Couldn't agree more with any of that Desk Pilot.
I am just leaving the Service after 17 years as a helicopter pilot and looked into moving across into the Airlines (foolishly buying into the glamourous side of it!) rather than rotary. From meeting and chatting to a variety of aircrew in both the fixed-wing and rotary worlds I quickly came to the conclusion that the Airline world just wasn't worth it unless you were lucky enough to get in early at a very few of the major UK-based airlines or a legacy carrier abroad. Unfortunately as a 39yr old helicopter chap I am too old to be competing against 21 yr olds, which is fair enough, but I feel very sorry for the experienced multi-engine types now leaving the mob who are in the same boat, because they don't have that valuable Type Rating.
The aircrew I chatted to who seemed to be the most satisfied with their lot in life (longhaul BA aside!) seemed to be the North Sea helicopter pilots. Generally very good rosters, home every night, plenty of opportunity for overtime and salaries loosely aligned with the airline world.
Last edited by SimonK; 1st Feb 2013 at 13:17.
Reason: Wrong name!