Over the last few years, I have heard many a pilot complain. I've even heard others complain that pilots complain too much. After a little while in this industry, I even found myself complaining. I've not been known for whining in the past, so this got me thinking. Why is it that pilots bitch so much?
Lets take a look at how we are "brought up" in this industry. It begins after the first few lessons in a single engine piston aircraft. It is readily apparent as you are getting ready for your first FAA written exam and your checkride. And, throughout the rest of your ratings and later type-ratings, it's very much a part of how you do things.
What is this "it" I'm talking about? Well, any good CFI (certified flight instructor) will tell you that practicing the things you already know isn't going to make progress. While it's true that repetition is good, spending time to see yourself do what you're good at might satisfy your ego, but it won't help you improve much. It's that very concept that teaches pilots to always focus on what's bad, not what's good. That's how you make progress. Keep pushing yourself to get better and better each flight. Even in ground school, don't waste time studying material you already know. Spend your time going over what you don't know. This is especially true when learning to fly bigger, faster and more complex aircraft. Training is never "at your own pace." It's like drinking from a firehose. Everyone is held to the same accelerated curriculum schedule. You can't waste the limited time you have. You must maximize your learning time by working on what you don't know. Funny thing is, this approach works!
Now the trouble is, after years of success with this approach to studying and flying, it starts to trickle over into other facets of life. Again, this does have some positive aspects, but it also has a downside. You tend not to take time to enjoy the good things. If something is good, then it must not need your attention. Instead you end up paying attention to things that suck, things that should be fixed, things that you want to change. (i.e.: lack of days off, long work days, short overnights, out of date work rules from the 1940s, procedures in your operating manual that don't work but if you don't follow them you'll be fired by the douche that wrote them who never flies anything but a desk, fighting with maintenance trying to get something fixed on an aircraft with a company that doesn't want to delay a flight, etc, etc...)
The public has long held the belief that airline pilots have easy jobs, work very little, get paid lots, and complain about everything. Then sadly, the Colgan crash earlier this year told everyone a truth that they didn't want to hear at the cost of 50 lives. The fact is, there is rarely a shortage of things to complain about it when flying for a regional airline. So much so that most people would ask the intelligent question of "Well, if it's so awful, why the hell do you keep doing it?" A fair question to be sure, and the answer is two-fold.
First off, by nature, most pilots aren't ones to back down from a challenge. There is a certain pride that goes with being able to do the same job as someone else under more trying conditions. Its not uncommon to hear pilots tell fish stories about approaches they've shot in bad weather, in icing, with no landing gear, on fire, leaking oil, almost out of fuel, in 4,000 knot crosswinds. And, sure enough, they happened to grease the landing too! Even as you listen to these stories you can almost see the soot on their face, the oil covered goggles and even the white scarf. Regional airline management has capitalized on this big time. And, little by little, now we have people like me who spend a ton of money getting the qualifications for the job, then work our tails off for pathetic pay. I can't speak for everyone, but I sure don't feel better than everyone else for it.
The second part is (brace yourself for this...) flying is really awesome. Everyday I'm at work, looking down at the world from 37,000 ft, I think back to the cubical I occupied years ago and just how miserable I was. I was treated a little better and paid a lot better, but I hated it. Back then, I hated my job but I enjoyed knowing my schedule, being paid well, being able to get days off as needed and not living in constant fear of being fired and/or violated by the FAA. Today, I love my job, but I hate most of the management I work for, the hours I have to work, the fact that I will never know my schedule more than a few weeks out at best and 1 or 2 days at the worst, that my schedule is always subject to change at the will of Crew Scheduling, and I even hate looking at my pathetic paycheck. But, even with 5 hours of sleep after being on duty for over 13 hours the day prior, hearing "cleared for take off" in my headset, pushing the thrust levers forward, hearing those engines spool up, feeling the acceleration down the runway, lifting off, pointing the nose skyward and popping through a grey, damp cloud deck in a climbing turn and bursting into clear blue sunny skies is something I dearly love every single time I do it. And, I'm learning to spend more time enjoying it as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment