Worth being a pilot at any price?
Originally Posted by Matt101
My current employer did run a few psych tests actually, but I am fairly confident that they are just another hurdle that most clever people can beat anyway if you understanf how the tests work.
Originally Posted by Matt101
I am just a tad confused about what is wrong with being excited by (or perhaps impressed by) the ability of a modern jet airliner to punch through something I wouldn't drive a car in.
Originally Posted by Paolo
Don't think you understood me matey..... when I said "slipped through the net", I meant "me" as I have gone through the UK system with a UK ATPL and various UK airline selection process without one psycho test!..... and yet I have had a reasonable career to date.
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This thread has grown into a lively one! 
Desk-pilot, there's a PM for you.
Postman23, thanks for good advice. I consider it strongly.
Dan98, I respect your decision to go back to your previous job.
FlyingOfficerKite, I may follow that guys decision.
Thanks to all for good and insightful comments! As a general remark, I value the comments most by those of you who also have a family you care about. Many of the other comments sound as coming from young, single excited "I want to fly whatever it takes.", " This is my life.", "Family or marriage is not important to me." kind of people I met so many times at flight schools, flying clubs, training courses etc. My impression is that many wannabes don't value family life particularly high. At least in their mindset they want to postpone it a couple of decades or so. I suppose I was one of the determined candidates too but I also waited a long time before I completed my training.
Most of the pilots with kids I've met spent very little time with them during their young years. Was it worth it? Many many older pilots even don't have a family at all which can not be very fun when you come close to retirement. Were all the sunsets worth it? All the Cat 3 landings? Of course, family is not for everyone but I assume pilots are like most people and most people want to have a family and a working relationship at home. There are so many divorces among pilots...
The reason I want to fly is that I want to do something else than my computer job which I have been doing for nearly twenty years now. Imagining myself doing the same thing until retirement kind of scares me. I am not a thrill seeker but I want some kind of engagement and satisfaction from my work. Being a computer guy pays well but just doesn't give me that other satisfaction.
Ok, so I decided to go for the training at a late stage in life (age 43 when commencing ATPL Theory). I am now in great dept to the bank and also divorced, partly because of my stubbornness to become a pilot. Kids still in their school years. Was it worth it? I can not answer it. Now that I'm finally at the finishing line I hesitate to cross it because of the downside of it. All I can say is that I don't want to grow old and keep thinking "What if I only had given it a try...?". That has always been my strongest motivation.
Conclusion? I will probably take the bait and accept the contract just to try it out. I can always come back to my previous job.
Thanks again and take care of your closest!
G88
Desk-pilot, there's a PM for you.
Postman23, thanks for good advice. I consider it strongly.
Dan98, I respect your decision to go back to your previous job.
FlyingOfficerKite, I may follow that guys decision.
Thanks to all for good and insightful comments! As a general remark, I value the comments most by those of you who also have a family you care about. Many of the other comments sound as coming from young, single excited "I want to fly whatever it takes.", " This is my life.", "Family or marriage is not important to me." kind of people I met so many times at flight schools, flying clubs, training courses etc. My impression is that many wannabes don't value family life particularly high. At least in their mindset they want to postpone it a couple of decades or so. I suppose I was one of the determined candidates too but I also waited a long time before I completed my training.
Most of the pilots with kids I've met spent very little time with them during their young years. Was it worth it? Many many older pilots even don't have a family at all which can not be very fun when you come close to retirement. Were all the sunsets worth it? All the Cat 3 landings? Of course, family is not for everyone but I assume pilots are like most people and most people want to have a family and a working relationship at home. There are so many divorces among pilots...
The reason I want to fly is that I want to do something else than my computer job which I have been doing for nearly twenty years now. Imagining myself doing the same thing until retirement kind of scares me. I am not a thrill seeker but I want some kind of engagement and satisfaction from my work. Being a computer guy pays well but just doesn't give me that other satisfaction.
Ok, so I decided to go for the training at a late stage in life (age 43 when commencing ATPL Theory). I am now in great dept to the bank and also divorced, partly because of my stubbornness to become a pilot. Kids still in their school years. Was it worth it? I can not answer it. Now that I'm finally at the finishing line I hesitate to cross it because of the downside of it. All I can say is that I don't want to grow old and keep thinking "What if I only had given it a try...?". That has always been my strongest motivation.
Conclusion? I will probably take the bait and accept the contract just to try it out. I can always come back to my previous job.
Thanks again and take care of your closest!
G88
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Clandestino
Point 1 - Understood, still I like to think my head is screwed on correctly though I guess they (my employers) and everyone else will have to take my (and all the other voices in my head) word for it.
Point 2 - Ouch a little bit on the simmer/spotter remark but then as I said earlier I am still rather green. I am still impressed by everything, even when a bacon and egg roll turns up on my crew tray. Seriously though I think I see what you mean, and yes I quite agree - the actual flying is the best bit, not witnessing the ability of a bus to do it for me - but still....
Sorry to the original OP for hijacking your thread by the way, and more so sorry you aren't enjoying where you are. I have personally been more lucky than I deserve in terms of my current employer, and the operation I work in (and the fact I am young free and remain unaware of any children I may have). I hope that maybe you are just experiencing the come down after the high of achieving your goal. Ultimately only you can say. Personally I've done desks and have worked in this industry in one way or another for some time and wouldn't go back for love nor money (well maybe a tonne or so of cash and a lot of...) but everyone is different.
In the long run I am not sure that just my "job" will sustain a real lust for flying so I hope to have some fun flying on the side (when I am solvent again and maybe have a part time contract, and a float rating - we're talking way into the distant future that I dreamt about when I was 9). For some people the fun flying on the side turns out to be all they really want.
Give it time, take some advice from here to if you like, but ultimately listen to yourself. All the best (and ignore me as I am far too young to offer advice really!!)
Point 1 - Understood, still I like to think my head is screwed on correctly though I guess they (my employers) and everyone else will have to take my (and all the other voices in my head) word for it.
Point 2 - Ouch a little bit on the simmer/spotter remark but then as I said earlier I am still rather green. I am still impressed by everything, even when a bacon and egg roll turns up on my crew tray. Seriously though I think I see what you mean, and yes I quite agree - the actual flying is the best bit, not witnessing the ability of a bus to do it for me - but still....
Sorry to the original OP for hijacking your thread by the way, and more so sorry you aren't enjoying where you are. I have personally been more lucky than I deserve in terms of my current employer, and the operation I work in (and the fact I am young free and remain unaware of any children I may have). I hope that maybe you are just experiencing the come down after the high of achieving your goal. Ultimately only you can say. Personally I've done desks and have worked in this industry in one way or another for some time and wouldn't go back for love nor money (well maybe a tonne or so of cash and a lot of...) but everyone is different.
In the long run I am not sure that just my "job" will sustain a real lust for flying so I hope to have some fun flying on the side (when I am solvent again and maybe have a part time contract, and a float rating - we're talking way into the distant future that I dreamt about when I was 9). For some people the fun flying on the side turns out to be all they really want.
Give it time, take some advice from here to if you like, but ultimately listen to yourself. All the best (and ignore me as I am far too young to offer advice really!!)
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To continue this thread but from a different angle. Is there anyone who got into the right hand seat working for an operator, got disillusioned and actually gave it up and found something else?
If you did, what did you end up doing? I have found after focusing everything on being a pilot and actually getting there and currently flying that after becoming a pilot, it is very hard to find anything that one could do that may pay well and be a rewarding career.
I only ask this because I make no bones about it but at times I could really quite happily give up flying and do something else...but what?
Factors that bring me to this decision are:
Made redundant three times in the space of two years.
Now have a job flying and get paid well for it but have no roster which is extremely challenging at times and live in a foreign country away from friends and family.
24/7 standby. Calls at 2am asking me to fly at 4am etc.
Lack of roster means no days off to look forward to...don't we all look forward to the weekend? Imagine never having one.
There are many good points to the job too but when you are having a bad day, the bad points seem to become all too evident.
So just out of interest what suggestions are there? Charter Broking...any others?
Answers on a postcard please!
If you did, what did you end up doing? I have found after focusing everything on being a pilot and actually getting there and currently flying that after becoming a pilot, it is very hard to find anything that one could do that may pay well and be a rewarding career.
I only ask this because I make no bones about it but at times I could really quite happily give up flying and do something else...but what?
Factors that bring me to this decision are:
Made redundant three times in the space of two years.
Now have a job flying and get paid well for it but have no roster which is extremely challenging at times and live in a foreign country away from friends and family.
24/7 standby. Calls at 2am asking me to fly at 4am etc.
Lack of roster means no days off to look forward to...don't we all look forward to the weekend? Imagine never having one.
There are many good points to the job too but when you are having a bad day, the bad points seem to become all too evident.
So just out of interest what suggestions are there? Charter Broking...any others?
Answers on a postcard please!
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So read through with interest, as I sort of waiver around what I want.
When I was a kid... XX years ago
I wanted to be a commercial pilot. Nothing else would do. I applied for cadetships all over the place as I could not really afford even one lesson. I never made it; but I sometimes think things happen for a reason. I started to think at that stage it would be prudent to gain a backup in case - it wasn't as easy to get into flying as I thought during my naive teens.
So I went to University and got a degree. Some of the friends I had made along the way continued to plough through to try for the coveted ATPL... Out of 4 of my friends only one stills flies commercially. The others got bored and retrained as Management Consultants; Accountants... whatever took their fancy.
My friend who is still there loves it. And we are all individuals. A couple of my friends put their wings away for good...and as for me and the remaining friend... well I think we realised that flying for us is freedom to go anywhere we want when we want to, at a weekend.
I think that it is important to really know why you like to fly. Is it the Sunrises/Sunsets... maybe if you get to work for a big blue operator out of London's busiest (or even a redder one) the view of JFK at night out of your "office" window... or is it the sense of achievement hand planning; flying with a compass and stop watch and getting Cherbourg on the nose, after 30 minutes in the "fishbowl"... (Paté Baguettes are highly recommended in Cherbourg btw)
I'm in a management job totally unrelated to aviation... but am lucky that I can afford the odd few hours at the weekend to go where I want/when I want.
When I was a kid... XX years ago
I wanted to be a commercial pilot. Nothing else would do. I applied for cadetships all over the place as I could not really afford even one lesson. I never made it; but I sometimes think things happen for a reason. I started to think at that stage it would be prudent to gain a backup in case - it wasn't as easy to get into flying as I thought during my naive teens.So I went to University and got a degree. Some of the friends I had made along the way continued to plough through to try for the coveted ATPL... Out of 4 of my friends only one stills flies commercially. The others got bored and retrained as Management Consultants; Accountants... whatever took their fancy.
My friend who is still there loves it. And we are all individuals. A couple of my friends put their wings away for good...and as for me and the remaining friend... well I think we realised that flying for us is freedom to go anywhere we want when we want to, at a weekend.
I think that it is important to really know why you like to fly. Is it the Sunrises/Sunsets... maybe if you get to work for a big blue operator out of London's busiest (or even a redder one) the view of JFK at night out of your "office" window... or is it the sense of achievement hand planning; flying with a compass and stop watch and getting Cherbourg on the nose, after 30 minutes in the "fishbowl"... (Paté Baguettes are highly recommended in Cherbourg btw)
I'm in a management job totally unrelated to aviation... but am lucky that I can afford the odd few hours at the weekend to go where I want/when I want.
