Leaderboard

10 years ago I was firmly in the "GA would be a waste of my time because I'm too used to flying fighters and it'd be boring." I was wrong. It's not as challenging as flying fighters, but having your own airplane is awesome. I had a Glasair for a few years and I've had my Bonanza 36 for 6 years now. I still fly it more than 150 hours a year. The older I get, the more I like airplanes - all airplanes. The year I started at Delta I was flying the Eagle, my Bonanza, A-4's at Draken, 757s/767s at Delta and started on warbird T-6's. I just like airplanes. My wife loves traveling in our Bo; hates commercial - even non-rev in first class. For some destinations, GA is where it's at - Bahamas for sure. I'd say don't knock it till you try it (renting one for the weekend isn't trying it). GA isn't for everyone (nor is the airline) but they both suck a LOT less than I was expecting.

The only reason Cleared Hot made it to where he is is because of his rank and position. It had nothing to do with his talent, drive, or personality. Nor with his ability to think big. Plus, it's not possible to network with others until you get command and/or O-6+. As someone who also never made SQ/CC, I recommend you give up and accept something less.

Harder than someone flying the line at a major, but some of that is self-imposed. I've never been afraid of hard work and my days in the WIC probably ruined me for life... I am in the middle of a surge period, some of it is seasonal and they rest is being driven by tremendous growth of my company. I have a three day weekend every other week but the last two months have been a LOT of travel. I can see the slowdown on the horizon and we shut down for a week at Christmas, plus I have still have almost a month of vacation to use. Working harder in the short-term was factored in to my calculus, work a bit harder for 3-5 years then be done, every person is different but I've seen to many people work until they are 65 and be physically unable to enjoy the fruits of their life-long labor.

Haha, busted! I did spend about an hour this morning refusing to get out of bed, granted most of that time was checking out CFB scores. Serious question - is 1000 AM by the pool too early for a third Mai Tai?

If you're within 3 years of separation then just decline the assignment.

Id look into how your leadership would view it if yiu refused the adsc and if they would turn off your pcs

And here I thought polytheism only applied to hearts/minds, not kidneys... I assume you're talking about Polycystic Kidney Disease. If so, you need to focus on being healthy. It will help your chances years from now when you start planning for a career as a fighter pilot. Until then, read anything and everything that interests you. You have to be smart to become a fighter pilot, and books make you smarter. Never give up hope, and ALWAYS ask the prettiest girl to dance.

Every person has a unique situation and at the end of the day I strongly encourage each person to follow the path that provides the most happiness and satisfaction to both you AND your family. Honestly I did not put as much thought into the “after” plan as I should have. I’ve invested well and don’t need to work, but as I got closer I decided I still wanted to avoid becoming a sloth and do something meaningful, at least for a few years. I hit the button a year in advance and the airline gig was really heating up, with over 4,000 hours TT and 2500+ IP time I thought it was a no-brainer, I could work part-time make decent cash and have the travel benefit for my family. I obviously have many bros at Delta and Fedex and they shared the good and the bad, so I decided to make that plan A. My plan had two basic flaws that were mistakes on my part, not insurmountable, but still limitations I needed to overcome. 1. I had been sitting at a desk for the last two years NOT flying. 2. I had not completed my ATP and now had to do the ATP/CTP course. I started flying private again and signed up for the CTP deal (what a complete waste), and built my application on airline apps. I hit the apply button with the written complete and provided updates with the CTP complete, new hours flown and finally added my ATP practical two weeks after my retirement ceremony. When I hit the last update button with the ATP complete I thought, “ok the phone will ring any day now”…it did not. Luckily I talked to a lot of folks (including Rainman), and I had a plan B that I was also working. There are MANY resources for vets and Rainman walked me through several I had never heard of which, one really really helped (https://www.acp-usa.org/). In very short order I was contacted about several positions, I had not applied to any of them, all word of mouth through my network. I made it to the final two for a very senior job and was a bit relieved when I did not get it (location). Over the course of a month I interviewed with several major defense contractors, with Google, with one of the largest food production companies, and with a major university. I don’t want this to turn into a dissertation but I learned some valuable lessons. 1. Industry is STARVED for leadership. 2. Industry professes to love Vets but in reality they are very concerned about them. Many think every Vet has PTSD. 3. Most jobs come from contacts and networking. 4. Industry has all the same problems and BS the military has. As a SQ/CC, Grp/CC, Wg/CC I had to deal with DUIs, Rapes, theft and other buffoonery. I have encountered many of the same issues at my current level in Industry. After a flurry of interviews things went quiet for a while which was EXTREMELY frustrating. Industry hiring moves at a glacial pace and I began to contemplate outright retirement. I was REALLY shocked the airlines hadn’t called and am honestly still somewhat perplexed by that fact. I have since learned how important recency is to the majors, I get it they are the pros, but it does not make sense to me. When I returned to fly as a O-5 it took two weeks to requal. When I returned as an O-6 I was scheduled for 10 rides, I did three rides and proficiency advanced to my checkride as a mission IP. I was flying civilian but still had less than 100 hours in the last six months…oh well it is their ball and their game, they get to make the rules. Four months later I got the call from Delta, over nine months after I first hit apply. The next day I got a call from a company I interviewed with early on…the made me an offer (turns out they were waiting for a senior dude to say yes and he didn’t know he had to say yes.) I sat down with my family and we had some long deliberations. Every situation is different and my family was tired of me being gone all the time. My son was established in school so taking a position with Delta was going to mean commuting and sitting reserve in a crash pad for at least a year. I must say after going through all the asspain it was not easy to call Delta and say "no thanks!" In the end I was able to parlay the industry position into a remote position working from my house. My company flies me to the home office once a month and I generally leave on Monday morning and return Friday night. The other travel has ramped up a bit but some of that is seasonal, some was unexpected because our company is GROWING, and the rest is self-imposed. I ended up starting at about 7-8 year airline pay, well over that with my annual bonus which means I can do this for a few years and walk away with another chunk of $ to add to my portfolio. We bought a few new toys but I have managed to save every penny of my retirement check. It was not a simple choice but it works for me and most importantly my family.

Pancake, Business jobs are completely varied. Comparing upper level management benefits is futile. And a part of that is what you negotiate (already mentioned by others). And even if you knew my base salary, I wouldn't want to try to explain the metrics associated with the bonuses I was eligible for since it would put you to sleep. Additionally, you contradict yourself. You say the pay and benefits in the airlines are great, but you're not satisfied. Then go find something that will satisfy you, if that's what's important. But don't complain about the lack of pay information here: you've already stated your current well-paying gig isn't cutting it, so what does it matter? As for executive level jobs, if you weren't an O-6 who can get an executive headhunter, you better have networked very, very well over the past few years. As a retired O-5, getting directly into the Executive Director job, my situation isn't too common. And it didn't happen by accident. If that's what you're looking for, do you have those kind of connections? Finally, you can do another job AS an airline pilot. I met a jumpseater that was furloughed for 9 years, and went and got a law degree. He does wills, trusts, and that sort of thing on layovers. In my case, I am doing a plethora of odd, part-time jobs that are "satisfying". You should have the time to do something satisfying too. My gut feeling is that you just need to think outside the box.

Gig'em

Since starting as a USAF mx officer in 1995 I've had a Pitts S1S, Luscombe 8E, Kitfox 4, Clone of a 135hp SuperCub and now a RV-6. 12 yrs active total, C-9As and C-17s, then AFRC C-17s with part 121 cargo. Gave my AFRC O-5 pledge pin back 5 years early this past Feb as at 23 total they'd pegged the funmeter. More time for GA! Just turned 14 hours of driving into 4.5 of flying. North of Louisville to South of Atlanta, round trip. 180mph at 9 GPH, and mine is a slower one. I've had the same $35k out of pocket in planes, only did a note for a while on the Pitts. I help with the mx, so annuals are about $350, plus parts. Insurance is about $1k a year for 2 seats with enough hours. Plan Fuel burn $ x 2, $50 in the tank, $50 in the fix-it bank, plus hangar and insurance and you'll be close in the right plane. There are no cheap planes. An oops, woops or "what's that" costs about $300 per fist coverage, hopefully including labor. Need a Magneto? 2-3 fists. Carb? Same. Hope you have yuger hands. Mechanics and their schedules can mean huge downtime, which deflates the fun and family support system if you all fly together. Mechanics are slightly easier than finding a good, local hangar. Hangars can be a nightmare, find that first. I split with another RV, $120 each, but it's 35 minutes away and pretty dead. Good for getting work done, not so much for hangar flying and extra hands. If you don't fly 50 hrs/yr, RENT, if you care about the $ side. I do not pretend it makes sense to own, even in partnership. Buy a good one, under 300 hrs and 3 years since overhaul, but not too fresh to avoid infant mortality and A/Ds on defective new parts. Do not buy old panels if you need IFR, pay up for current to MAYBE 1 gen old, if supported. I dig on experimentals, known types that are easier to inspect and check vs. plans and standards. I'm as happy in a cub, door open at sunset or sunrise as flying acro in a Pitts or travelling mad miles with a digital autopilot, good tunes and the frau in the RV. Sure I jumpseat, fly airlines and drive- sometimes a GA plane makes a trip possible, sometimes it's a drag if worrying about weather/hail/FBO hangars/icing, etc. It's not hard to know when the car or airline tickets are best. Think mil space A. It's also about the folks in flying GA, we're ready to make the hangar-home move next. Any background of pilot can yield a great friend, probably similar to many hobbies, good enough for me so far in flying private GA. If it will get you to family, friends, second homes- great, no further people-side needed. But, it's the EAA folks, chapters, fly-ins, Oshkosh, etc that put it over the top for me. Look at a radius calendar on eaa.org or similar and see what happens near you year round. When I was at CHS I met folks that years later put me in touch with the FFO area crowd. At work, trips where I fly with another GA pilot of ANY background go by 9 times in 10 like paid time off. Now, I soloed in gliders at 14, and already knew this is what I was in to. Did not know what I was in for, but the $ in GA has been some of my best spent.

I fly a little Titan Tornado S now and it is a blast. It's a full light weight metal aircraft with only 80hp (Rotax 912) but it will do a loop, actually more of an oval ellipse since it barely gets over the top and kind of falls off the back side. It cruises at C-172 speeds and has 2 seats in tandem and a stick rather than a yoke. A fun little experimental that carries about as much (600 lbs - that includes the 15 gallons of fuel) as its empty weight (~620lbs). The reason I chose it is that the front seat height is pretty much even with the seat in my wheelchair (I'm paralyzed now so can't use feet/legs) and the rudder and brakes were easy to modify so that I can use my hands to operate all flight controls. Never consciously thought about how much I would miss flying until it was taken away for a little while. The first picture was when I test flew one before I bought mine, the second shot is my plane shot from a friends plane.