Career Pilot

[A4sForever]

....My father is a airbus capt ...He still loves the job, but hates the airlines. ...

The quintessential airline pilot syndrome.

And Harrier Dude is spot on re: "There's a hell of a lot more to life than money."

I had a good airline career. Ruff & bumpy at times, but I just put the "FASTEN SEAT BELT SIGN" on ....

And I had a good career 'cause at the end of the day -- like anything else, it's ALWAYS timing.

 

[mmx1]

Don't be sorry. Just know that being an officer and pilot in the US military is a serious business. America gives you the power to kill people. It's easy to screw that up if your heart isn't in it.

More than that, the President grants you the authority to take other Americans into harms way, and makes you responsible for them. Don't screw that up.

 

[bunk22]

So true. I commissioned with a guy who's going subs and all he ever talks about is how he could making so much more money with his engineering degree in the civilian world. As for me, I'm absolutely FINE with how much I'm getting paid. Hell, I can hardly believe I'm going to get PAID to fly for the United States Navy. I think it's pretty rare in the world to find people who do their job not just to pay the mortgage, but because they love what they do. So my advice would be: whatever you decide to do, choose it because you want to do it and don't take that for granted.

Any job you have you get paid for. Thats why it's called a job. I sure as hell wouldn't do this job for free because I got to fly for the Navy. Way to much bullshit for that. I'm just one of those who will only like a job but you pay me a whole lot of money, I might just love it. The Navy does not pay a whole lot of money. Once you actually fly for the Navy, gain some experience, let us know.

 

[MasterBates]

I love reading how the MIDN/OCs/SNAs have "it all figured out"..

I've been in for 8 years and the only thing I have figured out is that I don't have it all figured out.

 

[bunk22]

I love reading how the MIDN/OCs/SNAs have "it all figured out"..

I've been in for 8 years and the only thing I have figured out is that I don't have it all figured out.

Agreed. IMO, the lamest comment is I can't believe I'm going to get paid to fly for the Navy. Well, once you fly, if you do, let us know how it goes. Once you get to all the bullshit, its going to be they don't pay me enogh to do this bullshit and I don't even get to fly that much. To many comments from the inexperienced folks on this form.

 

[mtsupilot09]

To echo what others have said, RELAX. I came to MTSU and majored in aerospace, concentration in pro pilot. It was too expensive, and that degree doesn't really hold water very well. That degree is for people who are going straight into flight instructing or the airlines after they graduate. But what happens when they can't keep a first class medical? They're shit out of luck and now they've got to get a job in a different field and like was said earlier, employers laugh when all your credentials involve flying. They don't give a shit. I changed my sophomore year to aero administration (learning how to run an FBO, airport, airline, etc.) and I love it. It's more of a leadership type of degree. We're basically being taught how to manage pilots. Oh yeah, don't be the guy who walks around campus with a $700 flight computer watch and a leather bomber jacket cause you soloed in a C172 and now you think you're the shit. Relax, dude. Things will fall into place if it's in the cards. If not, you'll figure something out. Flying has been my dream since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and now it's looking like it might not happen (different medical issues) but at least I can stay in aviation even though I'm not flying. I'll take being an FBO manager over staying a restaurant manager (what I do now) ANY day! Like I said before, check out airlinepilotcentral.com, cannot stress that enough. PM me w/questions man, best of luck.

 

[scoolbubba]

IMO, the lamest comment is I can't believe I'm going to get paid to fly for the Navy.

Like you didn't say this in flight school? I agree with the sentiment of if they didn't pay me to do this, i wouldn't do it, because I couldn't...just like everyone else. However, to say that this is a lame ass comment because of bad experiences with work/BS/people around you, does no justice to the enthusiasm of the people who aren't jaded yet, and are working their asses off to one day be stepping up to fill your shoes, which are probably covered in this BS you've been stepping through while those of us who don't know what we don't know have been shittying our diapers.

End of the day, i still thank my lucky stars or whatever deity you believe in (mine happens to be just luck), that they let me do something that other people pay ass tons of money to do, which was the gist of the OP's predicament. After all, I could always have turned out a swo, or locked in a steel tube thinking about all the money i'm making that i can't spend while on a deterrent patrol.

and to the OP...if you plan on going into the military to get to the airlines...good luck with that. flight training is a crapshoot (there's that luck thing, again). if you want to spend the money getting tickets, maybe you've got more than I do, but i'd be hard pressed to say it was a good investment if you're still planning on doing flight training with the navy.

better investment : go get a degree in something useful, and if you don't want to do that, get one in something uselessly fuzzy enough that if you're good at bullshitting you can make it sound legit (like polisci??) while having fun at school with all that extra time. spend that extra money getting shitty hammered and making morally unsound decisions while you still can, just don't get arrested and dork up your chances at flight training with the navy.

<this post in no way condones or endorses any illegal or unbecoming behavior>

 

[bunk22]

Like you didn't say this in flight school? I agree with the sentiment of if they didn't pay me to do this, i wouldn't do it, because I couldn't...just like everyone else. However, to say that this is a lame ass comment because of bad experiences with work/BS/people around you, does no justice to the enthusiasm of the people who aren't jaded yet, and are working their asses off to one day be stepping up to fill your shoes, which are probably covered in this BS you've been stepping through while those of us who don't know what we don't know have been shittying our diapers.

Like I said, it's a lame fucking comment, IMO of course. Making the comment without having even been there done that makes even more lame. Doesn't mean I'm jaded or had a bad experience but it is from experience. It is what it is. I tell you what junior, when you get as much flight time as I have flight time in left turns, get back to me. The best thing you have going is you only know what you know. You'll understand what I'm talking about one day.

 

[Lobster]

Sry for this post. I couldn't really word it right.(Yah I suck at English and Writing I'M FROM KENTUCKY WHAT DO YOU EXCPECT) So now you have a bad impression on me.

I would like to stay a military pilot for a long time. I think I will enjoy flying so much that it would be something I want to do my whole life so that is why I was asking about afterwards.

Its not that hard to compose a logical sentence. And as everyone else said you should want to be an officer and serve your country first and a pilot second, if you don't think that way then going into the military isn't for you and you should look for something trolling the friendly skies. "I think I will enjoy flying so much" isn't right. To do this and pursue a career in aviation in the military you need to be sure that you want to do it not wishy washy about the subject.

 

[scoolbubba]

right-o. yielding to older and wiser ones.

 

[HooverPilot]

I haven't been in as long as Bunk, but as I approach 11 years of Navy flying I can still say I love my job.

 

[OkellyR]

In response to the original post:

My father is currently a pilot for American Airlines and a former Navy pilot. I'm looking at an aviation degree also. He summed it up for me:

The guys that have previous flight experience excel at the very beginning of flight school because they already have the basics down. (Basics of flight and operations of aircraft.) After awhile though everyone reaches the same point, no matter how many flight hours you have. Some of the guys with previous flight experience failed flight school, while some; like my father, never having any experience passed.

Its up to you. I'm going for my aviation degree from an Online college here in Florida because I love flying. My only option is online school, and my two loves are meteorology and flight. There aren't any meteorology degrees available online though.

Best of luck to you, and if you want to contact me, by all means, please do.

 

[OkellyR]

"More than that, the President grants you the authority to take other Americans into harms way, and makes you responsible for them. Don't screw that up."

I've never thought of it like that. Mind if I save that it in my "Great Quotes" section?

I'll leave you with one of my favorites:
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."
Thomas Paine

 

[armada1651]

Agreed. IMO, the lamest comment is I can't believe I'm going to get paid to fly for the Navy. Well, once you fly, if you do, let us know how it goes. Once you get to all the bullshit, its going to be they don't pay me enogh to do this bullshit and I don't even get to fly that much. To many comments from the inexperienced folks on this form.

Ouch...obviously you're right here. I don't have any experience at this point. I haven't even acted as PIC of any military aircraft, let alone operationally. I haven't led anyone in any remotely significant way. And it'll be a few years before I have a real opportunity to do either. All I can say right here, right now is this: I'm happy with my life because, at this point, I'm extremely excited by both of those prospects. I think that's more than a lot of kids who just graduated from college into questionable employment in an uncertain economy can say, though, to be fair, I've never been in that situation so I can't say for sure. I am absolutely aware that I will have to put up with copious amounts of bullshit in the military and that I haven't seen ANYTHING yet. But at the very least, I'm enjoying the anticipation. I'm sure I'm romanticizing the whole thing more than I should, and maybe I'm just setting myself up for huge disappointment...I guess we'll see in a few years.

I'm sorry for throwing out stupid comments based on my own unrealistically optimistic hopes for my future. And really, I just need to STFU...every time I open my stupid O-1 mouth around here, I'm promptly shown the 100% pure unadulterated fvcking retardedness of my ways. But I'm ok with it...because deep down, I know that's what's supposed to happen when ensigns say stuff.

 

[MasterBates]

Learning has occurred?