Hi everyone,
Sorry to add my opinion to this thread as it seems to have calmed down a bit.
I'd just like to say that flying is not the only job where you have to pay to work if you think about it. In the States or Europe, you pay to go to the university and private schools and most of the time a bloody amount of money...what for? to get a descent job I guess! It probably sounds simplistic but it's exactly the same to me...people try to get as many qualifications/diplomas as they can, and as sad as it can be it's all a matter of money!
I may be naive but I do see the shortage coming in the next 5 to 10 years as the babyboomers start to retire. I recently spoke with both an Air Canada and an Air France captain. The first one told me the average age of flying crews at AC is around 45 yr old and as people don't fly until 70 it means that there're not that many young pilots in the company. Air France is currently recruiting 250 pilots a year and they plan to do so for the next 5 years...they say it's inevitable if they want to cover both the natural growth of the industry and the massive departures for retirement. What it all basically means is that there will be jobs for motivated and qualified people, I have no doubt about it.
Now not all of us may find the job we exactly want or some of us might struggle more but that isn't a characteristic of the airline industry, it's the same in everywhere. I found my current job in less than a month and it took some of my friends from the same year way more time, it's just a question of luck and personality.
Finally, I'm very sad to hear that you've lost all of it easy glider. Please don't tell me you're looking at going back to an office job, seating behind a computer from 9 to 5, tell me you have much more interesting projects to quit the flying! You know we all have up and downs in our jobs and I can easily understand that you get exhausted and don't want to see another a/c after a whole day of flying...but damn how can you totally lose it??!
The flying of today is certainly not the same than 20 yrs ago when nothing was automatic but the job has evolved towards other responsabilities than just flying the bird and I can assure you that there's more than you think in that job...
As for the money....I'm even more sorry to hear that you fly for the big bucks...I'm not saying that we have to accept everything and be treated like dogs but come on, if you're not happy with £60,000 never turn your TV on again to watch the news!!
Hope the english wasn't too bad and the content not too full of rubish!
Good luck everyone and happy flying!
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