Une vie en ligne...
Posté : 30 mai 2008, 09:15
Témoignage sur un des forum PPrune...Thread Wanabee
Il faut le remettre dans un certain contexte: rédigé en 2002, PPrune réputé pour certains posts très négatifs....mais tout avis et bon à prendre, je vous laisse seul juge:
I think I sense somewhat of a theme developing here. I just wish more pilots could be honest about this, and more wanabees could seriously take this on board. The problem is, we're probably seen as a strange minority for expressing this viewpoint. Well, I don't know about you guys but day to day I don't see to many pilots who aren't basically totally p***ed off with the job. The enthusiastic ones are few and far between, and to be brutally honest, usually fairly suspect.
Wanabees
I do speak as someone who loves flying just as much as any of you out there, so don't get the idea I'm some disillusioned weirdo who doesn't really deserve to be where he is today, because you want it so much more. I'm just trying to give you a taste of the job as it really is, not as how you think it's going to be. The problem is guys/gals, the 'job' has very little to do with your idea of 'flying'.
It is basically a trap. As time goes on, you become less and less qualified to earn the same kind of money doing anything else. And those at the top are well aware of this. Mortgages, school fees, car repayments. You're future is totally in the hands of ruthless businessmen who don't give a flying **** about you, as long as you're sitting on that seat in the cockpit when they need you to be.
The problem with your experience of flying as you progress up to your ATPL/IR is that it's all focused on YOU. It's very intense. There are huge ups and downs, frustration and elation. You hand fly all the time. Instructors guage your performance and discuss it with you in great detail. When you do well you get positive feedback. All this makes for an almost addictive experience.
BUT....remember, once your doing the job for a few years, it will be routine. That's a fact. Nobody gives a t*** if you're the ace of the base. You're a pro - you're expected to be. So don't f*** up. Don't expect any pats on the back. Even from colleagues. Just expect to spend a lot of energy watching your back lest management point an accusing finger at you.
Your hours will generally be horrendous - early starts, late finishes, too much time away from home....just look at the number of broken marriages there are in flying to see the toll it takes on family life. Christmas is just another day.
And as Mike the Stripes says, what career? Forget the idea that you'll be treated like a professional. In other professions you move up and get a payrise when you change jobs. In flying generally you move to the bottom of someone elses seniority list. And quite probably on less pay.
The career ladder is short. The vast majority of airline pilots will become a Captain, a small minority will become trainers (basically just more work) and a tiny minority will become management - but hey, if you want to be in management why not do it now and earn some real bucks outside aviation? Once you're sitting in that airline seat, the job remains the same until you retire or you lose your job.
Think about the money, time and effort it takes to get to that airline seat. Then think about applying it in some other direction.Yup, it all depends on what you want out of life. But it seems to me that flying for a living has become an area of diminishing returns.
Des réactions ?
Il faut le remettre dans un certain contexte: rédigé en 2002, PPrune réputé pour certains posts très négatifs....mais tout avis et bon à prendre, je vous laisse seul juge:
I think I sense somewhat of a theme developing here. I just wish more pilots could be honest about this, and more wanabees could seriously take this on board. The problem is, we're probably seen as a strange minority for expressing this viewpoint. Well, I don't know about you guys but day to day I don't see to many pilots who aren't basically totally p***ed off with the job. The enthusiastic ones are few and far between, and to be brutally honest, usually fairly suspect.
Wanabees
I do speak as someone who loves flying just as much as any of you out there, so don't get the idea I'm some disillusioned weirdo who doesn't really deserve to be where he is today, because you want it so much more. I'm just trying to give you a taste of the job as it really is, not as how you think it's going to be. The problem is guys/gals, the 'job' has very little to do with your idea of 'flying'.
It is basically a trap. As time goes on, you become less and less qualified to earn the same kind of money doing anything else. And those at the top are well aware of this. Mortgages, school fees, car repayments. You're future is totally in the hands of ruthless businessmen who don't give a flying **** about you, as long as you're sitting on that seat in the cockpit when they need you to be.
The problem with your experience of flying as you progress up to your ATPL/IR is that it's all focused on YOU. It's very intense. There are huge ups and downs, frustration and elation. You hand fly all the time. Instructors guage your performance and discuss it with you in great detail. When you do well you get positive feedback. All this makes for an almost addictive experience.
BUT....remember, once your doing the job for a few years, it will be routine. That's a fact. Nobody gives a t*** if you're the ace of the base. You're a pro - you're expected to be. So don't f*** up. Don't expect any pats on the back. Even from colleagues. Just expect to spend a lot of energy watching your back lest management point an accusing finger at you.
Your hours will generally be horrendous - early starts, late finishes, too much time away from home....just look at the number of broken marriages there are in flying to see the toll it takes on family life. Christmas is just another day.
And as Mike the Stripes says, what career? Forget the idea that you'll be treated like a professional. In other professions you move up and get a payrise when you change jobs. In flying generally you move to the bottom of someone elses seniority list. And quite probably on less pay.
The career ladder is short. The vast majority of airline pilots will become a Captain, a small minority will become trainers (basically just more work) and a tiny minority will become management - but hey, if you want to be in management why not do it now and earn some real bucks outside aviation? Once you're sitting in that airline seat, the job remains the same until you retire or you lose your job.
Think about the money, time and effort it takes to get to that airline seat. Then think about applying it in some other direction.Yup, it all depends on what you want out of life. But it seems to me that flying for a living has become an area of diminishing returns.
Des réactions ?
