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After landing planes on a floating tub I imagine just about anything would be boring even being a bus driver
Isn't that the same thing? ;)
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Thank you, you have a great memory. :) A career in military service was a means to and end. My wife and I have many fond memories we cherish, while acknowledging it was hard, at times needs of the service was brutally hard on marriages, especially if it was during a war. My timing has always been good, and I served for 10 years between the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War. I can’t imagine doing that job for 20 years in an ongoing wartime environment and expecting to stay married.

You can stop here, unless you want to read more about ME. :p
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I decided I wanted to be a pilot at about 9 years old, but the odds were large that I would not accomplish this goal.

First off I was plagued with motion sickness in my first rides in small airplanes to such a degree I think this would have turned off many people.

Secondly when I was in college on a USAF scholarship (1971-75), at US Air Force summer camp, I went on a required T-37 ride, got sick, threw up and was sick for the rest of the day. Yet, I still wanted to be a pilot.


Thirdly, I was lined up for the top spot in my ROTC unit, yet I declined that because of the time commitment, due to a change in major, which resulted in me having 40 hrs of class room time per week. This decision affected my position on the list to go on active duty. The USAF was winding down from the Vietnam War and instead of going directly into active duty, I was sent home for a year. Then I got a letter saying sorry, it would be another year. At the time, the airlines only hired pilots who were at most 30 years old so I saw my goal passing me by, to get trained and gather enough experience in time. The second letter also said if I could find another branch of the military, they would release me from my 4 year obligation.

So I ran down to the US Navy recruiting office, yet they had no pilot spots just RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) spots a back seat, non pilot crew position. Inexplicably, I took this job, even though the USAF had no officer transfer program, and I had to pass a 16 week AOC (Aviation Officer Candidate) program. Think of the movie Officer and a Gentleman. ;)

Fourthly, fate seemed to be on my side, as while I was in the AOC program, We were advised that the US Navy was short of pilots and they needed volunteers. I was back in a pilot slot! Looking for orders to flight training, one of the options was Texas. I asked my friends from Texas, if Corpus Christi had trees, they assured me it did. Yet I remember driving from Northeast Texas in a southern direction and watching the real trees slowly go away to be replaced by scrubby bushes that some people called trees. ;) NAS Chorpus Christi struck me as going to the moon, the landscape felt barren.

My first flight at Corpus Christi NAS was in a T-28, under the hood flying instruments in the back seat of an un-air conditioned WWII-1950s era trainer in 90 degree weather. The Navy statistically knew candidates had the most problems with this stage of learning to fly so threw it at you first to get rid of the weak ones. Base on susceptibility to air sickness, it took a force of will on my part to get through this. In the process my air sickness receded.

During the T-28 program, I was drafted into jets, although if I had a choice, I would have picked turbo props because as a rule they get many more hours of flight time, important for post military pilot hiring jobs. I trained in T-2s and TA-4s at NAS Kingsville where I met my future wife. I qualified for carrier landings in the Gulf of Mexico twice on these aircraft.


Then I was drafted as a Surgrad, supposedly the best students picked to be turned into instructors to teach the next wave of students, but it could screw up your career, because teaching slots were not as valuable, fitness report wise as was functioning out on the line in the real Navy.


Coming out of that, I got orders for F-14s (think Top Gun), the most beautiful fighter aircraft ever designed... needs of the Navy.

Fifthly, I went through the entire program (West Coast, San Diego) no problem until I got to carrier quals. I did not pass. I have no idea exactly what the problem was, except this airplane challenged me more than the other two I had carrier qualified in. I was devastated, but hoped the Navy in it’s wisdom would allow me to transfer back into the turbo prop program I originally had planned on.

They could have said no, and my pilot/airlines plans would have been severely challenged but traveling to a board hearing at the Pentagon, I made my best case, they said sure, why not?! ;)

I went back to the Turbo Prop program at NAS Corpus Chusti, then got orders to Guam to fly spy planes (EP-3s) in the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Sea of O, and NW Pacific. That was a lot of fun, although not fun was being separated from my wife and young child 85% of the time for 3 years. In the Navy when doing a sea tour, that was the norm if not worse than when based on a Carrier task force, training, workups, and then deployments. That sucked, but the flying was great, no not as good as an F-14, but still. ;)


Due to career turbulence, landing in a new community that was territorial as most work related groups can be, and what I attribute to not being as socialable enough as I needed to be with my superior officers, I failed to be promoted to Lt.Commander.

Part of it has to due with limited slots and too many people, but it’s important to acknowledge my short comings. Fortunately this did not hinder my ability to pass two days of psychological testing and make a favorable impression on Northwest Airlines hiring personnel. The airline job was perfect, a seniority list, a small crew, work stays at work, and no office or career politics. Thirty years in the airline, a bankruptcy, a merger, and now retired, and kind of bored. :p
Fascinating read. Thanks for sharing.
 
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Of all of the mechanicals that occurred infrequently, that required diversion to land, some were serious enough, but fell within the range of my training, most significant was loss of an engine, loss of a hydraulic system requiring manual extension of the landing gear, electrical fire, asymmetrical flaps, a pressurization issue, or having half the circuit breakers in the flight deck pop like pop corn along with cargo fire warnings. Fortunately, the last one happened on the ground and involved the APU (auxiliary power unit) dropping an electrical phase. Did one emergency descent, but no emergency evacuations. :)

As far as taxes, approx 20k was Federal Income Tax, 10k was State income tax, and 5k was property tax. I don’t know what your lifestyle is, but I’ve had a comfortable life in the $150-200k income bracket.

Pay in the industry can vary widely. I was lucky coming out of the Navy directly into a major airline, where the biggest salaries are. Regional airlines have the lowest pay that used to top out at about $75k. My first year pay in 1986 was in the teens, my second year pay was $75k. My Captain pay was $175- 200k (narrow body aircraft) but was slashed when my company experienced a contrived bankruptcy (my opinion), to rob their employees, which dropped me back towards $150 but then rose again. At that point I was close enough to retirement, that although my pension was frozen, I had most of it earned and maintained. Pensions have since been eradicated for 401ks. Loss of a pension for employees was a drastic blow. No matter what they say, it was a huge windfall for corporations and a loss for employees.

Overpaid airline pilots? I used to hear this on occasion. :) When I was being paid $150 per hour, that cost applied to a ticket of a passenger was $1 per hour of flight time, so two pilots was costing a hefty $1.60 per hour and included the responsibility for 160 lives, although there were other employee related expenses which might push the cost up to $10 per hour. Still sounds like a bargain. ;)

Note: This job requires a union for both pay and quality of life issues. We only got paid from the time we pushed off to the time we returned to the gate. This is only part of the time commitment for doing this job.

Gone half the time, but being completely off the other half the time was a great deal. Yes, it involves family separation, but I know people today as a matter of routine, who are not pilots, but are gone M-F almost every week and just get home for the weekends. Then I have a friend who worked 6 days a week and was always on call, so even though he was home, I saw more of my family then he did. When I flew international, I could be gone for 13 days, off for 17-34 days, but domestically a typical schedule would be on 2-5 days on, 3- 7 off.

Never heard of manual extension of landing gear but I have heard of them flying in the for longer in an effort to get the landing gearing to open.
That is great they give you training so you felt the training was adquate and useful to handle those issues that arose?

I met 2 pilots 1 brought me a beer I was on my motorcycle and he said I can't do waht you do and I said I can't do what you do lol.

Then I met one who said he had one really bad moment when he was coming in and for some reason I don't remember if he said the engine was out oflr the fuel but he thought he wouldnt make the runway and would have to put it down in the water but luckly he just made it...
 
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I've always wanted to fly airplanes for a living. I was never much motivated by money - just having enough to pay the bills and have a little left over for beer was my goal.

I'm quite a bit older now, so with more adult responsibilities comes higher expectations for pay. Fortunately the job has kept up pretty nicely with that. My Dad has always been disappointed that I never stuck to the tech industry, but I don't regret following the dream - I still look forward to going into work every day, and have plenty of beer money when I get home. :)
 
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I will post an introduction later.
Pensions have since been eradicated for 401ks. Loss of a pension for employees was a drastic blow. No matter what they say, it was a huge windfall for corporations and a loss for employees.
In the airline industry this is because ALPA didn't do anything for their members. Currently, in almost all industries, the trend is moving from a pension to a 401k. There are advantages and disadvantages of both but if a person is smart with investing they can end up better off with a 401k.
Overpaid airline pilots? I used to hear this on occasion. :) When I was being paid $150 per hour, that cost applied to a ticket of a passenger was $1 per hour of flight time, so two pilots was costing a hefty $1.60 per hour and included the responsibility for 160 lives, although there were other employee related expenses which might push the cost up to $10 per hour. Still sounds like a bargain. ;)
Except we aren't really overpaid. If you take what we make an hour and figure we get paid on average for 70 hours a month and calculate it out, that $150 per hour is closer to $70 an hour. It still isn't bad, but hardly overpaid. I get those comments about being overpaid as well. My favorite incident happened earlier this year when I needed to get to LAS from JFK and couldn't risk jump seating so I booked a ticket on a competing airline on one of the few seats open. As we were deplaning in LAS I was berated by a customer for getting her upgrade seat. Apparently she thought she was entitled to a stand by upgrade when I paid for that seat.
Note: This job requires a union for both pay and quality of life issues. We only got paid from the time we pushed off to the time we returned to the gate. This is only part of the time commitment for doing this job.
I worked for my current airline both before and after we were unionized as well as a previous airline that was non-union. I both agree and disagree with the need for a union. Once my current airline was unionized flight ops and scheduling started playing games with our trips to the point they were FAA legal by minutes. Prior to the union we never had this problem. What the union did bring was a better seniority system so I wasn't locked to a particular position on a particular aircraft for as long. I am sure several TWA pilots, such as my pops, would disagree with ALPA as well, especially after the SLI issue when they were acquired by American. My view on unions is the same as politicians in that I plan on voting out those who aren't working in my interest. The rumored TA that we have coming is apparently in the airline's favor.
I am not sure what you mean by "We only got paid from the time we pushed off to the time we returned to the gate." Most airlines pay block or minimum guarantee, whichever is greater, and some pay block, minimum guarantee, trip rig, or duty rig, whichever is greater. This is how some pilots might block 60 hours a month and get paid for 80.
Gone half the time, but being completely off the other half the time was a great deal. Yes, it involves family separation, but I know people today as a matter of routine, who are not pilots, but are gone M-F almost every week and just get home for the weekends. Then I have a friend who worked 6 days a week and was always on call, so even though he was home, I saw more of my family then he did. When I flew international, I could be gone for 13 days, off for 17-34 days, but domestically a typical schedule would be on 2-5 days on, 3- 7 off.
This is the part I like because I don't have to worry about anything on my days off. Since I live in Las Vegas and I am based out of JFK I don't sit reserve because it is hard enough commuting to work when I am supposed to work.
Ferrari test driver. Oh that would be the dream.
Do you have a link to the job application?
 
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There are advantages and disadvantages of both but if a person is smart with investing they can end up better off with a 401k.

For all of my jobs, every 401K I've been part of had extremely limited investment choices, usually a dozen very large and vague mutual funds. So the only way to really invest your job's 401K money how you like would be (ironically) to quit your job so you can roll it into an IRA.
 
For all of my jobs, every 401K I've been part of had extremely limited investment choices, usually a dozen very large and vague mutual funds. So the only way to really invest your job's 401K money how you like would be (ironically) to quit your job so you can roll it into an IRA.
It really depends on who the 401k is through. Some are limited and some aren't.
 
I will post an introduction later.

In the airline industry this is because ALPA didn't do anything for their members. Currently, in almost all industries, the trend is moving from a pension to a 401k. There are advantages and disadvantages of both but if a person is smart with investing they can end up better off with a 401k.

Except we aren't really overpaid. If you take what we make an hour and figure we get paid on average for 70 hours a month and calculate it out, that $150 per hour is closer to $70 an hour. It still isn't bad, but hardly overpaid. I get those comments about being overpaid as well. My favorite incident happened earlier this year when I needed to get to LAS from JFK and couldn't risk jump seating so I booked a ticket on a competing airline on one of the few seats open. As we were deplaning in LAS I was berated by a customer for getting her upgrade seat. Apparently she thought she was entitled to a stand by upgrade when I paid for that seat.

I worked for my current airline both before and after we were unionized as well as a previous airline that was non-union. I both agree and disagree with the need for a union. Once my current airline was unionized flight ops and scheduling started playing games with our trips to the point they were FAA legal by minutes. Prior to the union we never had this problem. What the union did bring was a better seniority system so I wasn't locked to a particular position on a particular aircraft for as long. I am sure several TWA pilots, such as my pops, would disagree with ALPA as well, especially after the SLI issue when they were acquired by American. My view on unions is the same as politicians in that I plan on voting out those who aren't working in my interest. The rumored TA that we have coming is apparently in the airline's favor.
I am not sure what you mean by "We only got paid from the time we pushed off to the time we returned to the gate." Most airlines pay block or minimum guarantee, whichever is greater, and some pay block, minimum guarantee, trip rig, or duty rig, whichever is greater. This is how some pilots might block 60 hours a month and get paid for 80.

This is the part I like because I don't have to worry about anything on my days off. Since I live in Las Vegas and I am based out of JFK I don't sit reserve because it is hard enough commuting to work when I am supposed to work.

Do you have a link to the job application?
Hey Brother. :D ;)
 
I currently have my dream job but I am far from my dream salary. My current job is as a First Officer with JetBlue on the Airbus A320 family which includes the A320 and A321. My job allows me to spend time with my wife and 2 kids when I am off which is a benefit.
Hey Brother. :D ;)
Hey sir, I saw another post you made and it seems we are A320 brothers.
 
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I have my dream job, maybe not in my dream location, but the job is incredible. I’m a small town country doctor.

Salary is well into the six-figure range so there’s nothing to complain about there either.
 
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Just curious as to what career/job/salary you have know vs. what you would rather be doing or making.
(Some people may love what they are doing now)
Also feel free to list the pros/cons of the career/job as well.
I wanna be an astronaut or musician, I think. The number of salary... Just for my stuff, not more - not less :)
 
I have my dream job, maybe not in my dream location, but the job is incredible. I’m a small town country doctor.

Salary is well into the six-figure range so there’s nothing to complain about there either.

Nice!
 
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