These threads always get my blood pressure up and I know I shoudn't let them, but the sweeping generalisations with which some of you disregard the views of us actually doing the ****ing job beggars belief!!
Snigs, you say,
With no disrespect to professional pilots all over the world but any Tom, Dick or Harry can pass the professional pilot exams (you're even given the answers to memorise!!! ) and hence become a professional pilot....
what an absolutely gross insult and totally crass misunderstanding of the truth. And it's no use prefacing your jaundiced statement with "with no disrespect" because it's utterly disrespectful!! You are conveniently forgetting that airline pilots come from all backgrounds in flying. You are conveniently forgetting that all you're talking about is the groundschool, and even then you're not presenting a fair picture. You're conveniently forgetting about type ratings. Instrument ratings. Experience. Command ability, etc, etc etc......I'm sorry to make it personal, but you've made me angry, and you're talking through your a**e. So any Tom, Dick or Harry can become a professional pilot, and by inference in your post, secure an airline job and climb up the career ladder to command? With the myriad of pitfalls along the way..... Well of course they can (sarcasm).
Thanks for the gross insult to a profession I am very proud to be a part of. Thanks for dismissing my achievements in decades of professional flying, the blood, sweat and tears that I've put into this seemingly thankless and now by your reckoning pretty worthless occupation. Yea, thanks a whole bunch buddy. 'Cos now you've put me right, ANY TOM, DICK OR HARRY COULD HAVE DONE IT!!!!!
carbonfibre, you say,
Besides a choice of getting my A**e kicked by my MD or the accountant or flying an ILS into an airport a few times a day, good or bad weather , ill take that.
your ignorance/arrogance is breathtaking! Do you really think that's all there is to it?? Or are you too conveniently making a totally unbalanced comparison?? "Just flying an ILS into an airport a few times a day" - what a completely moronic view of airline flying. And I love the way you talk about bad weather as if it's not real and can't actually hurt you. It can be frightening and KILL YOU! And not frightening in an exciting adrenelin rush kind of a way, just plain pant wetting, dry mouth, sphincter puckering, palm sweating, knuckle whitening scary. Scary so that you just want to be on the ground scary. Oh, but hold on, what am I talking about? I forgot - it's just about flying an ILS into an airport a couple of times a day.............
What to do?, you say,
The job security might not be as good as it used to be, but you guys get paid pretty well, and thets be honest the hours are pretty good
and
Eventually I might earn £150,000 - £200,000, but hour for hour captains are earning more
Again, your ignorance of the realities of the job is astounding! Pilots are being worked literally to death in the UK at the moment. Of course there are exceptions, but if you look at the short haul area especially, it is basically fly, eat, fall asleep and start all over again. And having done both myself, I can assure you that twelve hours in the cockpit is a hell of a lot more tiring than twelve hours in the office. You're conveniently ignoring the cramped conditions, the locked door, the sparse and sh**e food. Dehydration. Vibration. Noise. Smells. ATC. Hot/cold, light/dark. FATIGUE. And sharing all this with someone probably of a totally different generation, with a different view on life, whom you might not even like. As for your pay comparison, it's just rubbish. Plain and simple.
If I seem irritable
it's because there are so many misconceptions regarding this job amongst the general public at large that I can't believe it when you guys who should be more knowledgeable make exactly the same assumptions.
By the way, if you're ever up for an airline interview, I think you should do a bit more research on what the job's actually like, or you're going to provoke a very similar reaction to mine from the interviewer. And then you'll still be flying that desk......
