Hey Bert, Hey Flare, (and all the rest),
Sorry I missed the past day or so, been out eeking out my pittance (gosh, have I been having fun!). Some intersting stuff been posted here since I last looked in!
Thought I'd expound on my miserable little life a little, for Flare's sake. OK, Bert, you may as well read along too, although neither of you will like it much.
Flare, you seem very concerned that, OH MY GOD, after thirty years I'm only pulling in, WHAT!?! Well, let's look at this a little closer. Please, keep in mind throughout my rambling that I have not worked in any other field - helicopters only - for the past thirty years.
I'm not a bit sorry to say this, Flare, but I do feel as though I have hit the mother load. You're choosing to ignore several important things that I have said and using the rest in an attempt to convince everyone else here they should be as miserable as you and Bert because of their personal choices in life.
To start, I've been in the gulf, I flew EMS, fires, seismic, etc. I've sat on the four pile platforms in "Vermillion 4 million" for six hours in the middle of August, with no wind, sniffing the four layers of seagull ****t covering the deck. So what if Boudreaux did make a little more than I did. You know those dudes - honestly, would you have traded lives with any of them? Not me, OK? Things like that were an inconvenience at most. Geeze, I didn't get pissed at my life and sell my house just because the mesquite roots grew through my sewer line, I simply did what I had to do and made the best of it (you'll never hear me say my ****t don't stink).
Bert, I think you misread into my previous post a little - the reason I am I'm not looking to advance is because I've already been there. I've done it - I enjoyed it while I was there, but I no longer want to be in that position. I want to take the orders, "do the Dew", have the fun, sling the load, it's what I feel I do best, or have the most fun at anyway. I want my toughest decision of the day to be; "where am I going to eat dinner?".
Would it help to tell you two that in the previous eighteen months I have chosen NOT to accept five great offers (the operative word being; chosen)? Would it help to tell you that one offer started in the low six figures after "performance pay", two started in the mid eighties, one in the mid sixties and the fifth I didn't get as far as asking about the salary?
Would it help to tell you several years ago I gave up a managerial/ pilot position for a small operator, that I was making $90K+ with unbelievable perks?
You're right, Flare, I'm not a poster boy for anything and never wanted to be (besides being a neurotic, delusional underachiever, I'm not much to look at and, well, a poster of me would be rather comic if not sad). I guess what I'm trying to say here is, I believe that if I can be successful at jobs such as these, anyone can. With your experience (Flare and Bert) why aren't you in these positions. I haven't done anything you haven't done. You have just as much experience as I do - maybe more. You're probably better aviators to boot - I don't know - don't care. These jobs are real, they're out there. Granted, they may not happen along every other day, but what's a year in the grand scheme of things?
Let's switch gears a little now and look at what else rotary-wing aviation has done to my life. As I said earlier, I own my home. It's a small three bedroom house on several acres, and I have a car and a pick-up truck. All paid for. I have a couple of dogs and an old cat cruisin' around for company. Yeah, I'm single, again, although NOT from "AIDS" (Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome, for all of those new to aviation who may be looking in). I have some money (a little) invested in two personal retirement accounts, and with my company's retirement I'll be in good shape. Even with my paltry salary, at the end of the month I have money left over that I don't have to spend. All of this has been financed SOLELY by my thirty year helicopter career. I'm happy to say that I want for nothing (well, yeah, sometimes it'd be nice to have a gal to sit with in the movie theater, but what the hell) and if the sawbones were to tell me that next week was to be my last, I'd spend it no differently - I'd still go to work and enjoy myself and I'd still come home and enjoy myself.
I'm not sorry that I'm happy with my life and I don't need a fancy salary and a cush schedule to offset my miserable existance. I'm not sorry that I've had a wonderful thirty years flying helicopters. I'm not sorry that I'd do it all over again.
Robpowell69, you didn't start anything with your question. This crap has been going on since forever. I'm just here to tell you that helicopters have been good to me and they can be just as good to you. There's no magic involved, a little self discipline, maybe, depending on what you want in return. And, you can have the time of your life along the way.
Whirly, you keep plugging away. That Russia deal sounds neat. I'll just have to be content, all by myself, with my trusty ol' two by twelve...
Good luck to all!
C Ya