Originally Posted by
Miles Magister
PlotPlot,
You are not alone with these feelings of frustration. I actually took the decision to leave work for a couple of years whilst my children were in high school, I was married before starting in this profession, and I made every parents evening, every event and every rugby match. Unfortunately I had to go back to work when my wife had spent most of my savings. But 5 years off made it hard to get back.
In the UK operators are legally required to have a pilot peer support programme so that we can talk to an anonymous mate about exactly what you post. The big airlines have their own programme but most corporate operators use a cooperative system. In the mean time try and join this on line chat if you can,
MM
Miles. Thank you.
I probably should have specified my background at the start so people didn't think I was just a whinging twenty-something with no other life experience. I was in IT for 13 years before making the change, so this is not my first professional rodeo, and I know how that sh!t sandwich tastes in another industry. The reason I left was due to the same sentiment that someone already mentioned; if you don't enjoy it, then why do it. I didn't enjoy it, so I left.
I came in to this career knowing full well I'd be eating a different flavored sandwich but the same nonetheless for a few years. But imagine you've been chewing on that sh!t sandwich for four years, and you know that you'll be eating your last bite of that sandwich this year, and then someone goes, "sorry champ, take a seat, we've just made you another sh!t sandwich to eat for another 4-6 years yet". There is a big difference between going into it expecting to be eating that sandwich for 8-10 years, rather than thinking it will be 2-4 like it has been for a while, then watching the industry turn on a dime just as you were getting close to the last bite. A big difference.
I'm aware those conditions aren't unique to GA. But at least at some point you'll have those conditions, but you won't be living remote, isolated away from friends and family, and you'll begin to have some resemblance of a life, and on a
liveable salary. And don't tell me you put up with the same sh!t now like the way you did by your employer in GA. Or perhaps you've been away from it for too long and forgot what it was actually like.
My rose colored glasses lost their tint long before I even had my first flying job. Airlines was never really on my radar, I was always aiming for something with a bit more substance. Being a pilot was not something I aspired to since I was born. It was something I found a passion in, and decided to take a punt on turning that passion into a career. It may still work out yet.