Another aspect is that you miss out on a lot of fun by going straight to an airline jet job.
I really am one to mock rose tinted specs but the fact is the couple of years I spent pottering about in light pistons were huge fun. Poorly paid and hard work also.
But YOU ran the flight. You went where YOU wanted to in the way YOU saw fit. Conducting an entire PFL trip in such a was as to beat up your girlfriends house, ferrying some godforsaken heap of an aircraft across the country with nothing more than an old NDB and a bacon sarnie to help you. Being damn scared and having to do some quickk thinking when its just you up there is also an enlightening experience. One realises that secretly, you ain't a patch on Chuck Yeager really.
In some respects operating an airline jet is all about routine, SOP's, minimum fuel burn, combating fatigue, getting on with a team of diverse people for 12hrs at a time and not screwing up.
Sure the money is great, the travel and views can be interesting, just sometimes you hand fly a punchy approach or do a partiuclarly satisfying cloud burst on a wet rainy morning at 6000fpm. Post Sept 11th the ability to have pax onto the flightdeck or to take a leisurely stroll down the back looking for nice girls has gone and - trust me - that seriously detracts from the fun of the day at work.
I said this many many moons ago here on PPRuNe Wannabes - I have met many people who spolit the enjoyment of the lower ladder rungs by the hurry they were in to get to the airlines.
As someone said recently in another forum, the two best jobs are always your last one and your next one. There is some truth in that!
Cheers
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