I've been doing some thinking lately on my long term pilot goals. Last week on the ramp I ran into a PC-12 crew, and we got chatting as I unloaded. They were fascinated with the Cherokee 6 and its load hauling ability, and the Captain was marvelling at how this was "real flying" as compared to the button pushing they do on the PC-12 and the totally planned-to-the-detail type of flying IFR flying is, to the point where it becomes boring. The First Officer remarked that the most important decision they make is what type of reading material to bring for the day.
Strangely enough that same evening I was reading some of Dagny's blogs and came across one that had the retirement letter of a Northwest Captain, and an excellent article detailing how pilots are systematically being turned into robots and procedure followers, and the adventurer-pilot has been all but bread out of the industry, particularly the airline industry.
The retirement letter goes on about how airline pilots in the old days were revered, and respected for their skill, and paid well for it. Now they are looked at by their companies as liabilities and commodities, paid and treated poorly. In the name of safety there is no adventure to flying anymore. This is obviously a good thing in terms of making air travel incredibly safe, but it strips a flying career of the excitement and any personal rewards.
I have always been a little wary of this... I have heard and seen how the airline jobs are becoming less and less attractive for quite some time, and I'm not ignorant of it. I want to stay in the adventurous side of aviating - VFR bush flying, maybe some float flying, perhaps medevac, and hopefully, one day I can get into water bombing flying the CL-215's. I'd also like to try my hand at mountain flying, which is a whole new skill set I have yet to learn. Right now where I fly is completely flat. Much of what I enjoy about flying is the risk taking aspect of it, and the seat-of-your-pants decision making that you have to do sometimes; dealing with the unexpected. For now I am having the time of my life flying the Cherokee, especially when marginal weather rolls in. I find flying VFR in marginal weather far more rewarding then blue sky days. The other pilot I work with has tons of experience (2500+ hrs) flying the C206, which gets put on skis during the snow season. Some of the flying he does can be quite extreme in my eyes, and it looks like so much fun. He's landed on small untouched frozen lakes to drop off hunters, half melting rivers, and rough tundra (with the wheels on). Places where he's the first and only airplane to visit.
Eventually I imagine I'll want to settle down and fly a nice corporate jet with decent pay in or near my hometown. But right now I'm single, so I might as well go after and enjoy the more adventurous side of aviation.
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I recall a conversation I had with the owner of the aviation school where you first learned to fly. We were watching a commercial plane take off and just as the wheels were up he said, "By now, they're reading a magazine." I thought how automated is that but now can recognize that automated is often not good. This is also true of the medical and healthcare industry where evidence based medicine has created knee jerk medicine where there is little joy or satisfaction left in it - although, like flying, it is better for the patient/customer.
ReplyDeleteThese are good thoughts to have Chad. You need to work this out before you take a position where your future is dictated.
I believe at the end of the day I am one of those adventure seekers. I have had the opportunity to fly an airline gig (Porter) and turned it down. I realized when the moment to sign the paper work that I just wasn't into flying back and forth to the same place everyday (that was back when they started and were only servicing YOW, I think I would have lost my damn mind doing that all day every day...argh)
ReplyDeleteNow that I have lucked into choppers I see what I really like to do. And that's nor flying from pavement to pavement. At least flying medevacs I was going into gravel, and other fun stuff. With no auto pilot (company pulled them out. LOL)
Good luck, and enjoy what you are doing now. You will find your way.
The way the airline industry is going, money will soon no longer be a factor in the decision anyway, especially when you consider lifestyle. And a "quieter" GA pilot lifestyle may also give you more time for side-jobs and other activities. That being said, going back to GA after the airlines shouldn't be too hard either.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago I went on a week-long cross-country flight with other club airplanes. One was flown by a CPL student and his dad, a 747 captain for an Australian airline. The father had so much fun flying the 182 that he wouldn't let his son fly :-) The only scary part is that he would start flaring the 182 at 100 feet, which would scare the hell our of everyone else on board.
Lol, I knew an ex-747 Captain who flew a 172 around for fun as well, he had the same problem with flaring hundreds of feet too high. Pretty funny, but not for the instructor who was checking him out :).
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