D Back thank you!
Best ever thread...
Quote from "Mary P":
Good or bad dream?
I had a bad dream last night.
In it was the FAA, crew scheduling, bad schedules, bad management, self-serving union, unserviceab le aircraft equipment, changing weather, no extra holding fuel, ever-changing procedures, endless flight manual revisions, dead heading in the middle seat, broken luggage, lost luggage, nasty jump seat agents, crabby Old 170 lb. female ramp agents that were axe-handle wide, all-nighters, foreign countries, sleep deprivation, mergers, seniority squabbles, company threats, food poisoning, no food, bad coffee, bidding, pulled away from my family for weeks at a time, fleabag hotels, late cabs and maniac cab drivers, bidding vacation, waiting for gates, weather, low visibility approaches, aircraft de-icing, PCs, Gestapo check airman, medicals, commuting to and from work in unspeakable weather, the parking lot from Hell, parking lot buses, inter-terminal busses, spring break, Christmas rush, Easter rush, I dare you announcements, insurance, drug and alcohol testing, noise v iolations, customs lineups, dry cleaning, terrorism, security passes, rude security personnel, high gas/oil prices, small pay raises, rush hour traffic, that infernal alarm clock, crash pads, catching cold away from home, lackadaisical crew members, sexual harassment threats, co-pilots implying that they are a gift to aviation after being there three years, back biting, gossip, cell phones, aircraft cram courses, plus laying my job on the line several times a year with simulators, endless procedural memorization and Annual Recurrent Training days.
Then I woke up and joyously found myself still retired!
Question: Do a lot of pilots out there feel this way?
I feel exactly this way.
15 yrs of expat jobs killed my love for flying! I did not choose to leave my homeland - my a/l went under.
I am 43 but I am ready to go tomorrow. Still need to fly for another 7 though, so I can sail round the world like Immelmann wants.
My Dad's buddies all died within 2-3 years of 60. The lack of stress just killed them.
People say best 10 years of your career are 50-60. I would say the money we save between 50-60 pays for surviving untill 70.
Is this what I want?
NO!
If you guys that happily flew untill 65 can spare a few quid from your WELL DESERVED pensions, send me a PM and I will give you my bank details, so I can retire
NOW
ps: Only thing I still love to do is to "get stabilised" at 300' from a real tight visual... This keeps me going untill the next check gets to the bank.