"There are still those of us out there who can't wait to experience all of that."
Just as well, Brian, otherwise air transport would have a very bleak future!
But, to change the nature of the thread for a moment, I can't help wonder what it is that you are going to experience. Will it be what you expect; will it even be what you want? Will it in any way be recognisable from today's perspective?
Piloting seems to change in complexity at an alarming rate and I am hopelessly beyond trying to understand much of the technical stuff that Ppruners talk. Just how much complex can things get and yet remain manageable by the average human?
I am sufficiently ancient to have flown from Croydon (not Transport) and knew Capt. Ollie - in fact, he autographed my copy of "A Million Miles in the Air" which he wrote in the 'thirties. I also knew "Flaps" Rendall who also flew the big Handley Pages before the war. These machines and the ones I started on were dinosaurs compared with what we now have. All this makes me desparately old! Given the exponential nature of aircraft dvelopment and concomitant pilot workload, I'm glad I no longer have to "keep up" but I do wonder how the coming generations will cope.
Perhaps it's just me - managed to adjust from DF to ADF but when we had TWO ADFs and the circular computer, that was almost my limit! But should you embark on this avian adventure and subsequently approach retirement with some misgivings and a little trepidation, then I suspect it all would have been worthwhile and I, for one, would gratefully settle for that.
Good luck, my boy.