just retired from the rat race
 

Hi all,just retired after 35yrs flying,from Viscounts to B747,and all inbetween.
What a change in the status/treatment of professional pilots in this time.Used to be a respected job and employers treated you as a true professional....sadly not any more.Pilots are treated as hired hands,by employers and airline agencies alike,with worthless contracts and abyssmal t& conditions,more appropriate for a labourer.
Budget airlines have excaserbated this trend,with ludicrous turn around times and fatiguing rosters,only concerned with productivity and maximum legal(???) hours.
I will miss my flying colleagues,who still have to accept these apalling conditions.They are true professionals,led by incompetent management.Pilots in charge of multi million pound aircraft and several hundred lives deserve a far better deal,and I just hope somene will realise what a fantastic job these guys/gals do,and get the recognition and rewards they deserve,without having to threaten industrial action.

Good luck and happy landings.......

I quite agree.
 

Thank you and good luck to you. No more sim, medicals, night flights, early starts, passenger hassles, crew food, 100 hr/month rosters, idiotic management edicts, and maybe worst of all, UK security staff idiocy.

....come to think of it , I fancy retirement too. (If it wasn't for the flying, that is). Ah well.

Dear NMNFs,

On behalf of all pilots, and all airline industry professionals, thank you for all you have done. We have no doubt met at some time during the last 40 years. Enjoy your well earned retirement.

Consider this: Things will continue to change, and young people will continue to have a good time despite all the obstacles placed before them. This does not of course absolve management of responsibility and accountability.

From a humble PAX thanks you for all you did.

You and your colleagues will always be more than mere bus drivers to us.

enjoy your retirement, walk away safe in the knowledge that you had a career many of us can only dream of :)

Well done.
 

What he said! :ok:

Happy retirement, look at it this way. At least you had the good bits, the 'happy time' if you like. The rest of us think this is normal!:ugh:

If it's any consolation, you hear it in lot of professions and ordinary jobs. Corporate BS and beancounting is the order of the day in most companies these days.:*

Good luck from The Great White North...
 

In just over 20 years I'll be following you into hanging up the hat, and folding away the wings for the last time.

Enjoy your retirement, and best wishes from us all here on the west side of the Big Pond - I'll send you a wave heading westward tomorrow (Thursday) on yet another crossing home...

There have been huge changes, even in the 14 years I've been on the heavy metal - we all hope it'll get better...

Zwitter - I am sure NMNF and all us drivers appreciate the kind thoughts.

All the best for Your Future NMNF;)

Tanx for your words...Wise and Lovely:D

Cheers:ok:

Good luck and God bless!

But I bet you'll be wandering up to your local Flying Club fairly shortly - just to see what's going on of course :ok:

Yip, and all the best from me as well. You may even have flown me at some stage.

I realise that maybe the good old days have long gone, but it's the same in most jobs/careers nowadays I can assure you.

As has been mentioned earlier, there are plenty of us who envy you for what you have seen and done.

Have a very long and happy retirement. You've earned it.

Cheers.

Happy Days and enjoy
 

Quote:

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What a change in the status/treatment of professional pilots in this time.Used to be a respected job and employers treated you as a true professional....sadly not any more.Pilots are treated as hired hands,by employers and airline agencies alike,with worthless contracts and abyssmal t& conditions,more appropriate for a labourer.

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Every word the TRUTH. My dear old dad ex RAF, ex British South American Airlines ex BOAC and ex BA - Lancaster dropping bombs on the HUN to B747 moving hundreds of pax at a time via the Constellation through Comets - says exactly the SAME. So I guess you must be right!

Enjoy your retirement and don't be shy - I am sure the local flying club will welcome you - even if it's only for a coffee and a chat :)

Its a great feeling
Hope you sleep well
Im still waiting:(

In 30 year they can carry me out on a stretcher as well; if I can go early at 60. I have seen change in the last 8 years; I can only imagine how dramatic it is to see it happen from the start.
Ah well... One day all the baddies from management will be punished by a higher force. I am stronger than the avarage brainless idiot trying to attack my free time (again..) and wll not let it get to me.
Life is good.

Many wise and well meant words. Sadly erosion will continue until pilots not only stick together, but also co-ordinate across companies....and countries.

Retirement,
 

Hi all,
Let's hope that every Pilot in the World could say teh same thing in the future!!!!!!!!!!
Happy landings.

Hi NMNF,

Great posting and nice to know you realise how good it was in the past. Today, sure it's not nearly as good, especially in the lower end of things. However, it's a different ballgame and the airlines have to really compete to survive - not just pay lip-service to competition as in pooled routes or protected rights that nobody else could access as was the case before de-regulation.

Most of us would love to have had the career that you've had and may you have many and fruitful days ahead - hopefully also remembering those good times that we're not too likely to experience. Despite the changes for the worse, most of us still love this business and do not consider it a job. It certainly beats stacking shelves and other such jobs that I've done in the past and I hope I never get too complacent about where I am now or forget where I came from. That's not to say that we shouldn't stand up for our collective rights. It's just a different ballgame with a different emphasis now. The Southwests etc have utterly changed life as you guys used to know it and we have to live with the hand we've been dealt.

It would be great if you and your buddies would write up your stories - perhaps like the late gentleman Len Morgan who wrote so eloquently for years for Flying magazine. That might inspire some little kid to try his hand at this game and who knows, some day he might be writing in Pprune about hanging up his goggles and on it would go... It's still a very privileged view of the world that we get and it would be great to pass it on. May you have many years of sundowners watching the world go (rushing) by! Thanks.

Most pilots would consider that stacking shelves is not what they would aspire to if they weren't flying. The consideration of how a pilot with the responsibility of operating an airliner should be treated should be based on something with commensurate responsibility. If you consider that merely better off than a shelf-stacker is good enough, perhaps you should re-examine your attitude towards the profession.

BTW NMNF, good luck sir and enjoy retirement. While not wishing for an immediate accumulation of such a wise and learned amount of years, it is perhaps a good position to be in.

no more nite flights

Have a great well deserved retirement. I hang up the hat in 3 months and will change my alias to "no more flying past 8 PM"

I'is because of people like you , that i decided to be a pilot when i was young.
And even if you stop your professional flying carrer , i'am sure that your teachements and your joy for the job will' alwys be in all the people that have been flying with a gentleman like you.
"we cannot direct the wind , but we can fix the route"
Regards.