That’s wild. I’m having a tough time imagining the physics behind this one. Mechanism must have really failed suddenly and totally. Or maybe it came loose altogether, fell off, and hit him? I can picture that causing injury a little more easily.
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
The SHOW: Airlines still a "good gig"??
- Thread starter A4sForever
- Start date
That’s wild. I’m having a tough time imagining the physics behind this one. Mechanism must have really failed suddenly and totally. Or maybe it came loose altogether, fell off, and hit him? I can picture that causing injury a little more easily.
Will the new company be called UnAmerican Airlines?
You mean like not doing the military in favor of a civilian-only route to the airlines? Rather than military to the airlines?
Sorry I’ll clarify. Riding out 20 vs going airlines. I’ll be at 12 years when I can get out. I get the security/DH bonus/military retirement, but think I’d regret doing the exact same thing for 8 more years when I could be doing something new/building seniority.
There's a lot to unpack in the portion I bolded... There are SO many variables that factor into each person's decision. Not sure you're going to get helpful advice with what you've provided. The airlines a great deal in many respects, and in others, maybe not. Repeating for emphasis, there are so many variables that are specific to individual wants, needs, and aspirations.
R/
Retired at 20 and chose to do something other than the airlines.
I did what you are considering. After the DH board results came out, I declined, and took my ball and went home a couple years later, right at 12 yrs AD. It has been good for me. I don't think I would have been happy either doing DH or CO/XO on active duty. But like float coat says, that's pretty specific to me. Now that most of my friends are either retiring or really sticking around for the long haul, I can see some of the benefits of sticking with it. But I don't think those benefits would have moved the needle for me personally. Airlines are great, but I wouldn't feel some rush to do it right now, if you are happy where you are at the moment. They will still be there whenever you decide to hang up the navy hat. The seniority number does matter, and it will drive your QOL for the rest of your airline career. But I'll say that whether you are a latecomer at 12 years of active service, or 20+, you'll still be the old man on campus at most majors. Meaning that you will likely never spend a year or 5 years or whatever, as a single/double digit seniority guy. I'll top out in the top 1000, potentially even top 500 if I go past age 60, but that is a big difference from #1 or #10 on the seniority list for multiple years. So I guess that's my way of saying that everyone who says "seniority is everything" is right, but it is only part of the story. You can still live a pretty good life with a full AD pension as a more forever junior guy at the airlines. Just like you can live a pretty good life as a somewhat more senior airline guy who quit active duty earlier. There's a million iterations this path can take. Or you could do something else entirely, like float coat mentions, whether that be now, or after 20.
Would you be willing to do airlines + guard/reserves if you did decide to punch out now?
Some of it may depend on your current community, hours, currency, etc. If you have a relatively easy transition to a financially stable major get some seniority under your belt and avoid any negative events in your career you probably won’t regret it. If you get out to get furloughed your first year, you just might.
Most people know when they’re ready to GTFO from Active Duty. The ones who have the hardest transition to the airlines are the ones who aren’t ready to hang up the spurs and join the regionals after some twilight years in cushy a O-5/O-6 job.
Some really don’t take well to being junior on min rest overnights, people younger than them not giving a shit about what they think, and not being an O-5/ O-6 anymore.
I know a handful of folks that quit .mil completely once they got to the airlines. It’s far more common to quit the Naval Services and go ANG. Navy reserves seem to go out of their way to derail flying careers on the outside at regular intervals with 6-12 month non flying gigs supporting other services.
Going to the airlines is all luck and timing. When your timing is good, it’s good. When it’s bad, things can get really bad.
My timing wasn’t particularly awesome leaving off a non flying tour at the end of the lost decade. I meandered around at a couple jobs until I got to my legacy but it’s fine in so much as I could stay an FO on the junior fleet never get a pay raise and only need to contribute 2% of my pay to retirement (thanks to the 18% Direct Contribution into the 401k my company gives) for the rest of my career and retire on time. I contribute more so retiring early is an option. I have flown with guys who have gotten furloughed twice, got their pension stolen and even some who have their paychecks siphoned off by 2 ex wives and their current one so they feel they have to work until they die. I make sure to offer them my dessert for their toubles.
Last edited: