* What do you find the most rewarding/interesting/satisfying aspect of the job?
I found precision longline to be the most rewarding thing I've ever done. There was always a great feeling at the end of the day to see what you had built, be it a tower, bridge, diamond drill, or what have you.
In addition, it just HAS to be the most interesting thing in the world to learn about so many different industries. One job you're moving heavy equipment for a mining outfit, then you're putting an antenna on a tower for a phone company, working with Hydro crews on a broken power line, catching poachers on a salmon river for Fisheries, flying gold bars from a remote mine for Brinks, banding geese or darting caribou for the Wildlife Dept, Polar Bear surveys in the Arctic, fighting a forest fire, moving UN crews from a desert base in Somalia......how many industries could be that interesting?
The other part of the business that I loved was the places we got to see and work in. My career has brought me all across Canada, including the High Arctic (my personal favorite as most beautiful place on the planet), Asia, Africa, and the US.
What better way to see these places than by actually working with a helicopter? Sure, the Jet Jockeys get to see all the hotels and airports, but they don't SEE the country like we do. For example, during my stint in Cambodia, I visited virtually every village in the country and flew over every square foot. Tell me another career where you can do that?
And still we bitch and complain.....at least I do
[This message has been edited by CTD (edited 31 May 2001).]