Would you become a Professional Pilot again?
"Just a pilot"
I hear "bleuciel"
At some point "interesting" situations stopped being challenges I anticipated. I find myself asking "Why are you still doing this?" When the hard days aren't opportunities to hone professional skills, even unhappily, it will be time to quit. In my case, that will have nothing to do with my employer...
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Europe
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Bravo 73 and helimutt,
I really can't see how having a nice and easy life is related to which company you are working for. Unless of course your companies are operating in nice weather, day only, no unstables or bow decks at night. Please let me know if this is the case. I'd be delighted to work in the N.Sea for a company like that.
I really can't see how having a nice and easy life is related to which company you are working for. Unless of course your companies are operating in nice weather, day only, no unstables or bow decks at night. Please let me know if this is the case. I'd be delighted to work in the N.Sea for a company like that.
99% of the flying that I do is 'nice and easy'. And that covers your full range of VMC/IMC, day/night, warm/cold, stable/unstable. 1% of the flying is challenging and never, ever have I thought "what am I doing up here".
It sounds like you should hand in your IR and go fly some nice pleasure trips in a Jetbanger or Robinson somewhere. Or just hand in your whole licence and find some ground bound job somewhere.
That will be 'nice and easy' for you.
It sounds like you should hand in your IR and go fly some nice pleasure trips in a Jetbanger or Robinson somewhere. Or just hand in your whole licence and find some ground bound job somewhere.
That will be 'nice and easy' for you.
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Ok, I see it is becoming personal Bravo 73. I never thought you were like that. Really disappointing...
I just said my opinion and you and helimutt blamed the company you think I am working for. Which, at the end of the day, has nothing to do with how easy or difficult or challenging or boring is flying up here.
As for my IR and my job, you know what? Let me choose what I am gonna do with that. You can stay in your golden cage getting a blip load of money for flying 'nice and easy' and wasting your life for the sake of it. Would you have stayed in the N.Sea if the salary was the same as the Metropolitan Police?? I thought so...
Btw, you probably have forgotten that flying a Robinson is much more difficult than flying the 92 or the 225 plugged in. You remind me of a N.Sea pilot (7000hrs+) who couldn't use the pedals when he tried to fly the R22.
I just said my opinion and you and helimutt blamed the company you think I am working for. Which, at the end of the day, has nothing to do with how easy or difficult or challenging or boring is flying up here.
As for my IR and my job, you know what? Let me choose what I am gonna do with that. You can stay in your golden cage getting a blip load of money for flying 'nice and easy' and wasting your life for the sake of it. Would you have stayed in the N.Sea if the salary was the same as the Metropolitan Police?? I thought so...
Btw, you probably have forgotten that flying a Robinson is much more difficult than flying the 92 or the 225 plugged in. You remind me of a N.Sea pilot (7000hrs+) who couldn't use the pedals when he tried to fly the R22.
Erm, I don't think that I'm the person that you think that I am.Anyway, I'm not getting personal at all. You've said that you don't like flying in the NS. You've said that you want to fly in "nice weather, day only, no unstables or bow decks at night". I've given you a viable alternative. Reading between the lines, it doesn't really sound like you like flying at all.
Judging by your post history, flying offshore on the NS seems to be the only flying job that you've had. If that is the case, then you won't appreciate what a great deal that you've got. You'll probably won't realise what it means to grub along in a rickety old single (piston or turbine), with the weather closing in and the hills coming up around you. You probably don't realise what it means to work for minimum wage, flying around and around in circles all day. You probably don't realise what it feels like to have to drop someone off in the middle of nowhere and then have to wait around all day and then work out a way of getting them home again safely, without breaking too many rules.
Offshore flying has given me more time and resources to lead the life that I actually want to lead. Compared to before, my 'working life' now takes up a relatively small proportion of my 'total life'. No other job, flying or otherwise, has ever given me that.
And, no, I haven't forgotten what it's like to fly a Robinson, a Bell or a Hughes. It's not more difficult than flying a modern EFIS twin; it's just different. And if you must know, I have seen more pilots get chopped from modern MEH type ratings than I have ever seen experienced MEH pilots struggling on a single piston conversion.
And finally, no, I don't think that I know which company you work for (unlike helimutt who alludes to). I'm just pretty sure that you don't work for the same company that I do.
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Uk
Age: 50
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New member. Help please?
Hello all wanted to introduce myself. Mr chicken from England. Thank you for letting me join. Very much appreciated. Advice please.
Am going for it. Zero to commercial.....I can hear the laughter already. Life is short. I'm in. Sold house, cashed in, end July ish? Bristow in Florida? Any good?
Says 48 weeks, private, instrument, check, and then tailored to your wants. Ie, tourism, rigs, etc.$75,000.00 or around £50,000.00.
Am I bonkers to even get involved? Job after? Won't have this chance again.
Previous- sales, and run my own building company 10 yrs. Very down to earth. Site banter..
Need to feel some love that I'm doing the right thing? Internet crap where I am.
Can reply when I walk down the drive to get signal.
Many thanks in advance chaps.
Mark
Am going for it. Zero to commercial.....I can hear the laughter already. Life is short. I'm in. Sold house, cashed in, end July ish? Bristow in Florida? Any good?
Says 48 weeks, private, instrument, check, and then tailored to your wants. Ie, tourism, rigs, etc.$75,000.00 or around £50,000.00.
Am I bonkers to even get involved? Job after? Won't have this chance again.
Previous- sales, and run my own building company 10 yrs. Very down to earth. Site banter..
Need to feel some love that I'm doing the right thing? Internet crap where I am.
Can reply when I walk down the drive to get signal.
Many thanks in advance chaps.
Mark
Do what makes you happy!
I love my job but there are rubbish days too - sometimes there is nothing to watch on TV and I run out of my favourite tea bags.
Crack on with it and good luck!
MB
I love my job but there are rubbish days too - sometimes there is nothing to watch on TV and I run out of my favourite tea bags.
Crack on with it and good luck!
MB
Hovering AND talking
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Propping up bars in the Lands of D H Lawrence and Bishop Bonner
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Go for it! This is a better time than any in the last few years but ...
have an escape route in case it doesn't work out, in case you lose your medical!
Cheers
Whirls
have an escape route in case it doesn't work out, in case you lose your medical!
Cheers
Whirls
Mark,
I'm not sure if it will help, but HeliCentre at Leicester were promoting their ZFH programme at Heli UK a couple of weeks back. They have a number of scholarships available, and are launching a degree course too. They have a career seminar next month (19 Jul) Helicentre Aviation : Helicopter Pilot Career Seminars why not try and get to it? Well worth getting all possible PoVs before shelling out all that capital.
Best of luck!
I'm not sure if it will help, but HeliCentre at Leicester were promoting their ZFH programme at Heli UK a couple of weeks back. They have a number of scholarships available, and are launching a degree course too. They have a career seminar next month (19 Jul) Helicentre Aviation : Helicopter Pilot Career Seminars why not try and get to it? Well worth getting all possible PoVs before shelling out all that capital.
Best of luck!
Join Date: May 2012
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Go to Bristow in Florida. Their networks are much wider than just the UK and your connections there will prove valuable in your future career search. They regularly have visits from OEMs, oil and gas etc. You never know who you will meet.
Join Date: May 2014
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Go with Bristow and hang in there. You will go through tough times but if you give your best it will pay off. One advice and not just for you initial training...keep your ears open and rather listen then talk, you might learn more than you think. Learning will not stop until you retire! Enjoy and all the best on your move.
To Mrchicken - dig out Camp Freddie's training risk matrix. Therefore if Plan A doesn't work (personal circumstances, cyclical nature of the industry, luck etc etc), have a Plan B to fall back on. Or a C or a D.
Join Date: Apr 2003
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Hey Mr73, thanks for reminding me, got a chance to bring it out of storage ��
I am confident it still applies though after all these years.
"Option A, CPL(H) only, high risk, chance of employment poor or nil
Option B, CPL(H) + FI rating, higher cost, low risk, lower returns
Option C, CPL(H) + IR, higher cost, high risk, higher returns"
I am slightly confused as to what Mr Chicken is buying, hope it's not just option A?
I am confident it still applies though after all these years.
"Option A, CPL(H) only, high risk, chance of employment poor or nil
Option B, CPL(H) + FI rating, higher cost, low risk, lower returns
Option C, CPL(H) + IR, higher cost, high risk, higher returns"
I am slightly confused as to what Mr Chicken is buying, hope it's not just option A?
Join Date: Apr 2003
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Previous- sales, and run my own building company 10 yrs. Very down to earth. Site banter.
I'm out of the hands on now, after 30 years of physical poling, I have probably covered 70% of all types of helo ops.
I don't miss it. I have emotionally moved on - I am mid 50's and doing something else for a change because even my last poling job became very boring after a while (don't most jobs? I said MOST not all) and that job - most pilots would have killed for a crack at it.
It wasn't the reason I left however.
Suffice to say - I believe I have been blessed with the opportunities afforded me in the aviation world - Mil for many years and Police for many years!
I challenge anyone to tell me that they HAVEN'T enjoyed flying. Savour that last word: "Flying". How many normal mortals get the chance to fly almost every day of their lives, I ask you????? IF you asked any member of the public would they like to lift off and soar through the clouds and look down over our beautiful countryside at any time day or night - 95% of men would say yes and probably 40% of women would (strange but true).
I digress - the OP asks about professional flying.
This is where it gets messy and I get confrontational:
I don't think anyone will argue that military flying is the best form of flying ever! Almost all regimes of flight are encountered and explored. Commercial: Mmmm a different beast methinks. Pick the wrong type of professional flying and the love affair could quite easily fizzle out - and quickly.
I have never flown Oil rigs - I have flown in a goon suit for bloody years though and I know (without having done it for real) that offshore oil and gas rig flying is enough to drive any proper pilot to drink! Monotonous doesn't even come near it!
Charter - Mmmm, those who have worked with me and who have come from this background offer mixed reviews. Good clients, bad clients.
Corporate - Again mixed reviews but perhaps even more heavily biased towards bad experiences due to unsymapthetic principle owners.
Crop/L lifting/bush etc: Mmmm Those I have talked to indetail seem overall to have discovered a niche market (in this country anyway) where there is massive +ve feedback. You are almost your own boss. Back to basics yes, but they certainly know how to get the best out of their steed...and IF they survive, they seem to make the best 'Polers' in the industry.
I come from an industry where money was no object. The best possible cabs, the best possible maintenance and the best ever - equipment. Because of this, it attracts the best ever people....and the picture becomes complete.
Would I go back and do it again: In a heartbeat!
I don't miss it. I have emotionally moved on - I am mid 50's and doing something else for a change because even my last poling job became very boring after a while (don't most jobs? I said MOST not all) and that job - most pilots would have killed for a crack at it.
It wasn't the reason I left however.
Suffice to say - I believe I have been blessed with the opportunities afforded me in the aviation world - Mil for many years and Police for many years!
I challenge anyone to tell me that they HAVEN'T enjoyed flying. Savour that last word: "Flying". How many normal mortals get the chance to fly almost every day of their lives, I ask you????? IF you asked any member of the public would they like to lift off and soar through the clouds and look down over our beautiful countryside at any time day or night - 95% of men would say yes and probably 40% of women would (strange but true).
I digress - the OP asks about professional flying.
This is where it gets messy and I get confrontational:
I don't think anyone will argue that military flying is the best form of flying ever! Almost all regimes of flight are encountered and explored. Commercial: Mmmm a different beast methinks. Pick the wrong type of professional flying and the love affair could quite easily fizzle out - and quickly.
I have never flown Oil rigs - I have flown in a goon suit for bloody years though and I know (without having done it for real) that offshore oil and gas rig flying is enough to drive any proper pilot to drink! Monotonous doesn't even come near it!
Charter - Mmmm, those who have worked with me and who have come from this background offer mixed reviews. Good clients, bad clients.
Corporate - Again mixed reviews but perhaps even more heavily biased towards bad experiences due to unsymapthetic principle owners.
Crop/L lifting/bush etc: Mmmm Those I have talked to indetail seem overall to have discovered a niche market (in this country anyway) where there is massive +ve feedback. You are almost your own boss. Back to basics yes, but they certainly know how to get the best out of their steed...and IF they survive, they seem to make the best 'Polers' in the industry.
I come from an industry where money was no object. The best possible cabs, the best possible maintenance and the best ever - equipment. Because of this, it attracts the best ever people....and the picture becomes complete.
Would I go back and do it again: In a heartbeat!
