Well I'll be the awkward one as usual then!
I think being an airline pilot is a great job and beats the vast majority of others. I'm not just being contrary - everything I say now I have said before on these pages.
I've just counted, for Jan, Feb and Mar I've worked 16 days a month average. I've been home every night between midnight and 4am or else I've been in a hotel full of crew on training and therefore in the pub or restaurant until cough o'clock.
I gross about £46,000 a year which is more than just about any of my mates apart from the one who works in London for a bank. He's just bought a £400,000 flat that fits inside mine twice and he's had to go halves with his brother.
My other friends in decent jobs all hate them. Another one just this year qualifying as a GP is going to be £130,000 in debt when he buys into a practice later this year and he's 30 and doesn't own a house. My only friend who is earning more and having a better lifestyle is a self employed chippy - but he's worrying that he won't be able to take the physical side of the job when he's 40 and then whats he going to do etc.
Another old chum is in the Airforce on GR4s and hates the miniscule amount of flying he gets based in the frozen North where endless reams of people push paperwork and non-war tasks at him. He can't wait to get out and do what I am doing.
Now I moan and bitch about work - don't get me wrong. But if you really pin me down as to what I would rather do then I'm hard pushed to be realistic. I think I am happier and better paid and more long term secure in my job than any of my contemporaries and chums. Thats got to be worth something.
I had a cracking day to day, into a misty Venice, back out over the sunset Alps, overhead an early evening London then a quick nip up to Glasgow for a lovely visual approach and back. No hassles, great crew, lovely pax. Shame to take the money. It depends what floats your boat and where you take your pleasures really. If its status, social life, money and glamour then Airline Pilot no longer has much of that - look elsewhere.
If its just a bug you have and always have had then you'll love it. Simple as that.
A very wise very senior pilot told me something during my initial line training for my first airline. He said, and I quote,
"There is no such thing as The Perfect Job in aviation. Many pilots think that there is - and make themselves miserable because they don't have it.
Don't be one of them".
I think thats the best advice I ever received.
Cheers
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