What are you doing now, instead of Flying?
 

Thought it would be an interesting question to ask. What are people doing who have flown and worked as commercial pilots, but for whatever reason medical, economy, bad timing or lack of opportunity have gone down the path of another career now.

Went back to uni for an engineering degree. Currently working as an Electrical Engineer in the maritime military sector.

Sitting in the office looking sternly at a pile off amendments, finished flying for the day.

4 years full time working as CPL including a stint as Chief Pilot. Started work in a bank to put away cash for the MECIR........2 years later still at the bank.....conditions/lifestyle too good to leave.

I still fly - Limited category adventure flights on the weekend and just scored a 3 month contract flying Jan-Mar next year. Bank is giving me unpaid leave for this time so job will be here when i get back.

Don't imagine I'll go back to flying full time, but will make sure I'm always flying somehow.

That's the way to do it, especially if it is a good bank and a stable job!:ok:

I own an aviation trading company in Jakarta.

We wholesale buy and sell parts packages to mainly overseas companies (95% of parts sales are export) , buy and sell aircraft (export also). We also buy aviation surplus from the Indonesian Air Force.

On the salvage side of the business we break up turboprops and Boeing 727 and 737.

Now getting into arranging aircraft leases for local operators and monitoring the leases on behalf of overseas owners.

Longer term we are aiming to establish a cargo operation with ramp door cargo aircraft (either direct operation or under another companies AOC as an AOC costs a fortune up here)

Briggs-Meyer is ENTJ.

Really Cityfan?

Every morning the GAM boys depart overhead while I wait at the train stop. It would be a big pay cut and I would hate the lifestyle (I'm too soft I know), but regardless I'm still very, very jealous.

I bet you all still tell all the birds at the bar you're a pilot :p

You'll be back!

Goblin, I'm warming to your sense of humour. :}

Obviously, we're all pilots at heart, no matter how we pay the bills and how often we get in the air and for what. The fact that we're here pretty much proves that...

Good call Greenie, i still rock up at the bar in the full uniform too. Bars, cap, Raybans and all!! Got the coolest number plates too - AV8OR!!

I do laugh when I see those kinds of guys hanging around YMMB!

Best bit about this job is sitting on Proon all day :ok:

I know i'll be back, I just haven't admitted it to myself -- Even the girlfriend says so! :bored:

Gee kid in a candy store.....MECIR = one day at work for some Bank Execs:}....or you could try the other method, but they will put you in the clink if you get caught! :ooh:

Planky,

I take a little exception to your claim that we are all pilots just because we are here on prune, couldn't disagree more. there are plenty of wannabee's and ppl's that have read a few books and played flightsim that think that they can put ther two cents worth in on any subject, regardless of the opinions of some very experienced people here.

The real pilots, or at least the real professional pilots are those who have made their career and life, and lifestyle commitment to earning their daily bread in this sometimes thankless industy. Still, when i am sitting in my office above the clouds, far above any earthbound executive's office I would not swap jobs regardless of mere financial rewards. my licence will be prised from my fingers against my will and only then will I think about what cames after this life.

Oneday_soon asked what those of us commercially employed pilots who have left the industry are doing now, not whether we are all one with the wannabees and flight simmers, very different question. It is very easy to pick the real pilots from the 'sciolists' we are warned about.

I have been flying for a long time and don't intend to stop anytime soon, despite the occaisional burst from wifey (number 2, number one couldn't hack the lifestyle of an ag pilot's wife). sitting above ayre's rock, the simpson desert, baby krakatoa, the bay of bengal, the tasman sea, the andes (beside the andes really), the grand canyon the black hills of dakota, the carribean, the amazon or orinoco rivers, mt wilhelm , the whagi or ramu valleys, clouds (any clouds) or a heap of other places, or belting along at 3 feet spraying u nder wires and between treesis a workplace that is so far beyond the comprehension of those who deliberately choose serve behind a counter in a bank (no offense intended) rather than to grasp the nettle firmly and take the lumps for a few years, that it is difficult to dignify the claim that we are all pilots because we peck a few posts of a forum from time to time....hellloooooo.

To those who have tasted the life and been compelled to hang up the headset for significant reasons, please post on,, for those simmers who like to see their name on a post, please read the starting post and enter at your (ignorance and) peril.

I also have pile of amendments to attack soon, still, its not all blue skies and tail winds every day is it??

Best Regards to all retired Professionals,

HD

point taken, HarleyD, and an inspiring post to boot.

The commitment and sacrifices of the professional pilot is obviously a different ballgame from the involvement of the recreational pilot or simmer/wannabe. The good thing is the latters' lack of insight is usually exposed here fairly quickly, so good advice is still available in these halls for the thinking pilot :}

I'd still maintain we're probably all pilots at heart, but you've made the point, some cannot or do not want to step out of their comfort zone, leave behind the pay packages and perks and do something they could really love....

Geez! Where did I put me violin?

Dr :8

AME for Bae 4 days a week, Senior Instructor at YSBK 3 days a week.

Plenty of help from local airlines? :hmm:

Hey Tinpis , the pre-broken up ones there ain't much left of them ...

A few years ago the operators were buying B727 and 737s out of Mojave USA (lots of ex American Airlines aircraft and they weren't too bad) and as soon as they hit a C or D check or a big expense item they parked it and bought another so there were a lot of pickings.

They changed the rules a few years ago so that pax aircraft had to be less than 20 yrs old for an initial import and in reality the majority aircraft being imported are 10 to 15 yrs old so that all stopped.

The only damaged Boeing that we salvaged was a B737-200 with a nose gear collapse , the rest were all parked due to economics (it was cheaper to buy another one than fix).

We've stopped doing Boeing Pterodactyls (727 and 737-200) for the moment as the market is flooded with parts and too slow moving.

-

Not yet , still digging !

In almost 30 years flying, I have been laid off 3 or 4 times from airlines and Corporate job. I'm still here.Planning on retiring only after 40 yrs flying, then plan to instruct at a lovely quiet country airport back in Aus. I may have a little to teach by then!!
Still got the 1st wife (poor thing). I thought of quiting a few times, but never could.
I got my CPL when it was said "you will never get a job", there weren't too many around then. You had to have 3000 pic and Senior commercial for a job with Hazeltons and 1000 hours for a scenic C206 job in the NT.
Swept more hanger floors than you can poke a broom at!!! Washing aircraft on a hot bush day was like paradise to me and then a mail run followed by a million beers with my mates who were doing the same. We would all then collapse in our on site caravans or back of cars and start another day.
Now have seen most of the world and now spend too much time away from my long suffering family, but they would hate me to quit, as they know it would kill me!!
I'm looking forward to instructing in a little over 10 years back home, but in the meantime will enjoy flying the 744 and jetlag!!
To say which part has been the best part to date, is too hard. I have loved it all. Size is not everything, commitment and passion are!
I cant wait to teach SEVFR, I'll leave the MEIR to guys/girls trying to move up the ladder. As long as there is aircraft to fly in the day a ice cold beer and bull**** session after, my world is perfect!!:ok:

Did another couple of years in foreign countries, after doing twenty years up to twenty years and one day ago .
Happily hung up the aircraft headphones and a couple of years later put on another kind and now pretend to fly planes in a simulator and get paid for it.
Was there for the very best of Oz aviation, don't bother with a license any more. Get a pole around, occasionally in mate's aircraft and DON'T have to do or PAY for amendments, medicals or subject myself to daily inspections by disrespectful morons who have joined the new industry at airports.
NO back of the clock, no rushed aircraft meals, no stupid airy fairies who feel they should be paid as much as a Senior commercial pilot, flogging a Conquest around the backblocks because they've done a six week course to become a senior FA (or what ever they call themselves these days) or ask why I should have gotten a pilot position and they only got to be a FA when we joined the company in the same group. They wouldn't have minded being a pilot....true stories.
Do I miss it? ... not one bit.
I had twenty five great years looking down on PNG, OZ, Asia and the Pacific.
There comes a time when another magically exciting life can be discovered.
I'm in that one now.

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?:}