Wild Blue Yonder

[GoldenRivet]

2017 did it for me. 261 days on the road away from friends and family, wife and kids etc. thats the bulk of my year in cities far and away from everything that makes life worth living.

Made me question long and hard what my motives were for doing the insurance job i have been committed to for the past seven years. Though it gives me a great deal of financial security and a comfortable life, it has done so at the expense of years of my life being traded in, years i will never get back. I have lived the past seven years vicariously through my facebook news feed, watched my step daughter grow up through pictures posted by my wife, i have read the play by play of parties, social gatherings, birthdays, eaten more than a few thanksgiving dinners alone at Denny's 1500 miles from the nearest soul who knew who i was.

It has been a lifestyle of much sacrifice and im just not going to do that anymore. My fear is that i would look up one day, i'll be 60 years old, and my whole existence will be measured by which city i occupied in each year and for what reason. I've already looked up approaching 40, and thought to myself how each of the past seven years has been compartmentalized into cities and towns. Cleveland, Newark, Amarillo, Denver, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Memphis, Atlantic City, Birmingham... the list goes on. all places i've pitched camp or holed up in a roach motel for months on end.

and for what? just so i can send a healthy paycheck home to a wife and two step kids i wont see for 8 months?

just so i can contribute $30,000 a year of my income to the Internal Revenue Service? pay another $10,000 for hotels and RV parks, thousands more on fuel, food, etc?

I have decided against buying an airplane as was discussed several months ago... i figured it would only spend most of its time languishing in a hangar, absorbing more of my income just so i could have a few moments of flying pleasure in the winter months. Why? When i can rent for a fraction of the cost of ownership?

Its time for a change.

In September of 2017 i paid a visit to an Aviation Medical Examiner and renewed my 1st class pilot's medical certificate. the following month i completed my flight review, instrument proficiency check, took on a student pilot and have been doing a fair amount of flying over the past few months.

I have put my resume out there and it resulted in my being hired by an Essential Air Service Air Carrier based in the Dallas Ft. Worth international airport in Dallas, Texas not an hour and a half from my driveway, where, i will serve as Captain aboard a Pilatus PC-12. I start training on the aircraft in a month.

as i sit here well until the wee hours of the morning pouring through the aircraft flight manual, making notes, flash cards, highlighting... learning about the limitations of the aircraft and its systems, completing online courses meant to prepare me for the hands on training that fast approaches i feel that old familiar feeling of being overwhelmed and enamored all at once. I am filled with both trepidation and fascination.

my goal from the young and optimistic age of 18 when i first took to the air, was to become a captain with an airline... any airline, flying anything really.

after 9/11 it seemed impossible, and in fact for the most part it was. but apparently things have improved a great deal.

I'm happy to finally be able to bear that title and the responsibility that comes with it. Though the PC-12 is no massive airliner bound for romantic destinations in the far east, its a fine aircraft by all accounts, and i look forward to putting it through its paces in a few weeks time.

on paper it represents about a 60% annual pay cut for me to take this job - but when you think about the taxes i wont be paying, the hotel costs and rv park expenses i wont be shelling out, the fuel i wont be running through my truck... the cut really is not that deep. we've run the numbers, and its close, but doable.

and most importantly i'll be home 12-14 days every month, in my own bed.

and... its only a year contract. If i do it and decide it wont work out for whatever reason, i have other options. My current employer is going to give me a year hiatus.

so, on to the next chapter. I hope its the right move to make choosing quality of life over chasing storms and the next dollar

[Commander Wallace]

I'm happy to hear things are coming together in a positive way for you John. You have certainly paid your dues. I'm sure your family will be thrilled to have you home on a regular basis. There are other things talented people can do that they enjoy that won't take them away from their families for extended periods of time. Keep us posted on how things are going.


All the best now and in your future endeavors John.

[Sailor Steve]

This is great news John. I've been following your (mis)adventures on SubSim's FaceBook page, and your ruminations concerning life on the road. I hope this one works out for you and your family.

[Mr Quatro]

Nice plane John ... may you always take off and land safely

[Giesemaschine]

You only live once, I'm glad you have figured out what makes you happy in life.

I'm 31 years old, working on getting my PPL and hope to be doing what you do within the next 5 years. I was worried I was too old, but I quickly learned that you are NEVER too old to pursue a lifelong dream, or do something you love (even if it means a 60% paycut - worth it). It's a long road ahead of me, but reading your post has given me a kick in the ass and the motivation to REALLY stick with it to get my training done. So thank you for sharing this.

The PC-12 is a gorgeous plane and looks fun as hell, CONGRATS!

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by Giesemaschine

You only live once, I'm glad you have figured out what makes you happy in life.

I'm 31 years old, working on getting my PPL and hope to be doing what you do within the next 5 years. I was worried I was too old, but I quickly learned that you are NEVER too old to pursue a lifelong dream, or do something you love (even if it means a 60% paycut - worth it). It's a long road ahead of me, but reading your post has given me a kick in the ass and the motivation to REALLY stick with it to get my training done. So thank you for sharing this.

The PC-12 is a gorgeous plane and looks fun as hell, CONGRATS!

the only thing sadder than a dream you don't pursue, is one you walk out on.

now given, when i fulfilled my dream of becoming an airline pilot back in 2005, the industry was still feeling the effects of 9/11. I was one of the first pilots hired by the company i worked for after a near 4 year freeze on hiring. I was faced with an 8-10 year upgrade time to get a captain seat, and the more reasonable pay that came with it.

In the mean time i would have to just deal with the sub $25,000 annual salary. That proved too great a burden. No way i could save money to buy a home, for the first year i was borrowing a family member's vehicle to get to work. Twice i had to call in because the transmission had failed in the vehicle i was borrowing. the realization quickly set in that i had attended years of tech school and sweated it out as a flight instructor just to "swing landing gear" for "+/- $20K a year and that realization made the "dream" into more of a nightmare.

its not that i didnt love flying, its just that i couldnt make a living at it.

for whatever reason, that has changed. I like to point at the "colgan air law" which mandated that airlines couldnt hire a pilot or any pilot position unless he met vastly increased minimum experience requirements.

In the old days, if you had the required licenses and 400 or 500 hours in the logbook, no matter how warm the ink was, you could be hired to right seat in a flashy regional jet. All that changed when a Colgan Air Dash 8 made a flaming nasty crater in a neighborhood in Buffalo, New York

suddenly you have a lot of pilots fresh out of school who just werent able to be hired, which kinked the hose that was once flowing fresh pilots to seniority lists at airlines all over the country.

now it seems the pilot bucket needs to be filled back up at lots of airlines, EAS companies, regionals etc... and the slow trickle coming out the end of the hose is creating a lot of competition for companies thirsty for fliers. $20,000 bonus if you sign a 2 year agreement with Company A, $25,000 bonus if you come to Company B, $45,000 bonus if you have airline experience and come to Company C etc.

Some companies arent offering bonuses simply because they are already a revolving door for pilots seeking experience. but most companies are.

I turned down a $45,000 cash offer with an immediate captain seat on an E-175 simply because it meant a two year commitment as a reserve captain in LaGuardia or Chicago. It wouldn't require me to move there. I could still live in the greatest place on Earth... Texas but i would have to maintain a secondary residence known as a "crash pad" in New York or Chicago and commute there and live there 4 days a week. (picture an apartment full of sleeping bags and bunk beds except for in the kitchen) no thanks. i wouldnt live in either of those places for 2 years for $100,000 bonus.

Being an EAS company, i wont go to a wide variety of places. a few locales in New Mexico, a couple in Texas, Tennesse and Alabama. 3 legs a day. starting normally around 7am and done by 1pm, or starting around noon and done by 7pm. typically 4 days on 3 days off. If my wife wants to make dinner plans with our friends, or throw a back yard BBQ next Saturday ill be able to tell her "Saturday wont work but Sunday is good" instead of "Have a good time and send me lots of pictures" or "ill be able to make it if you host it in November"

My job in the insurance business paid me well. I wont divulge the exact annual income, but 2017 was in the ballpark of a quarter of a million dollars. Unusually high earning year, but my typical annual income was still in the 150K-180K range. I had to go a lot of places and do a lot of things i didnt want to have to do, and suffer through a lot of stress, rope and harness off on 2 and 3 story roofs with very steep and complicated designs, I had to complete sometimes complex and involved insurance investigations, correct large and complex estimates which were generated by other people which contained a number of errors and omissions while having little original information or inaccurate and incomplete diagrams to go on.

even maintain calm on more than one occasion while trying to deal with combative, angry, frustrated people who were talking to me the way i wouldnt talk to a stray dog. The job saw me cussed at by women well into their 80s, thrown off peoples property, i've had my truck broken into three times. all the while i have to tell my wife on the phone it will just be 4 more months before im released from the project and can come home. The job certainly had its redeeming qualities too dont get me wrong. I provided an elderly widow a $10,000(+/-) settlement for the replacement of her roof due to hail damage once and she went into tears of absolute, honest, sincere gratitude. I was only doing the job i was sent to do, investigate, estimate and settle her claim... but i will never forget the pride i felt at that moment in helping this woman out. it was a very moving experience to be honest. I remember handing her the check and she just looked at it and said to me "Nobody has every given me this much money at one time in my life."

But if i have to choose between doing all that for +/-$150,000/Yr and flying a PC-12 or something similar 3 legs a day 4 days a week for $60K a year

toss me the keys cowboy! where do i sign?

good luck with your own pursuits. If i have learned anything the last seven years in the insurance business its that success belongs to the man willing to show up early, stay late, and put up with the crap nobody else wants to deal with.

hopefully that attitude will serve me well in my new endeavor. I suspect it will.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

now it seems the pilot bucket needs to be filled back up at lots of airlines, EAS companies, regionals etc... and the slow trickle coming out the end of the hose is creating a lot of competition for companies thirsty for fliers. $20,000 bonus if you sign a 2 year agreement with Company A, $25,000 bonus if you come to Company B, $45,000 bonus if you have airline experience and come to Company C etc.

Some companies arent offering bonuses simply because they are already a revolving door for pilots seeking experience. but most companies are.

Yeah, that's the same thing that's happening in the trucking industry. Too much govt interference and regulations has given us a really nice driver shortage. I have had an open position for 3 weeks and have received zero qualified candidates.

but when you think about the taxes i wont be paying

Man, ain't that the truth Damn progressive tax system penalizes people who try harder. So, you get a reward for taking a lower-paying job.

Always good to read your updates, John, you lead an interesting life. Congrats on your new career, you've paid your dues. Now we have to call you Captain Golden Rivet Keep us posted!

[Sailor Steve]

That's quite the story, and until this latest explanation I was wondering what you meant about a pilot struggling to make a living. I grew up surrounded by the opposite.

My dad came out of the navy in 1949 after two years in. He was just too young to be in the Second World War, though several of his older brothers served. He and one of his brothers talked about opening a trucking business from Dallas to Mexico City. With that in mind they decided that it would be a good idea to have a private plane at their disposal so they could meet the trucks at both ends. My dad and uncle took flying lessons. My dad once told me that his brother was, in his opinion, the better natural pilot, but when it came time to solo my uncle suddenly panicked, and ended up never getting his license. My dad got his, but the trucking venture failed and dad started looking for something else.

At this time my mamaw (granny for you non-Texans) saw an ad in the newspaper from United Airlines. It basically said that if you had a private license and could make your way to Seattle United would put you through some tests and pay your way back home. If you passed the tests they would arrange to put you through their flight school and give you a job. My dad jumped at this opportunity from out of nowhere, and he passed everything. United didn't fly into Dallas at that time, so they offered to move us to Los Angeles. Again dad thought this was a great idea, so at age 24 and towing a wife and two-year-old son behind he set off on his grand adventure. His first route was flying DC-3s up and down the California coast to several stops between Los Anglese and San Francisco.

The money was fine as far as he was concerned, and in 1955 he bought a brand-new three-bedroom ranch house (which at that time simply meant one story - no upstairs or basement) that was still under construction in the suburban neighborhood of Redondo Beach. He graduated to Convair 440s (his favorite) then to DC-6es and DC-7s. When United started using jets he sat in the right seat of Boeing 720s (a smaller regional version of the 707), but when the opportunity came he went back to DC-7s just so he could be Captain rather than co-pilot on the jets.

My dad stayed with United for thirty-six years, retiring from DC-10s in 1988 at the mandatory age of 60. He was number 6 on their seniority list at the time. He always said that random luck could make or break you without warning, and while he always praised hard work he also said that luck had as much to do with his success as anything.

[GoldenRivet]

Didnt know that about your lineage Steve! Thanks for sharing.


and you're father was absolutely right. You can have all the skill your hands can muster, all the knowledge your head can hold, all the work ethic of America's best working class people... but if you dont have a serving or two of luck thrown into the recipe, you and the opportunity you hoped for could blindly pass one another to no avail.

thats how i ended up where i am.

In my twenties i had the skill and the knowledge and the work ethic, but if it weren't for bad luck i wouldn't have had any - and in the simplest of terms, timing is everything as they say so it didnt work out.

hard times will come again to aviation. one morning airlines are going to snap to attention and realize "oh lord! we have way too many pilots" and they will slow down or freeze hiring or lord forbid furlough people.

if you follow Mike Rowe you have heard him say "if you cant follow your passion you should at least bring it with you." and thats what i did with the insurance job. that attitude served me well and i poured myself into that job, made a name for myself, advanced to management positions.

but now my chosen passion is throwing opportunities at me i could easily pass up... but i dont want to be asking myself 15 years down the road "what would have happened if i had gone back to flying?" and frankly, in 15 years, it will be likely too late to go back.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

My dad stayed with United for thirty-six years, retiring from DC-10s in 1988 at the mandatory age of 60. He was number 6 on their seniority list at the time. He always said that random luck could make or break you without warning, and while he always praised hard work he also said that luck had as much to do with his success as anything.

That's a pretty cool story Steve. I'm sure your dad like many aviators probably thought, " I can't believe they pay me to fly planes. " Although aviators like your dad are highly trained and rightfully so, it must be great to do that for a living. Former fighter pilot Tammie Jo Shults Has been in the news for skillfully landing her crippled airliner.

Your dad may have said luck had much to do with with his success, I don't believe that.I think talent had more to do with his success, besides, talented people usually are " lucky "

[Sailor Steve]

It's funny. My dad's big hobby was playing golf, and he won United's company-wide tournament on two separate occasions. When the time came I asked him if he was going to miss flying. He said "Are you kidding? Now I get to play golf three times a week instead of just once!" I don't think he was just putting on a good face with that comment. He at one point stated a little unhappiness with his career by that time, stating that a DC-10 was like "A giant flying office building". He also turned down the chance to fly to Hong Kong and Tokyo when Pan-Am went out of business and United picked up those routes. Though it would have meant a serious pay increase it also meant fewer flights with each one being a lot more hours. He said "I have the seniority to be offered that kind of work. I also have the seniority to turn it down."

As for luck, I think he was talking about the chance of that opportunity coming along right when his trucking dream failed. If he had the company he wouldn't have been looking for something better. And there's the other half, the bad luck. He had a few close calls in his career, and while training and experience were involved, he also believed that sometimes things happened suddenly and there was nothing you can do about it. Not Karma, or luck as some force in the universe, but sometimes things just happen.

[em2nought]

Great stories, that bird looks like it might be able to do some "fun" things in the sky.

My pop got up to training in the Vultee when WW2 ended. He flew a Cub for a few years after that, but my mom didn't like him flying under bridges so he gave it up. I did my solo, and then stopped flying. Didn't seem to make sense as I was about to be shanghaied for six long years. I sometimes still think about getting the "Sport" pilot license.

[GoldenRivet]

Passed my Captain check ride yesterday in Denver, 3 weeks training on the aircraft in total.

waiting on word to come down that i have an Initial Operating Experience schedule with a check airman. That will take about a week of flying passengers while learning the ropes as far as logistics, paperwork etc. Then ill have a regular schedule out of DFW

my long term plan is still up in the air no pun intended.

I can put in a year with this outfit, and maybe apply at some majors like United or Delta.

Or i can put in for a transfer as an instructor at the training department in Denver, Colorado. Not sure how commutable that would be though. not bad if it is week on week off.

for now, im just going to try and enjoy the flying, and the sleeping in my own bed more often and just wait for the next opportunity to slap me on the back

[Sailor Steve]

[Jimbuna]

Nice one John