PilotMan
11-05-2012, 11:17 AM
I don't typically go on and on about things in my personal life on here. Especially when it comes to my job, I keep things on the up and up, and protect my profession and the company that I work for. This is a very small and competitive industry and words travel around the internet quickly. The number of commercial airline pilots in the entire US is roughly the same size as the number of workers in one auto plant. It's a small industry.
When I first found FOFC some 13 or 14 years ago now, I was a single man (although in a serious relationship), a college graduate who had gone to flight school to try and forge a career in the airline industry. I taught as a flight instructor for 2 years in Florida and got hired by a company based in Cincinnati. At the time, this company was the place to be as a first job in the airline business.
Many of you know me and know the sort of path that I have taken, and to keep this post relatively short and to the point I'll save you the long version of it. So the short is that I got married, started a family and committed myself to taking care of them, and that meant being the sole bread winner so that my wife could dedicate herself to our kids and keeping our house running while I was away working.
The company that I chose to go work for had a couple good years. Seniority is everything in aviation and the problem is that each year you add gets you some level of job security and leaving for any reason opens you up for the risk that starting over at the bottom always does. That was a risk that I was not willing to take for my family.
So I hung on, and my career stagnated. I always say that this career is like a stick in a river. Sometimes it finds the current and flows right along. Sometimes its stuck and mired in the eddies on the side. Either path can change on a moments notice, and the good is rarely good for long, extended times.
Almost 13 years from when I decided to make this my career choice, I was still at a point where I was just about 1 step up from a beginner in this job. Things were not going well at the company, and the writing was on the wall. I had considered just riding it into the ground, and taking a break while I reset and got some unemployment. However, there was an opportunity for me to make a move, take a chance, and possibly make some headway in this horrible career I had chosen.
So in June I did. It has had a huge negative impact on my family in the short term. I am gone so much more than I ever was before, and the pay cut that I took was nearly 50%. My wife (of 12 years coming up in 2 weeks) works her ass off running our family and supports me all the way, and I'm lucky that she loves our kids and me that much because she easily could have taken a different path. Pilots frequntly suffer from AIDS, Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome. We knew that despite all that pain, that there was still the chance that something good might come out of it all.
In September, my former company closed its doors for good. A sad end for a lot of my good friends. The news though, isn't all bad for me. The gamble appears, at least for now and the foreseeable future, to have paid off. On November 1st, I upgraded to Captain for the first time in my career. I have been ready for this moment for years, literally years. I have missed out on career advancement because this moment has taken so long to happen, but finally, after all this time, it's here.
The pay increase is significant, and while the schedule still sucks badly, unless it's a mirage, relief should be coming within months, not years. I can't tell you how it feels to finally see this step, which in the grand scheme of things is stll fairly small, but for me seems massive right now. Finally, I am in sole command of the aircraft, and the total responsibility is mine.
I am still planning on making a move to a much bigger airline. An airline with a future for me where I could stay for the rest of my flying career. That move may take 2 years or more, but at least for now. I am finally moving in the right path, heading the right direction. Feelings, after years of bashing my head against a wall, and feeling like I made a huge mistake by choosing this seemed to temper a little.
It's not over, but this little bit of relief is a welcome feeling. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I just wanted to share a bit of my news.
PM
When I first found FOFC some 13 or 14 years ago now, I was a single man (although in a serious relationship), a college graduate who had gone to flight school to try and forge a career in the airline industry. I taught as a flight instructor for 2 years in Florida and got hired by a company based in Cincinnati. At the time, this company was the place to be as a first job in the airline business.
Many of you know me and know the sort of path that I have taken, and to keep this post relatively short and to the point I'll save you the long version of it. So the short is that I got married, started a family and committed myself to taking care of them, and that meant being the sole bread winner so that my wife could dedicate herself to our kids and keeping our house running while I was away working.
The company that I chose to go work for had a couple good years. Seniority is everything in aviation and the problem is that each year you add gets you some level of job security and leaving for any reason opens you up for the risk that starting over at the bottom always does. That was a risk that I was not willing to take for my family.
So I hung on, and my career stagnated. I always say that this career is like a stick in a river. Sometimes it finds the current and flows right along. Sometimes its stuck and mired in the eddies on the side. Either path can change on a moments notice, and the good is rarely good for long, extended times.
Almost 13 years from when I decided to make this my career choice, I was still at a point where I was just about 1 step up from a beginner in this job. Things were not going well at the company, and the writing was on the wall. I had considered just riding it into the ground, and taking a break while I reset and got some unemployment. However, there was an opportunity for me to make a move, take a chance, and possibly make some headway in this horrible career I had chosen.
So in June I did. It has had a huge negative impact on my family in the short term. I am gone so much more than I ever was before, and the pay cut that I took was nearly 50%. My wife (of 12 years coming up in 2 weeks) works her ass off running our family and supports me all the way, and I'm lucky that she loves our kids and me that much because she easily could have taken a different path. Pilots frequntly suffer from AIDS, Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome. We knew that despite all that pain, that there was still the chance that something good might come out of it all.
In September, my former company closed its doors for good. A sad end for a lot of my good friends. The news though, isn't all bad for me. The gamble appears, at least for now and the foreseeable future, to have paid off. On November 1st, I upgraded to Captain for the first time in my career. I have been ready for this moment for years, literally years. I have missed out on career advancement because this moment has taken so long to happen, but finally, after all this time, it's here.
The pay increase is significant, and while the schedule still sucks badly, unless it's a mirage, relief should be coming within months, not years. I can't tell you how it feels to finally see this step, which in the grand scheme of things is stll fairly small, but for me seems massive right now. Finally, I am in sole command of the aircraft, and the total responsibility is mine.
I am still planning on making a move to a much bigger airline. An airline with a future for me where I could stay for the rest of my flying career. That move may take 2 years or more, but at least for now. I am finally moving in the right path, heading the right direction. Feelings, after years of bashing my head against a wall, and feeling like I made a huge mistake by choosing this seemed to temper a little.
It's not over, but this little bit of relief is a welcome feeling. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I just wanted to share a bit of my news.
PM