I began flying at age 20 and have just retired at 58. The first 20 years were great, the next 10 pretty good, the last 8 pretty awful.
Flying to the maximum allowable duty, frequent minimum rest, incessant pressure on quick turn arounds, constant squeezing on fuel reserves with the published league tables, the unending and demeaning passage through so-called 'security', the lack of choice for MY leave, allocated with no discernible logic, the annual alteration (reduction) to the 'five year plan', the reduction in salary due to unforeseen circumstances, the incessant and shrill notices in the pigeon holes on a daily basis, the constant sniping from the 'management' to do more for less, led me to resign last year and leave it all behind in Feb this year.
Do I miss the flying? Yes
Do I miss the colleagues? Yes
Do I miss much else? No
I was lucky in that I had a pension in the UK taken when I was 55.
If I took the same pension now, it would be worth about one tenth of the value in 2005. Annuity rates being now less than 1%
I was advised by financial experts that I was stupid to take it then and should have left it until I actually retired at 60.
Don't listen to the experts, they know eff all.
Sad to say, it ain't what it used to be!
You might be surprised to know that you can happily live very comfortably on £500 a month in the Land of Smiles, among many other countries where the inmates don't run the asylum.
Here no-one runs the place!
It is not without irony that an advert for a change of career to become a plumber appears at the top of the page on PPrune!