Why you love aviation

[Pass-A-Frozo]

Over the last two or so years PPRuNe has turned from a rumour network to a whining network. So, what is it that got you into aviation, what do you love about your job in Australia?! To quote the Black Eyed Pea's "Where is the love"??

Anyone else remember when you were 15 and wanted to fly??

[tinpis]

For twenty five years an aircraft cleaner works through back of the clock shift hours in freezing winter and boiling summers emptying **** cans and garbage from aircraft.
Everyday for twenty five years he gets home and whines and bitches about it to his missus and kids.

One early morning he comes home reeking from the contents of a honey pot that has overturned all over him and seething mad, he starts in on missus about what a dead end bloody awful job it is and how he is sick to death of putting up with it all.
She says "Well dear have you ever thought about giving it all up?"

He says...

"What ! and leave aviation ?? !! "

[Pinky the pilot]

All my full time flying jobs were in Papua New Guinea (The 'Land of the unexpected', a bit of a hackneyed cliche). Whilst the lifestyle was bloody good to put it honestly, sometimes the 'bureaucracy' of the place could have you extremely frustrated to say the least.
Coupled with the at times somewhat uncertain reliability of the aircraft in certain aspects, the weather, and general related stresses inflicted upon oneself, at times I tended to adopt the attitude of ......
WTF am I doing here????????
No matter how much of the heebie jeebies I ever experienced, no matter how depressed I got at the fact that I was there and Mrs Pinky was back safe and sound in Aussie, any depression was instantly lifted and disappeared for at least the rest of the day the very instant the wheels of the BN2 or C402 I happened to be flying that morning left the ground!!:ok: :ok:
At that very instant, the thought was always the same.
Geez I love this, I would'nt be dead for quids!!!!:ok: :ok:

[airbusthreetwenty]

For twenty five years an aircraft cleaner works through back of the clock shift hours in freezing winter and boiling summers emptying **** cans and garbage from aircraft.
Everyday for twenty five years he gets home and whines and bitches about it to his missus and kids.

One early morning he comes home reeking from the contents of a honey pot that has overturned all over him and seething mad, he starts in on missus about what a dead end bloody awful job it is and how he is sick to death of putting up with it all.
She says "Well dear have you ever thought about giving it all up?"

He says...

"What ! and leave aviation ?? !! "
Yeah.. I think you're either an airline person or you're not. It goes right from the top to the bottom.

I'm a CSO, During winter i wake up in the middle of the night to be at the airport working by 0400. I get paid okay money, but rationally not enough to put up with the abuse from Pax. (ie. things thrown at you or being spat at).

Despite all the crap I deal with, when each aircraft pushes back I get a warm, fuzzy feeling of contentment.

A few months ago a girl started new with us. I was having a chat to her asking her how she was getting along. She said she wasn't handling it all too well. She then asked me if I liked my job. I said "You know, I love my job". She then said, "You know, I have asked every person I work with that very same question and they have all said the same thing. I know that this isn't something I love so I don't know how much longer i'm going to be able to handle it."

A month or so later she resigned.

[Cloud Basher]

Well,
I went for my first flight when I was 3 months old sitting on my mums knee with my old man flying in a (then new!) C150. Apparently I cried like a :mad: until the wheels left the ground and then was happy as a pig in stuff until we touched down again at which time I again raised hell.

I guess I was indoctrinated in aviation and so it was only natural I grew to love it.

Something about getting up there, bashing those clouds and making holes in them that feeds the inner desire to get the truck away from this desk and get out there again.

Maybe I feel superior to be able to look down on the world, or maybe it is belonging to a common group that knows you can't really put it into words, but it is something that all(?) pilots just know and you don't really have to say - and thus you can't state it correctly here on a forum. (Sorry a sole tear rolls down my cheek...:yuk: )

Cheers
CB

[king oath]

I'm old enough to remember when the flying was the fun bit and Department of Civil Aviation did every thing in their power to prevent flying and fun. As a pilot you weren't considered smart enough to flight plan without submitting it to an Air Traffic Controller briefing officer to mark and correct. His greatest joy in life was to find a mistake and score a point. Or on those bad weather days, to find you couldn't go anywhere because there was no alternate.

Now its the Company lawyers who make convoluted rules and procedures to complicate the job, because they are sh*t scared of being sued,and ATC are just the voices on the radio. I haven't seen anyone from CASA for years. (Thats a good thing.)

But after the doors close and you are on your own, its still a buzz.

[Ultralights]

I had a similar start to Cloud basher, except i was about 5 yrs old. ever since that day, which i still remember, in a Mooney. i have wanted to nothing more than fly. sadly as i grew up, i always wanted to be an airline pilot, but sadly never had the money to pay for more than my CPL training, did the smart? thing and purchased a house etc etc, so my love of flying has only gone as far as hireing and now finally building and owning VH-MINE! but with the discovery of Ultralights and the RAA i can get my airborne fix almost every weekend! as for the "what! and leave aviation!" , i couldnt ly them for a living, so decided repairing and design work on them would have to do, after 11 yrs in QF, decided i had enough, but 5 yrs later was drawn back by the invisible airpower force, sold my business, and now back repairing aircraft.

as for the Why? how can you describe it, its like asking a Gay man why he is gay? or better still, why are you hetrosexual? its a question to which there is no tangible logical answer! why i love aviation? dont know, just do.

[Buster Hyman]

Why you love aviation
You obviously haven't sniffed AvGas have you?
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/ernaehrung/food-smiley-019.gifhttp://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/natur/nature-smiley-002.gif

[Disguise Delimit]

What's good about flying?

The Bundys in the Qantas Club before boarding, the champagne before pushback, the wine with dinner as i watch a movie, then the sleep during the rest of that god-awful flight across the Pacific.

Next week i go for my upgrade to Captain. I hope the standard of champagne gets better.:8

[maxgrad]

Been in or near modaplanes all my life,(thanks dad) and can remember the face ache smile I would get at each lesson done well or test passed.
These days I am where I want to be and still smile. OK I don't smile a hell of a lot after a max duty shift in the middle of the night but I take the good with the not so.

If you are not sure if you want to stay flying, have a break from it. When you strap the machinery back on you should know rather quickly, the anticipation and that face ache smile.........Then there are those who fly for the money or ego.

[AV8 consultants]

I love working for $40 an hour after spending $70000 in training costs.
I love having to pay CASA $130 every year for a medical so they can stamp it OK.
I love paying for CASA doc renewals that are always late and never really current.
I love being informed by CASA as to every change and why they justify it.
I I I just love it....... NOT
That's why I love flying.:ok:

[3 Holer]

Driving to and from work when no one else is on the road. (No stress.)

Doing the brisk walk-a-round in freezing cold / rainy nights. (Keeps you fit.)

No holding for traffic on ground or airborne. (No stress.)

No other aircraft around to get ride reports from. (No boredom.)

Direct tracking everywhere and no speed restrictions (because of above!) (Get to bed earlier.)

No galley to warm up food and drink. (Salads & fruit juice – good for you.)

No flight attendant to serve cold food & drink. (They’ld only crap on about boyfriends !)

The continuous smell of horse excrement on the horse charters. (A pleasant change from three day old uniform shirts.)

Not enough light in the cockpit to read the paper/flight international/hustler. (Must put that in the tech.log next time I go to work)

Nowhere to get a feed at layovers because of the early arrival. (Who needs to eat.)

Sleep all day, work all night. (So – there has to be some drawbacks in the job.)

8 days off / month. 1 st day off in each sequence trying to get sleep pattern back to normal. (Ahhh…….who needs sleep when you’re having this much fun.)

As a mate of mine once said about night freight operations – “it just doesn’t get any better than this”

…………..and you know the best part – the Company actually pay you to do it !

[Woomera]

"I went for my first flight when I was 3 months old sitting on my mums knee with my old man flying in a (then new!) C150."

"....i was about 5 yrs old. ever since that day, which i still remember, in a Mooney."

You lot make me feel old!!!!!!!!!! :{ :ugh: :yuk: My father was born before Wilbur and Orville first defied gravity at Kittyhawk and I was born when gas turbine engines were still in development!

In my youth the Cessna "state of the art" model was probably the 140 and I don't think Mooney had been invented. The flash new Piper Tripacer was the aero club rage, replacing war surplus Tiger Moths!

My first flight was in an Ansett Sunderland (or was it a Sandringham?) at around eight years of age and my first flying lesson in a DHC-1 Chipmunk for £ 4/10/- per hour, dual!!

My early working career involved airline travel in DC3's and even a Catalina. Viscounts and Electra flew domestic and some international routes until - the advent of the ultra modern 707!!!

Criticise DCA all you like, but that "quiet chat behind the hangar with the local Flying Inspector" beats the crap out of CASA's modus operandi today!!!

Ah, but you lot in these days of political correctness are deprived of that great airline certainty of my era - in my youth Air Hostesses were guaranteed to be young, beautiful - and single! :ok: :ok:

Sunny Woomera

[Monopole]

So, what is it that got you into aviation A CFI tellimg me that I would be an Airline Pilot in 2 years as we are comming out of the 10 years cycle :ugh: :ugh: :ouch:

"Where is the love"?? Not here now after being awake since 4 am and not here tomorrow when I get up at 4 am again.

Why do I keep going back?? :mad: Knows. It's like smoking. It's a drug. I cant give it up now, and I don't want to (flying that is). :E

[Lord Snot]

...Why? how can you describe it, its like asking a Gay man why he is gay? Am I the only one who struggles to see the link between looking at another man's hairy date and dangling marble bag and the fine art of Aviation.....?????

I might be missing something but dung-punchery is surely not it.





Keep it out of the gutter please.

[tinpis]

Ah, but you lot in these days of political correctness are deprived of that great airline certainty of my era - in my youth Air Hostesses were guaranteed to be young, beautiful - and single!

And could drink like a fish..:hmm:

[epoxy]

what i love about aviation?? days off. i'm sick of this bloody industry and that's why i'm trying to find a different way to make money.