mpala
This question has come up a few times in the past, and a few of us (including myself, WWW, Pilot Pete and others) have given comprehensive descriptions of our jobs and lifestyles.
Inevitably, it's actually very difficult to describe what the job would feel like to someone else because we don't know what your day-to-day priorities are. For instance, I have two young children. The knock-on effects of a delay, or a standby call-out, to my access to them can have a disproportionate effect on the way I feel about my job. Individual managers and their abilities (or lack thereof) can also have an enormous effect on how you see your job on any given day - just like in your life.
In fact, many of the niggles, distractions and dissatisfactions with our jobs are exactly the same as those you suffer. For
most of us, the compensation is getting in the aeroplane, having a great view, and regaining a degree of control over your own destiny for a while!
For what it's worth, I fly A340s for Virgin. I fly about three or four times a month to various long-haul destinations - Shanghai, Cape Town and Los Angeles are typical examples. Each sector is in the order of 11 or more hours and so we tend to carry three pilots. This means that landings are few and far between - one a month is common. This is the main reason that we insist on new hires having a lot of experience, as you won't get much practice once you're with us!
Much of the flying I do is boring, and the increased security levels we now have mean that we have fewer people to talk to than hitherto! Occasionally, challenging weather or aircraft problems raise the interest level somewhat, but it's probably fair to say that you don't want to be doing my job if you still hanker to feel the aeroplane under your hands and feet - this job is for those who've been there, done that, got the T-shirt and now offer all that experience in the pursuit of ultimate safety for the travelling public - and a reasonable pay and retirement package!
Are there other jobs I'd like to do? You bet, but my family's security is now my priority and so I'll leave those to others. I'm lucky; I've done most of the things I wanted to do when I was young, so now I'll stick with what I know. But, when the kids have grown up (and I'll have retired from commercial flying by then), who knows? Maybe I'll start an IT company!
