Odd Skipper
Like you I had another life before aviation but I have now been here a long time and over the years my views have changed. I accept there are many people working incredibly long hours in the outside world and many of them work under great pressure. You are, by your own admission, early in your flying career - hence the reason you have to work for Jet2! Like you when I got my first big break in aviation (with Channel Express as it happens!), I thought "this is the best deal in the world". I had fulfilled my ambition and it was great - I frankly would have paid someone for the privelege. The sentiment that at last you are doing what you want to do, soon changes as you face the harsh reality of unsociable hours, long periods of boredom and occasionally stressful moments when you feel at the limit of your skills. Taken over a period of years it adds up to becoming a highly experienced professional who can live and work under great pressure, work incredibly unsociable hours and be relied upon to apply technical knowledge and skill to make the right decision at the right time.
As you rightly point out that is no different from a number of professionals - and they are highly rewarded for their years of skill building and experience. I had an operation recently and in the 'pre-flight chat' from the surgeon I asked him if he ever felt out of his depth. This surgeon was a re-assuringly experienced guy who said that 98% of what he did he now did not have to think about any more - he just did it and also spent time within that teaching other aspiring surgeons to do the job. He did say that every once in a while he comes across a situation (2%) where he is absolutely at the limits of his ability and it is touch and go if he can save the situation and by definition the life or future well-being of his patient. That is the same for us - most of what we do is totally routine but every now and again we face a situation where every ounce of our technical and flying skill is required to recover a situation. That ability to do the '2%' is what we expect to be well rewarded for. We have taken many years to get to that position and know that in each flight a situation may arise where we have to step up to the plate and be counted. The fact it does not happen most of the time does not mean that we are not worth the big rewards that top professionals receive.
My argument with Jet2 is that PM and his cohorts are doing incredible damage to the cause of professional aviation in the UK They offer old aircraft, poor salaries, low adherence to SOPs, an absent safety culture and interference from above - the classic African/Eastern European solution to running rubbish airlines. I make no apologies for saying that their success is a threat to all that has made UK aviation among the safest in the world.