To those pilots who are facing job losses, let me tell you an important home truth: You are not a pilot, you are a person.
You may be a father, a mother, a son or a daughter. You are a mate,a brother or sister. You are someone's world, regardless of how many epaulettes you may have on your shoulders. Those roles do not change with your job.
COVID-19 has served up a s*** sandwich to this industry, and unfortunately many people will have to eat it. Nobody saw this coming, and if you are facing redundancy, that is not your fault. Sure, VA wasn't in the greatest shape going into the crisis, but nobody would have predicted that this event would affect nearly every airline in the world, and for the length that people are saying that it will.
Yes, flying work will be competitive for a while, and far and few between, but that doesn't mean it is the end of the line. Humans can be incredibly resilient. A redundancy payout may give you the funds to do some other vocational training and pursue something else in the short-term. Even without that, you have more skills than just 'pilot' - you have been trained to assess threats, manage errors and risks, and have a deep emphasis on safety. You understand physics, weather systems, engineering, human factors...all skills that can be leveraged in other fields. It may take some time to understand that, but don't lose hope.
I'm not going to blow smoke up your a**e and tell you it will all be rainbows and butterflies. It will be tough, and there will be some dark days ahead. If that darkness starts to get on top of you, speak out. You are not alone. If you feel you can't speak to friends and family, contact Lifeline, Beyond Blue or another counselling service. Heck, if you feel you can't talk to someone about it, you can reach out to me, the anonymous bloke on the internet.
At some point, things will turn. COVID-19 will become a distant memory, people will want and need to travel, and the industry will get back on its feet. It will take some time, and that just means hanging in there for a while.
Sorry for the thread drift, but just felt that needed to be said.