Any negative sides?

[Salako]

Okay, airline pilot's profession is the best profession on earth, that's a fact :)

But I'd like to hear about the negative sides that the job has [if there are any ;)] I'm not happy enough to have any pilots close to me, so I might have had a bit too romantic picture of the job through the years here.

So, anyone who happens to read this, please give me the worst picture of your job you can :)

[G-OOFY]

Don't go to work often enough. Three weeks of inactivity, standby and irritation. Followed by too much work, positioning up and down the country at all times of day and night. This goes on for a bit until you have developed the ability to fall asleep anywhere.

Deep sleep usually interupted by some cabin crew member with an understanding look on their face (I know how you feel), saying words to the effect of "this is where you get off".

Other crew member is either great or terrible. (Proberably just okay really but it depends whether you've been stuck with them for days or weeks on end. ie you've heard all their stories before and they've heard all of yours.) Actually I'm fortunate that everyone on our fleet is great. It's just you get tired of each other and want to go home after a bit.

Oh, and the roster changes every day without fail!

Still the best job in the world though.

[Salako]

Thank you G-OOFY. That was just what I'd asked for. I just wish more people would see and answer this. Thanks again!

Samuli

[Check-in]

The fact that you have so few replies indicates just how few real negatives there are to the job. Most of the whingeing you see elsewhere in these forums only takes place to either wind up management or because we all, myself included, have so much spare time. Having said that, it is not a job for those who crave security from cradle to grave, or who wish to do a swan act and mate for life.

---------------------------------------------
I've had a few wives, some of them my own

[Slasher]

Nah your wrong Checks. Its just thats its all been said before and not a lot of people (including me) can be bothered writing it out in detail all over again.

So Salako in brief:
1. Crap ineficient and impractical rosters written up by morons who havent even been near an aeroplane in there life, and whos talents, intelect, and commonsense are best suited to cleaning chicken yards (under supervision).
2. Days of doing nothing followed by "have to get there 5 mins ago" sectors every day for 5-8 days straight (short-haul)
3. Broken-down aircraft expected to do multiple sectors with yellow stickers all over the cockpit because the MEL and engineer says you can.
4. Flying with push-button Quake generation FOs. CRM cant be efectively applyed because the guys on a different planet.
5. Forget the false crap romantics of a sleek modern jet pictured at high altitude with the happy sun glinting off its nice shiney wings. Most of the time its either flying through thunderstorms, CAT, constantley "howgozingit" your fuel and hoping to christ your destination isnt going to go under minimums. Or a combination of all of them on a bad night.
6. CAP-371 duty and rest periods (or State equivalant) being pushed to absolute limits. This gets back to item 1 above.
7. (More so for capts) having to take final responsibility for other peoples inadvertant screwups and mistakes (have a very good look at the chain of events surounding the recent SQ006 prang at TPE).
8. Knowing you could lose your licence next medical if your trace-readout shows a minor heart fart.
9. Flying into and out of some very hazardous and backward 3rd-world airports. Itd be far safer and less stressful if you hitchhiked or swam instead.

A few of these things dont apply to our Company (notabley 3 & 4) because weve cleaned up its act (one of the benefits of working for a small mob). But almost all applys to a lot of airline flying.

[Lady Heath]

Salako

there is a similar thread that I started up a while ago on "Disadvantages of being an airline pilot" - some interesting feedback on that - if you goto search and put my name in you should find it.

RGDS

[Salako]

Thanks a lot, eeryone, for your straight answers. And, Lady Heath, thanks even more.

It's good to hear something negative about the job. One thing I've been thinking is that how does pilots' own approach to flying and being an airline pilot change during the first years of their career? Is the sum of enthusiasm and the salary somewhat constant? The more the years in position and the money, the less the enthusiasm? Maybe I'm wrong...

SK