I think this has been an interesting thread to follow and as someone who lost his CPL many years ago due to illness I find the some of the comments a little negative on both sides of the argument. Being a pilot is ultimately a job with pay and conditions just like any other job. However it differs in many aspects to the run of the mill roles you could be employed as due to the perception people have about flying or “The Dream”. Not surprisingly this has misled some people in what the true role entails. Aircrew are not alone in this just ask any cabin crew or ground crew and I am sure some will tell you the same story.
Flying is just as much a vocation as a number of other roles such as training to become a doctor or nurse both roles requires dedication, long hours, extensive education and cost without the pay and conditions you believe you should be rewarded with unless you have been in the role for 20 years...
The training schools and lo-co carriers exploit this fact to the full on the promise of “The Dream” requiring you to spend more of your money just too potential get a step up. How often have we heard of the up and coming pilot shortage? In my time, I have seen this 3-4 times but never actually seen any shortage appear. We are in an employment market that is saturated with unemployed pilots who are qualified with experience; perhaps have a type rating or little experience and not forgetting those who are coming through the training schools. This has led to pilots having to spend £20k on a type rating or consider P2F jobs, which are run by carriers who know they can get away with this due to job market.
As they say “eye wide open”, no job in life can meet all of your expectation that’s just life, as pilots we are so lucky to do the job despite its ups and downs (sorry no pun intended) I think most will agree with this. If you are not happy then change employer, type of flying or career.
I still think the original post was a good talking point and hopefully will help those intending to take up a flying career to consider all the plus points and negatives. Don’t forget there are many types of flying roles from flying the tin buses from A to B and back again to flying missionary work in Africa.
Happy landing...
