What makes a good day?

[lidwall]

This has got me thinking, what really makes a good day on the job?
When you come home to your husband/wife after a day of flying, what do you tell them?
I mean, the airline job is not a job where you get to close down big deals or come up with inventions or new ideas. It's mostly the same day in and day out. So what matters?
I'm soon done with my flight training and are about to go job hunting. Right now everything is awesome and great, but I realize that in maybe 10-15 years or so it's going to be different. So I want to hear your thoughts. Big or small airline, it doesn't matter.

[Huck]

I've been flying now for 21 years. A good day to me is good weather, a great crew, no maintenance hassles and a cold beer when I meet everyone in the hotel bar for the "debrief." I still have your sense of awe, and I hope I never lose it.

As for life in general - God, family, friends. Anything else will disappoint in the end....

[ray cosmic]

...if troubleshooting went well; The organization worked like a well-oiled machine; beautiful sceneries; Paycheck came in; Roster published and looks ok; Working with most of the colleagues is a pleasure anyway, so that helps as well to make it a great day. And so on. Its the small things which matter most to me.

[FCS Explorer]

feeling rested, check-in not before 8am, end of duty not after 10pm. something tasty to eat. ground ops running smoothly, yet without rush. no slots. not too much jabber on the air. getting one of the new aircrafts with the window blinds and those noise-reducing thingies on the nose. no proceedings before or after.
happens once a year.
usuall day: getting up btw midnight and 3am. feeling miserable. for the rest of the day. (next day will be late, ending btw 11pm and 2am) some kind of ####-up with documentation, security, missing pax, loading, slot, maintenance, crew meals, whatever. breakfast is what u brought yourself. endless mindnumbing ATC-blah done by people, who pretend to speak english and the background roar of air. somehow putting the ship down under poor wx and or atc conditions. totally screwed ground-ops, no stairs/busses, no fuel, wrong loading sequence, wrong load sheet, only one pusher on the whole airport. on the way back the sun is up and frying me. [...] after the flight some more hassle with this and that. proceeding seat reserved, but tix not booked. or taxi driver trying to kill us all. [...] complains, complains, complains

[Harry Wragg]

Any day that Ops call to advise of a flight cancellation...makes me smile every time.

HW :ok:

[dash6]

Oh you cynical lot! It's great when it all works,of course,but so dull. Don't you all look back at the days when you surprised yourself with a text book landing in a limiting crosswind;or arrived out of cloud at minimums on a complex non precision approach and found the runway was exactly where it should be to your and your colleagues total surprise?:) A well handled non normal situation may not be fun at the time,but you will remember it,and talk about it in the bar for as long as your fellow drinkers will allow! Enjoy!

[DA50driver]

Waking up in the morning and still thinking to myself, "Yes, i get to fly today".
(I have been doing this for 15 years, I still love it.)

Coming across the Atlantic as the sun pops above the horizon. Early morning takeoff out of Innsbruck. Any time over the Grand Canyon. Or the Rockies. Or the Alps. Over whatever the mountain range in Turkey/Iran is called. (Or hearing the controller in Delhi saying "Contact departure, have a nice flight".)

The beuty will never cease amazing me, along with the sheer size of the world. Go fly through Russia, and then think about all the enviro-nazis saying we are destroying the world. Out there you can see how insignificant we are.

Enjoy the ride.

[Floppy Link]

...Or hearing the controller in Delhi saying "Contact departure, have a nice flight"...

Happiness is a dry fart at TOC out of Delhi. :E

[Doug E Style]

Being Heathrow based you get used to hassle so it's little things that can make a difference there; a Westcott snatch on easterlies, or a straight in approach off Lambourne or Biggin on westerlies. Intersection departures are nice as is rolling past a queue of southbound traffic at the hold when you are the only one heading north.

[lidwall]

I'm glad to see, and somewhat relieved, that the feelings don't seem to go away after a few years of flying! I know I'd hate to miss the awesome feeling I had yesterday coming back from an IFR trip Essb-esah-essb in the good old PA28.
And to know that I get to experience the same thing next time too - wow!
Thanks for the replies.