A journey out of aviation.
The Why.
I'm getting out of flying for a living.
There, I said it.
It's something I've been thinking about for a while. In the last few weeks I finally admitted to myself this career wasn't for me, and have decided to move on.
There's a lot of reasons to get out of aviation - everyone knows the industry isn't one of the most stable out there; everyone knows the starting pay isn't that hot; everyone knows you have to jump through a lot of personal and financial hoops to move up. None of those are the reasons I'm getting out.
I simply don't like flying for a living.
When I was in the Army I was a Commissioned Officer and a Helicopter pilot. Flying was a pretty minimal part of the over all job. 90% of my job involved managing large, complex organizations, coordinating logistics, and leading 100+ soldiers. When I was considering leaving the military to pursue flying one of my senior leaders commented that flying wouldn't be enough for me. He said I would be bored in under a year.
I took his advice to heart, but after doing so much complex work I imagined the simple life of flying would be calming, soothing, and a relief from the responsibilities I grew accustomed to. Turns out, he was right. It's been just under a year now since I started flying professionally, and I long for more. I can't shake the feeling as I'm sitting in my plane at cruise that there is so much more I could be doing.
I fly freight in small twin engine planes. In most areas it is a fantastic job. I fly alone, I'm in charge, I don't have a boss hovering nearby asking for the latest reports, the flying was relatively challenging at first, but I'm bored as hell with it.
Something else that influenced my decision to leave was my ability to jumpseat on airline flights. I'm not sure what it was I imagined when I thought of flying a jet (passenger, cargo, or otherwise), but a jet of some sort is the next inevitable step in this career. The pay and schedules get better the more you move up, so unless I was content flying the exact same route for less than $40k a year I would have to "move up" one day.
I've sat in the cockpit of major airline jets, regional jets, and even my own company's jets. What I learned was that those jobs are no different than mine. Though they might get paid more (well, not those regional FOs), the job is just as boring and unfulfilling (to me) as my current job. So that really cancels out the hope that moving up would solve my career concerns.
Sadly, I want a "boring" life. I love my wife more than anyone could love anyone else and I want to see her all the time. It's not that I dislike traveling, I just want to travel with her. I want a house, and I don't want to move around all the time anymore. I don't want to work nights. I don't want to go on "four days."
I've realized that a "passion" can change - and that doing your passion for a job takes away the joy you had for the passion to begin with. I loved to fly and now I couldn't care less about it. I would absolutely love to enjoy flying again, and hope that after some time out of the profession I can get that back. Before I flew full time I enjoyed calling aviation my hobby. Once you do it full time it's not a hobby anymore, and I wouldn't mind getting that hobby back. Heck, I haven't loaded MS Flight Sim on my computer in years. Might be cool to be able to enjoy that simple pleasure again.
Lastly, and hard to admit, is I feel silly doing what is essentially an entry-level job that is populated by 18-22 year-olds. I honestly thought I'd be okay with it, but it feels bad that all the experience I have doesn't mean much in this field. Ironically, I've really enjoyed meeting and befriending a lot of these kids, but that doesn't change the fact that I could be doing so much more. I'm qualified for so much more. And it's not the money so much as it's the level of responsibility. After commanding an Army unit in two wars it's not easy to let all that responsibility go. It wouldn't be easy to be an FO for a 24 year old Captain. All this might sound arrogant, but it's not. It's just honest.
So now the question of course is what is it I plan to do with my life. As I get it figured out I plan to blog about it now that JC has this nifty blogging option.
And if you read this far into my boring diatribe of personal musings, get a life!
There, I said it.
It's something I've been thinking about for a while. In the last few weeks I finally admitted to myself this career wasn't for me, and have decided to move on.
There's a lot of reasons to get out of aviation - everyone knows the industry isn't one of the most stable out there; everyone knows the starting pay isn't that hot; everyone knows you have to jump through a lot of personal and financial hoops to move up. None of those are the reasons I'm getting out.
I simply don't like flying for a living.
When I was in the Army I was a Commissioned Officer and a Helicopter pilot. Flying was a pretty minimal part of the over all job. 90% of my job involved managing large, complex organizations, coordinating logistics, and leading 100+ soldiers. When I was considering leaving the military to pursue flying one of my senior leaders commented that flying wouldn't be enough for me. He said I would be bored in under a year.
I took his advice to heart, but after doing so much complex work I imagined the simple life of flying would be calming, soothing, and a relief from the responsibilities I grew accustomed to. Turns out, he was right. It's been just under a year now since I started flying professionally, and I long for more. I can't shake the feeling as I'm sitting in my plane at cruise that there is so much more I could be doing.
I fly freight in small twin engine planes. In most areas it is a fantastic job. I fly alone, I'm in charge, I don't have a boss hovering nearby asking for the latest reports, the flying was relatively challenging at first, but I'm bored as hell with it.
Something else that influenced my decision to leave was my ability to jumpseat on airline flights. I'm not sure what it was I imagined when I thought of flying a jet (passenger, cargo, or otherwise), but a jet of some sort is the next inevitable step in this career. The pay and schedules get better the more you move up, so unless I was content flying the exact same route for less than $40k a year I would have to "move up" one day.
I've sat in the cockpit of major airline jets, regional jets, and even my own company's jets. What I learned was that those jobs are no different than mine. Though they might get paid more (well, not those regional FOs), the job is just as boring and unfulfilling (to me) as my current job. So that really cancels out the hope that moving up would solve my career concerns.
Sadly, I want a "boring" life. I love my wife more than anyone could love anyone else and I want to see her all the time. It's not that I dislike traveling, I just want to travel with her. I want a house, and I don't want to move around all the time anymore. I don't want to work nights. I don't want to go on "four days."
I've realized that a "passion" can change - and that doing your passion for a job takes away the joy you had for the passion to begin with. I loved to fly and now I couldn't care less about it. I would absolutely love to enjoy flying again, and hope that after some time out of the profession I can get that back. Before I flew full time I enjoyed calling aviation my hobby. Once you do it full time it's not a hobby anymore, and I wouldn't mind getting that hobby back. Heck, I haven't loaded MS Flight Sim on my computer in years. Might be cool to be able to enjoy that simple pleasure again.
Lastly, and hard to admit, is I feel silly doing what is essentially an entry-level job that is populated by 18-22 year-olds. I honestly thought I'd be okay with it, but it feels bad that all the experience I have doesn't mean much in this field. Ironically, I've really enjoyed meeting and befriending a lot of these kids, but that doesn't change the fact that I could be doing so much more. I'm qualified for so much more. And it's not the money so much as it's the level of responsibility. After commanding an Army unit in two wars it's not easy to let all that responsibility go. It wouldn't be easy to be an FO for a 24 year old Captain. All this might sound arrogant, but it's not. It's just honest.
So now the question of course is what is it I plan to do with my life. As I get it figured out I plan to blog about it now that JC has this nifty blogging option.
And if you read this far into my boring diatribe of personal musings, get a life!
Total Comments 18
Comments
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O RLY?Posted May 25th, 2008 at 17:24 by surreal1221 
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Well hell.....If you make itout to Vegas I'll still buy you a beverage of choice.....I think I may have secretly made the decision of not trying to persue "the career" myself. We can swap stories. Good on You!!!!Posted May 26th, 2008 at 03:45 by JEP -
Me three
Ian, you, me and Jimmy can share a few adult beverages in Vegas and swap stories about why we've decided that flying just isn't a good career for us.
We've all got different reasons, but the bottom line is that even though we enjoy flying, we're not doing it as a career.Posted May 26th, 2008 at 12:09 by tonyw -
When are you leaving?Posted May 27th, 2008 at 00:41 by ackeight 
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Hard to say.Quote:When are you leaving?
I'd like to keep working until I have a firm job offer, but it is hard to actively job hunt with this schedule.
I have a lot of leads right now, and the way it looks everything should come to fruition sometime in June.Posted May 27th, 2008 at 13:13 by Ian J -
I've identified strongly with your comments about the kids and making your hobby your passion. PM sent...got some ideas for you...Posted May 28th, 2008 at 11:18 by killbilly -
Good on you...
I am glad to see that you value the family and understand what professional aviation has to offer and what it can steal. I often re-think and re-think my decisions and what I will do after the AF. Leaving the military is a tough deal...you truly can go as far as you would like then you get in the civilian world and it's' just so different. Years ago, I always thought I'd want to fly professionally, but I am enjoying the hell out of GA flying...not listening to the "man" tell me what to do. At any rate, I appreciate your outlook and honesty and wish you the best!
Posted May 31st, 2008 at 20:30 by HeyEng -
Thanks
Thanks for all the responses! I appreciate the support.Posted June 2nd, 2008 at 14:11 by Ian J -
Life is all about experience, and you often can't decide what is wrong or right until you're able to look back upon things without the rose colored glasses and analyze things in a more unbiased sense.
You're a few years ahead of me in this field, so who knows what conclusions I'll come to when I'm at the point you are.
Best wishes.Posted June 13th, 2008 at 13:26 by Patrick -
Hey, you don't know me but good luck. Maybe we'll see this thread in the new "leaving the career" section where I have my reasons for leaving.Posted June 23rd, 2008 at 21:17 by learflyer -
I personally think you may regret it. I am probably wrong but in my experience someone who has a passion for aviation never loses it permanently. It may go away for a while but it always comes back. If you would've stuck it out you could have become chief pilot or union rep at some airline...or maybe even jump to the dark side (management) for an aviation outfit. Anyway, it sounds like you know what's best for you (why wouldn't you, lol) but I have a feeling you will stay in the aviation profession. There are a lot more positions then available then just a pilot. Good luck.Posted June 24th, 2008 at 10:07 by pullup - You may be right - the two top choices for jobs I'm talking to right now are both aviation related.
Posted June 24th, 2008 at 10:25 by Ian J - Best of both worlds then? Good to hear, enjoy...
Posted June 24th, 2008 at 12:19 by pullup - Yeah, these kids are a son of a %^*$#. They're really the only part of the job that I don't dig. Quite frankly, I bid numbers of people older than 35. I just don't wanna be around 26 year-olds. They're stupid.
Call me and let's talk.Posted June 25th, 2008 at 18:58 by mtsu_av8er -
Good luck Ian.
It's not all roses being the only 24 year old captain at the company either. Proving you're worth your job every leg is old and tiring and makes me want to be an FO again.Posted June 30th, 2008 at 17:24 by mikecweb - Agreed. I've been a young "Captain" before know it's difficult.
Please know this isn't about working with 20-somethings - not at all. You guys are great, most of the guys I get along with are that age, and it's not like I think of myself as "above" them or anything like that. It's really about everything else written up there, but on this subject, it's about being entry-level after years of work experience. The day-to-day is okay but when I looked ahead at my aviation future I just groaned.Posted July 1st, 2008 at 08:36 by Ian J -
One have to be really strong to make such decision.
Glad you figured out what is best for you.
Good luck!Posted July 10th, 2008 at 04:29 by TheAlchemist -
I can definitely relate - back when I was thinking of dropping my current career, one of the biggest blocks in my mind was that I would have a bunch of 22 year old, functionally illiterate kids above me. Now I know they're not all that way, but it's a pride issue for sure. The other thing was that while flying seemed exciting, I felt like it would be a waste of my education and experience - just pushing buttons and letting the plane fly itself for hours. I love flying, but I get much more satisfaction out of making decisions that affect a large corporation.Posted July 28th, 2008 at 13:16 by Murdoughnut
