Snigs, as Redsnail says, we've all been there. Seems like such a good idea at the time!! Just hope you enjoyed the Rioja....
Anyway, no worries. (And I think you'd find me surprisingly easy to get on with in the cockpit - even if I do say so myself!)
I'm not starting the whole argument up again, don't worry, but I think further explanation is important for all wanabees, because it directly affects your future working conditions in aviation.
Your Tom, Dick or Harry comparison provoked a reaction mainly because our status as professionals has been consistently attacked in recent times, especially so over the last decade. Many airlines have, and are, cutting our terms and conditions of employment down to the very bone.
One of the easiest ways they can achieve this is to portray the job as something less than it actually is.
A job that anyone who has the money to pay for a licence can do. You see the problem? And obviously to the general public, shareholders etc, this would seem to make perfect sense.
It's a job you buy your way into, why should they receive any more remuneration than a bus driver? Why shouldn't they work 12 hour days six days a week? And so the rot continues............
This is only one of the ways in which the quality of your life as a professional pilot is constantly under threat. (And most of that quality has now gone in the shorthaul game certainly but that's a different story).
So, if those of us on the inside don't do everything we can to preserve the totally justified perception of our professional status, then what hope do we all have? You can perhaps gauge more clearly now why you should do everything you can to promote the importance of that professional licence. We've enough people on the outside attacking it.
I can remember sitting in the right hand seat as a new F/O, back in the days when cockpit visits were allowed. And it used to drive me mad when some Captains would immediately say "it's flying on autopilot, all we have to do is sit here and watch it" or words to that effect. Or "it's easier than it looks once you get the hang of it" (sic)!!! Now these comments usually came from a misplaced sense of modesty, of not wanting to appear arrogant. What they failed to realise was that nine times out of ten they were simply confirming the publics' misconceptions about the job in the first place. You can imagine it - "what a job - they just sit there and push some buttons and the 'plane does it all for them - and they get paid a fortune".
So I always try to make sure I don't fuel these misconceptions. The job is tough and does require unique skills of mental agility, physical co-ordination, spatial awareness and management of both man and machine. And sometimes even good old fashioned bravery! We should never make it seem less than that. There are enough people out there trying to do that for us.
Anyway, thanks for the reply Snigs, once again, no worries.
Then I read Capt Manuvars post.........
There's a big dent in the brick wall where my head keeps hitting it.
Capt. Manuvar. Well, what can one say? Here we go again.
i can tell you that there aren't too many industries out there that are much better off than aviation
ah, you've already worked as a pliot then?
in aviation its hard to get a point across,no matter how valid, if you do not have "experience".
well, erm, yes, that's because we have the
experience and you don't!
The next time you meet any 'city' professionals earning £150-200k ask to see their blood pressure monitors
actually, high blood pressure through stress and a sedentary life style can be a big problem for pilots too you know.
And when it comes to living on the road, let's just say that long haul begins to look pretty good. Jet lag? someof these guys have enough 'flying hours' that if they were pilots they'll be able to land a crippled 747 backwards in a 50kt crosswind
erm yes but those "flying hours as you call them are spent eating, drinking, sleeping and watching movies down the back.
But i've got to say that airlines pilots long and short haul have a much better life than most people in todays society
how would you actually know? That's what I'd really like you to tell me - how would you know?? You obviously know better than me.
there are a lot of people who have gone into the aviation industry with the wrong expectations and they make up a large proportion of the "Whingers",
I suppose you'd class me as one of them then. I had the wrong expectations, and I'm just a whinger.
My advice to fellow wannabes is that you get as much knowledge as you can before you dive headlong into this career
yes, but you seem incapable of properly assimilating this knowledge.
Ask yourself how the public will feel if all pilots were to go on strike to protest deteriorating working conditions? Majority will feel little or no symathy
nicely backs up the point I was making in my last post.
it isn't about the money. There was a study recently that concluded that the happiest people earn £13000
I can forgive you this because you're young. But I can assure you that come your thirties and forties, money will be a big issue, probably the biggest next to health. Sure, money can't by happiness, but it stops you being a slave, and the more you have of it, the more choices you have in life, therefore the more freedom. And I'll tell you, freedom goes a long way to getting you near to happiness.
want to be a pilot because of my love for flying, travelling and sense of adventure and I'm aware of the downsides of the job
now that's funny. Love for flying - great, a prerequisite. Travel? Sense of adventure? Join the army and try and get into special forces.
Here's what to do. Take your computer, load up MS Flightsim and set yourself up in the broomcupboard. Ask a grouchy neighbour in his mid fifties who you don't particularly like to come in with you. Get your mum/wife/girlfriend to lock the door and be on the other end of a mobile when you want something - but only now and then. Run the hoover in the cupboard to simulate flight deck noise levels with the recirc fans. Now stay in there flying routes. Make sure you do all the proper RT. Checklists. Oh, and make sure you let the neighbour be the Captain and run the show. (Remember you don't really like him). Have a crappy TV dinner thingy for lunch. Eat it on your knee with the hoover still going - that's the cleaners. Eat it in five minutes 'cos you're late. Go outside in the rain and get wet. That's the walkround. Do lots of performance calculations. Repeat ad nauseam at all times of the day and night for six days. Give yourself two days off, finishing at midnight then getting up at four thirty in the morning to start all over. Do this for years. Then eventually you can swap seats with your neighbour, and his son can come and be your F/O. Continue until retirement.
This is not, I repeat not, meant to be a comparison with other jobs. That is largely irrelevant - it's you guys who keep coming up with the comparisons. But it is meant to give you a taste of reality, not fantasy.