Well, the pay ain't exactly dazzlin,...... but the hours, are great............

ccurrie wrote:I have a friend who is a fireman, he is unblieveable at pool and ping pong.

pif_sonic wrote:Hey Rob,

Do you know why Police Officers cannot be Firemen??

Because we failed the RECLINER CHAIR & REMOTRE CONTROLL training classes.

Guilty as charged.

iceman wrote:

Bonanza Man wrote:I have a friend who is an electrician here in Billings, MT. There isn't any housing decline here. Building continues unabated. He could work 100 hours a week if he wanted. There can be long waits if you need an electrician or plumber around here now. Has been that way for years. You'd have zero problem finding work with any number of companies here.

Yeah I forgot Montana, if you can stand the cold winters. I can but my wife hates cold weather. THere you go. All you gotta do is make up your mind to do it and, like I said, don't look back. Make a trip to wherever you may want to live and check it out. Good fishing in Montana. I think "a river runs through it"...

Montana's pretty big, you can find winter weather to suit your needs. Here in Billings it often gets well above freezing at any time during the winter. In fact the average high is rarely below freezing. No humidity and no bugs in the summer.

Just BIG rattlesnakes!

Bigdawg, I run in and out of ILN nightly, I'll stop by next time I lay over there. Tom

Are you on the NW bird? A few nights ago another guy and I were working on our 100LL tank (standing on top of it) around 0100 . We both looked up and saw what we thought was a 74 departing, probably less than 1000 agl. It gets real exciting when the DC 8s fly over at pattern altitude, everything in the building shakes!

I was raised on a small wheat/barley farm outside Grangeville, ID.

mtbowhunter, you are not the only attorney dumb enough to admit it. I practiced law for about 4 years in Texas, right during the great crash of 1983.

Moved to Sonoma County, CA in 1985, decided to starve and go into business for myself and quit filling out timeslips. Commercial/industrial real estate development. Even though there are more commies per square foot in this county than any other county in American, its been a good run in real estate here.

Just trying to find some good land back in Idaho County.

Seems like most everyone makes an early choice: fly young and often but just make ends meet or make some money and fly later. I have a hard time figuring out which one is better. I know I missed out on 25 years of flying fun, but now I can fly when and where I want.

Seems like most everyone makes an early choice: fly young and often but just make ends meet or make some money and fly later. I have a hard time figuring out which one is better. I know I missed out on 25 years of flying fun, but now I can fly when and where I want.

I got my ticket while I was in my early twenties, and the flight school I went to offered me a job as an instructor if I wanted to get my CFI. But flying for a living seemed like a real good way to stay perpetually poor. It also seemed like a really good way to start hating airplanes.

Turns out I was able to stay perpetually poor even without flying for a living, but at least I never lost my love for aviation. I've never regretted getting my ticket at a time in my life that I couldn't afford to keep flying...just learning how was worth every penny.

375handh wrote: Even though there are more commies per square foot in this county than any other county in American, its been a good run in real estate here.

Did they migrate from Russia? China? Maybe Cuba? How come your part of the world has more, does the colder weather attract them somehow? Are there a lot of collective farms in your area? Do they have red flags flying in their front yards?

I am the general manager for our family lodges in Alaska. Bennies are definitely location, quality family time, and the variety of the work. On the other hand, it's a pretty intense summer season, as many of you can probably relate to. Even in the winter it seems there's always something coming at you. There's a book about traditional Alaska Native lifestyles called "Always Getting Ready". That's how it can seem here sometimes, which is when it's great to be able to hop in the plane, cruise out to some remote location, shut down, and just enjoy the quiet.

The great thing about flying as a hobby is that when you're up there, absolutely nothing matters except flying the plane, and getting safely back down. All the daily grind fades into temporary irrelevance. Somehow I don't think it'd be quite the same if I was a golfer. (Not dissing golfers- hey, at least those fairways could come in handy for landing on...) Sometimes I fly in my work to make something easier or more fun, but I'm strictly non-commercial. Flying's more about R&R for me, and a great privilege.

When we decided that we would continue to live in Alaska long-term, my wife and I promised each other that we would make a point to see more of this incredible state. (365 million acres of it- that's a million acres a day for a year). Stepping up from a Taylorcraft to a 170B was part of that promise. We can get places in hours that would otherwise take a day to drive to, or weeks to walk to. And the great thing Alaska has going in summer is the daylight. It doesn't matter when the workday finally winds down- there's still light to go flying by. A lot of my most pleasant flying has probably been between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am, and the air is smooth as silk then, too.

Having said all that, most of my role models in aviation are folks that fly for a living, so I have a lot of respect for those that earn their bread and butter that way. Like I said, It's a great privilege for me, and I'll make the most of it while it's available to me.

Denailpilot

It doesn't have to be either or for flying. You can fly for a living as well as enjoyment. Flying for a living doesn't mean you finish up bitter and twisted and not wanting to go near Aircraft. I have seen people like that but with my case I've been flying for a job since 1980 and I still fly on weeknds for something to do. I think I'll still be enjoying both in another ten years.

Point well taken Student Pilot. As a matter of fact, I find that professional pilots probably enjoy talking about their work as much as anybody. Cheers to that, Mate.

I would say that 90 to 95 percent of major airline pilots have nothing to do with general aviation. They play golf . Boring! (A golf course is a perfectly wasted airstrip. ) Most are out of the military or aviation type colleges (first job in the right seat of a turboprop or RJ) and possess no real love for flying, just the money and days off.


IdahoSuperCub

Hey Idaho SuperCub,
Until you've taken off from a golf course and played golf too, it's hard to make a comparison....(a story better told around the campfire in the backcountry).

I used to think the same about that game until my son became a professional golfer, so I had to learn the silly game...Boy, now I'd rank it pretty high and even compare to making a good landing at a 800'strip with no go-around potential....

It took me three or four years of golfing before I'd say that, but until you've played that silly game it's hard to relate....But, I'd still rather be at a backcountry strip fishing than golfing, but when I run out of avgas $$$ I go play golf and walk around the course thinking about where I'm going "fly" fishing next. So if anyone is going "fly" fishing or flying somewhere to go golfing, give me a hollar....I'd probably drop what I'm doing and head your way....

Hey, no offense to golfing or golfers, it just does nothing for me.

IdahoSuperCub

Idaho SuperCub wrote:Hey, no offense to golfing or golfers, it just does nothing for me.

IdahoSuperCub

You seem like a bitter old turd.

As opposed to me, I'm just old.

When I was a kid I had stars in my eyes to become an airline pilot, and was drooling over a V35B Bonanza (I know, I know - my goals were messed up). My uncle who was restoring a T-6 had me talk to his airline pilot friend who said "Don't do it kid. You'll be nothing but a glorified bus driver. You'll end up flying equipment which should be grounded in weather you would never take off in if you had a choice. Get a job as an engineer and then buy a plane like that Bonanza and fly when you want to".

You can see the logic in his thinking. Given that my parents weren't exactly supportive of a flying career I had to take his advice by default. Flashing forward many years I still had no airplane.

I bit the bullet and took other advice that says "follow your passion. The money will follow". On top of my day job and earning my ratings I pumped avgas, washed planes, threw bags and worked ground service for a regional airline in hopes it would get me an interview. It didn't, though admitedly times were tougher a few years ago.

I became a flight instructor and worked like a dog for almost no money. I actually love teaching and still do it. I just don't try to make a living doing it.

I ferried planes across this great country of ours. Learned more about real flying doing that than all other training combined. All forms of navigation, busted crap and strange airports. Days at a time looking at a white windshield and avoiding thunderstorms. Met some great people and saw some beautiful places. I could write a "I learned about flying from that" (a.k.a. "stupid crap I've done in a plane and lived to tell about it") book from those experiences.

Lost my second wife while chasing my goals. Worth every penny now that I think about it.

I now work for a major airplane manufacuter as an engineer. It would be hard to give up a decent paycheck and great benefits to make $19k/year as a first officer for a regional. Top that with being a single parent and my choices are limited.

The upside? I have a Citabria and fly it when ever I damn want to.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still s-can my job to dust crops or fly bush.

Idaho SuperCub wrote:I would say that 90 to 95 percent of major airline pilots have nothing to do with general aviation. Most are out of the military or aviation type colleges (first job in the right seat of a turboprop or RJ) and possess no real love for flying, just the money and days off.

That's been my experience too. Prior to 9-11, most every flying job I worked was on a 20/10 schedule. 20 work days, 10 days off. And the better the company I worked for, the better and more varied the jumpseat privileges with other carriers. (After 9-11 jumpseating became a nightmare and I pretty much stopped, and just bought a ticket if I needed to go somewhere).

But, while it lasted, it was a blast. Hop from Anchorage down to Seattle, walk the terminal and look at the screens to see where flights were heading, and just mosey up to a gate, sign the chit, and head into the cockpit, and from there have the best seat in the house for a trip to anywhere. I traveled a good chunk of the world for free.

Point of this looooong story... I spent a lot of time riding up front with a lot of different flight crews. Lots of really great guys and gals, and lots of varied aviation experience and backgrounds. The older crews were cool. Strong GA backgrounds, with military training and discipline engrained pretty deep. Some really squared away folks.

But on the other hand... I'd get the usual questions as I strapped into the jumpseat. "Where/what/who you fly for?" I'd answer, "Alaska, C207s, Navajos, Caravans, blah, blah, blah." The old captains would smile and say, "Man you have the life, and if it wasn't for my mortgage and what a divorce would cost, I'd be up there doing what you do in a heartbeat." The young F/O's though, and some captains, would literally roll their eyes, and then act like it was beneath them to talk to me. "I've never flown a piston powered airplane," they would say. Turbine and jet only, all on the taxpayer's dime, and still living in an Officer's world. We GA and air-taxi guys were nothing but the hired help.

Those guys were in it for a shot at the left seat and a paycheck. They did not like flying, and they especially had no use for GA. The Wall Street Journal was their bible, and they could talk stocks and investments for an entire trip. They knew or cared nothing about "little" airplanes.

Gump

So where do the airline pilots come down on this current funding debate? Sounds like the majority are probably for sticking it to GA, if things are as bleak as Gump and IDSC seem to think. Damn shame, building divisions between pilots.

aft CG wrote: It would be hard to give up a decent paycheck and great benefits to make $19k/year as a first officer for a regional. .

Those guys do not have an easy life, and I'm not sure what the long term rewards are going to be for them. ISC and a few others here fly the bigger iron, and maybe they can shed some light on that future. I see nothing but corporate greed cutting salaries, benefits, and required experience to the point where you'll have a cockpit with a combined experience of less than 1,500 hours driving a jet full of people around at minimum wage. I don't want to fly on that airplane.

Gump