I have managed to remain in the industry, but dont fly anywhere as much. I moved from hunted to hunter. :E

Left full-time commercial flying in '02, and after a couple of odd-jobs returned to the family agricultural enterprise, as well as studying a viticulture degree part time. Still manage to keep just current enough to be dangerous, thanks largely to a couple of very charitable individuals that let me have a steer every now and then.

It was the single hardest decision I have ever made to commit to another vocation; I will always miss flying for a living, however my current work situation provides a flexibilty and security that aviation didn't offer at the time. I will make a more regular professional contribution to aviation when my work/family/study commitments stabilise, but for now I count my lucky stars every day that I've got a job I enjoy, a great family life, and I can still maintain my passion for flying.

There were a lot of boxes that never got to ticked regarding things I wanted to achieve in flying, but in reality the list was too long to be completed anyway! Fortunately I've got some good mates who I can live vicariously through - those who get to experience things most people just dream of.

40Deg - when you're back here and instructing, let me know - when I need a BFR I think you'll be just the man!

Nice post 40deg STH. The time in between jobs is when one starts to doubt being in it, however I will persist. Hopefully years from now I too will still have my first missus. :)

Ploe King.......will be my pleasure:ok:

Be careful what you wish for.. Hanging around some tin-pot flying school with the 20 year old grades 3's all vying for the first TIF victim to peer nervously around the door - shonky Cessnas with clean maintenance releases - write up a defect and get the DCM. Do you really want to lower your sights that far? Ripping off students with a "just another revision flight"
Mind you things could be different in ten years from now, but I wouldn't hold my breath..
Better to take your airline pilot savings and enjoy a few ship cruises with your family.

Gave up career as pilot in 1998 when one of my passengers coerced me to be the CEO of his chain of strip clubs across the southern USA and Hawaii from his base of operations in the Florida Keys. It's far nicer relaxing in the back of the Falcon with a beer and a couple of girls with a car waiting to pick you up at the destination than it was at the pointy end and at the hotels in between. Weekends are spent chasing tarpon and sailfish out of the marina or bumming between the islands with the top down on the E-type. Can be tough at times, and requires the regular girlfriends to put up with the occasional long absence, but it beats the heck out of the previous career.

Pole to Pole
 

Hey Lodown , not that I don't believe you but a photo would be nice to see :ok:

From aircraft pole captain to captain of pole dancers.

So far that's the best job on this thread !

A37575


I know what your talking about and for that reason I will not be around one of those schools, as I said, a nice country airport where it is done with learning and fun in mind. That is one of the reasons I never instructed before.
Don't worry, there will be the odd cruise with my bride and trips away on the lifetime air travel. And when not doing either, You can find me on my tractor or beside the pool with a cold beer chatting to my amazing kids and watching the grand kids swim.
What I was basically trying to say in my previous post, is while aviation is a bugger of an industry,it is worth the effort.
Some people are forced to leave sadley and some leave because there are easier paths to take! Aviation is like a marriage to the rest of us, it takes commitment, love and passion to stay through good and bad times. A few beers help too:D
I don't think I can ever be removed from flying and my son is heading down that track too. Thankfully my daughter is smart like her mother!!

Now back to study for my sim check next week!!! Got to love it!!


Quag Mire

Yes your right, Most of us have had these gaps too and doubts about the career, but as you say, stay and keep going. When these things have happened to me, my wife just raises her eyebrows and says "haven't we been tested enough". She never ever has once suggested i quit, she knows I would never be happy and you seem to be like the rest of us too, so keep on going my friend.
At school we had a Caplain and he had a saying (was an all boys school). " Life is like taking a piss, You need aim to hit the bowl, and you need commitment to stay there until your finished". I don't think too many of us are finished yet, just sometimes our aim is a little off!!! Just ask my wife!!!
Good luck my friend.

40 Deg South

You could almost be the yin to my yang. There are disturbing similarities in our having children looking for careers in aviation and dreams of retiring to a pleasant instructional role.

However, over 30 years ago, I had the choice of pursuing a professional flying career, with the option of either commercial or RAAF - or staying with the very comfortable Government pay cheque.

Sadly, I listened to the doomsayers. You'll remember them. "No employment opportunities." "Once you're 26 the majors won't look at you." "Oil crisis." "RAAF reducing flying hours." etc etc etc. So I sentenced myself to 25 years with Gummint and 11 years and counting not with Gummint.

Could I have made it as a pilot? I apparently had the technical skill. The DCA examiner who conducted my RPPL flight test rated me as being at CPL standard and I passed a BFR on my first flight after a 20 year break. Whether or not I had the strength of character, I'll now never know.

By any measure, I've had a successful career outside aviation, still have wife #1 (and only) and we've raised three fantastic kids. Had our ups and downs but thats life wherever you are.

But there's always, always been a feeling of discontent at the opportunities wasted and the dream of one day..............................

Its what brings us sad ol' couldabeens to pore over the aviation magazines at the local newsagent, to look up at the merest hint of a sound from a passing aircraft and to nervously enter the hallowed portals of Pprune like junkies looking for that next fix.

Its also why I'm grabbing with both hands a suggestion from my company that I regain currency for my licence and start flying around the Territory, rather than continue to drive as I have up until now. There's been a silver lining to the introduction of the 130 km/h speed limit after all. :E

So, watch out world, coodashooda may soon have to rebadge as cooda-issa. :ok:

Bring it on Cooda!:ok:

Well done Cooda-Issa, you certainly shoulda!! Yes, those days of 26 being the cut off point. Well now you have a chance and your taking it, it will never feel like you missed out. You are a luck guy, you have a good family and long career, now your passion of flying will also be fulfilled.
Well done my friend, YOU DESERVE all the pleasure you have and will get. And when you sit in your rocking chair with your teeth in the glass beside you, like me, will have no regrets. :ok:

And the NT is an awesome place to fly over. I take my hat off to you sir.

ENJOY:ok:

By the way, its also guys like me who paw over flying magazines and watch aircraft too. It never goes away. You can always spot a pilots pilot by the way we always look up when we hear "That sound"!!

See if yer can get a wrestle of the Harvard Cooda :ok:

Quag Mire, I certainly hope you still have wifey number 1. She's super! :}

And hopefully one day you'll learn how to wash an aeroplane properly too....

Chin up Tiger... we do it cause it's the best job in the world and we make the best mates in the world.:ok:

Fantastic, and that is what it's all about really, not some rubbish pitting PPLs against CPLs or whatever, like some insecure members of this forum like to espouse! :ok:

"Learn how to wash an aeroplane"?! Hey who laughed when I bought tyre shine for our a/c huh? I like 'em shiny, slippery and smooth :cool:

Im currently doing a bit of Labouring and Heavy Machinery operating etc...

Im one of those poor buggers crippled by his hindsight after resigning from a great job to do my ATPLs. After which i was hoping to pick up a bit of work closer to home while waiting on Airline positions to present themselves.
Currently a full ATPL holder with no shortage of hours, much more than half of which is Multi Command time. No bites on any fronts in this current economic climate.

Sad story eh... :sad:

I hear the sounds of aircraft flying overhead, stop, watch, listen and die a little inside each time... lol

Flying is a disease, and there is no cure. It's infectious.

I couldn't agree more...

I've had periods in my life where I wasn't flying. In those times I have driven trucks, sold insurance, emptied septic tanks and loaded catering onto aircraft. The one common factor in all of these jobs is you spend all of your spare time looking up!:ok:

Is that the tyres or the wife?:}