you can in a job. Why fly for X when you can work a desk job and make Y (where Y is greater than X).

But I have a demanding family, so there's that. Old enough now that it doesn't matter what mom/dad say or want. But now I have the wife, who is fair and sensible, but not exactly the "follow your dreams", free spirit type either. lol

After hearing some of these takes, it's clear to me that our mentalities re: flying and careers are all very akin.

I have the same issue with respect to evaluating the merits of arguments for and against pursuing a career in aviation.

I don't think that anyone likes what the career trajectory has morphed into over the course of the past few decades, but given the unavoidability of the regional "stepping-stone", it seems that the price of flying professionally now necessarily entails several years of hardship.

Provided one can survive the first couple of years (quite possibly more than just a couple), and is young enough to build a reservoir of experience, it seems as though it still trumps tying yourself to a desk purely for the sake of job security.

I fly professionally for a major carrier.... And have been flying in some professional form since the age of 22...

Before that I worked normal college type jobs.. Waiting tables, working retail, landscaping etc etc... I know what a crappy dead end job feels like.. Aviation isn't it...

For some reason I've always wanted to own a small business..... This year I did it, and after the stress and time commitments, answering phones/emails, running errands, and always seeming to have some task to do even on my "day off", it reaffirms my thinking that professional pilot is a great job (granted I am flying heavy international at a reputable airline for pretty decent FO pay...).

And as soon as I can get someone to run this business full time for me, I will enjoy going back to the pilot lifestyle full time.

Is your carrier (company) allowing you to scale back a little, in terms of hours, so you can work on your own business? If so, I must say that is pretty cool. I didn't know, or think that would be possible. Most companies I have worked for (none of which have had anything to do with aviation) said "work full time or hit the road." lol

As an aside, the one thing I thought that could get a little dull is the time between airports, on long hauls. Do you find this to be a bit of a challenge, or is it not dull at all? I have only flown single engine props as a pilot, and so obviously there is never a great deal of time that elapses between destinations. Furthermore I'm usually cruising along at a (relatively) low altitude...not exactly angels 35, thus there is much more terrain to view along the way. But I could see flying above clouds between JFK and LAX getting mundane. I wouldn't know though. Never done it.

It can get mundane, but it beats the cubicle world.