You do what you feel is right and stop listening to negative comments.
That sounds fine - but you do have to be realistic about what the current management for the various airlines have done to the industry.
It is no longer a "career" - it is now a job.
I fly for one of our "leading" airlines. The time is fast arriving where I will have to leave Australia and work overseas. Most probably have to permanently relocate and take the family with me, due to the double tax grab of Australia if you work overseas and have the family still here.
Ironic:
Less hours flying now = less pay - fast approaching the point where I will have to sell the house. That leaves the option of either buying or renting an apartment and sending the wife back to work another job or leaving the airline I work for.
If I leave and commute from an overseas contract - I will be in the same financial position due to the ATO assessing me as a resident and taking another tax chunk apart from the country that I would be working in.
If the current situation continues - the only viable option is to sell up and leave Australia completely and permanently. Pretty sad state of affairs if you ask me. Put my heart and soul into it............. but as you do, manage the situation and "keep on keeping on". At least the kids got to spend a lot of time with their grandparents over the past several years.
I am at the upper end of the industry - I can only imagine that the guys and girls doing the turboprops would be doing it tough on all accounts. Imagine trying to raise a family on a turboprop wage and conditions? Hard going - take my hat off to you people bouncing around in the icing levels, non-preciosion approaches and trying to pay the bills!
You should ask the wife what she thinks (assuming there is a significant other)......
Would I do it all over again - maybe (I don't know) - but i would NOT entertain Australia as viable option for employment that gives a "return for investment in both money and time spent" in developing your own skills.