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