Originally Posted by
AIMINGHIGH123
What is happiness?
For me it’s not spending 24/7 with my family. By god I did that in 2020. Jeez I would rather smash out 2000 hrs a year than do that again.
These are the characters in aviation:
First Officers:
80% are super happy. Just want to smash those hours out particularly when low hours.
10% are kind of happy. Enjoy flying but think maybe they should be doing something else.
10% not happy. Various reasons. Poor salary, taking ages for command, definitely don’t like flying and not sure why they started it etc etc. Yes I knew someone who just got into flying because his dad wanted him to. Oh dear.
Captains:
5% still super excited about aviation even when they are over 60 years old still full time flying as many hours as possible. Flown with some guys in this bracket and doesn’t matter time of day they seem to be like excited puppies all the time. Bit annoying at 4am but glad they loving life.
15% very happy. Again usually older people who flew during good years. Saved a fair amount and could retire early. Still enjoying flying.
Another group of Captains in this group are ones that work at airlines that offer what they are looking for eg part time. They are happy to take the cut in salary and enjoy days off thinking about flying while enjoying other past times.
New Captains also in this bracket (First 3 years)
30% moderately happy. Soldiering on day in day out. Been LHS a little over 3 years. Initial wow factor of being Captain has now worn off. Increase in salary has been helping them feel much more financially comfortable. Most of these found at seniority based airlines get most of holidays they request and can pick trips they want etc.
30% not very happy at all. These are Captains that don’t need the money as much but are at airline that doesn’t offer what they want. Been in LHS over 7 years. Every airport is the same now. Fed up of gruelling rosters. Going through security again and again and again. Think back to days when you were flying SEP/MEP into some dirt strip airport which is never going to happen again. Wish you could move companies but would have to start from the bottom again. Your current company doesn’t offer what you would like. (That can be a multitude of things).
20% the grumpiest of grumps. These are the LHS people who moan about everything. Usually been in aviation a long time but not always. Does seem to be a group too deep in to be able to give it up. Too much flying. Too little flying. Don’t get paid enough. Get paid too much. (Yes that does sound weird but I flew with a Captain once who complained about the day off working payments. I said it was great incentive to help stop the flight cancellations due to lack of staff, part time workers will be incentivised through this difficult summer. “NO it’s not. I wrote to our Head of Flight Operations and said it’s not needed. We need to save money. REDUCE these payments NOW”. Erm ok)
Too many nights away. Too few nights away.
Aviation isn’t what it used to be. Another CAVOK day, boring. Same person in winter. Oh FFS can’t we just have CAVOK days all the time Im fed up with this. I wish I had done something else. The list is endless.
Sorry completely off piste from the topic but I had a spare 15 mins to burn.
Happiness is a individual thing:
most people are not happy after passing 5 years in the sand pit, but they are happy with money they make and found it better than being a LCC pilot in Europe with a ****ty pay.
getting to EK is easy, getting out very hard. when you find you won’t find a job paying your lifestyle ( the fancy car, the endless number of visits to the beach clubs or the exciting vacation destinations you can reach and afford since they are on the network)
first major drop on leaving EK to a LCC, beside the salary, is the realization that you won’t get ZED tickets and your income does not allow to go to Mauritius or Sansibar etc once a year.