The other stuff

There's a guy in Indiana that I keep in touch with, give advice to and answer questions for. He's wanting to do what I done. No, not clog a hotel toilet in the morning. He wants to ditch an existing career and fly airplanes for a living. I refuse to tell him, "Don't do it... you'll hate it... blaaa blaa..." But, I'm also not going to lead him on saying it's all rainbows and butterflies.

Even after only a year in the industry, I understood what those guys were talking about when they told me not to do this for a living, but its still something I'm glad I did. It fits me far better than the old "cubical farm" did. I just wasn't cut out for that.

As a long distance commuter, I have spent many an hour on the jumpseat of mainline aircraft. I think 90% of the captains on those planes and many of the FOs, have military aviation backgrounds. The particular crew that pops into my head, were both military pilots and we chatted a fair bit for the flight. Once they learned of my former career they said, "What made you wanna do this for a living?" I said that I had always loved planes, loved flying them, and I dearly hated my job. Their reply was, "Oh yeah, flying airplanes is great. But, it's not the flying part that's the problem!"

They really hit the nail on the head with that. The actual flying of the aircraft is really a fun and challenging job. It's the "other stuff" that's more difficult and annoying to deal with. Everything from reading endless company memos that seem to be meant for a 3 year old, to listening to your company management tell you how poorly flight crews do their job and how we're to blame for the company not making money. About 90% of what happens outside of the plane is a pain in the ass. Some things are worse than others. For the most part, once all the passengers are on board, and the cabin door is closed, about 90% of that work isn't bad at all. There are challenges involved in the flight, but the actual operation of the flight is what you've really signed up for.

When my Indiana buddy asks me a question, I don't pull the PR move and act like everything is great in my line of work. I try to be honest and fair. He knows and understands that. I wish I had more people like me to chat with before I made the jump to this career. I would have still done it, however, I certainly could have been better prepared for things. It would have made for fewer mistakes and a lot less stress.