I know a guy flying single engine in PNG. Amazing stories and amazing flying.
Beats the hell out of flying the SID dep from YYZ to the arrival at YVR, all with AP engaged from 400' up to 400' before TD.
Think i would off myself.
The Fast Track to the Big League
-
goldeneagle
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 10:40 pm
[quote author=Slick Goodlin link=topic=8086.msg22401#msg22401 date=1520876851]
Alright, this is purely academic but what do you figure is the absolute fastest balls-out kamikaze approach to flying for a national airline today? Here's what I propose:
[/quote]
If you want to get to the 'big league', first you have to define 'what is the big league' in your own mind, as has been suggested earlier in the thread, it's different things to different folks.
Getting there will always take a bit of luck. Now define luck. Luck = The random convergence of opportunity with preparedness. The person that spends the time and effort to become prepared, will eventually bump into opportunity, but often times, it takes some creative thinking to recognize the opportunity.
In my own case, I did as some here suggest, bought the Aeronca Chief at the ripe old age of 16 when I had the student permit. Flew it a LOT as I progressed thru the PPL. After I had the logbook showing enough hours to move on, sold the airplane and used the cash to fund the CPL course. The biggest hurdle I had after passing the CPL written and flight tests, waiting on a birthday to roll around so I could qualify to apply for the license. While I was doing that waiting, did the multi and ifr. At the ripe old age of 18 I had a shiny new CPL with ratings, and was totally mesmerized by shiny airplane syndrome.
Back in the 80's, first job was difficult to get, but I did get my start, and spent the next few years doing mostly seasonal work with fall layoffs. To keep myself occupied during the winter, went back to school, did an education in engineering, the kind of engineering that results in a pinky ring, not the kind the results in a Snap-On toolbox. As time went on, I ended up working on a rotational gig for some time, 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, during my time off I did freelance work in my other field for a few companies. During that decade, I learned a lot. A hotel room is a hotel room, and it doesn't really matter where it's located, as long as it's clean and the bed doesn't have bugs in it. Restaurant food gets old. Time at home becomes precious. Airplanes are rarely 'shiny', and ultimately they all work the same way, push handles forward, they make more noise, pull yoke/stick back, nose goes up. Arriving at the left seat for big airline is not about what you know and what you are capable of, it's about patience, sitting in a long line waiting for a seniority number to pop up. In 89 I landed what I thought was the dream job, fairly large organization with a wide variety of corporate jets, lots of room to move up over time. On Jan 1 1990 there I was, staring at yet another pink slip (corporate downsizing) 7 months after I picked up and moved to a new location for yet another job flying airplanes. That was getting rather old.
A short time later, was on a phone intro with a firm for a short term contract back in the engineering world, man has to eat, so you take whats available to put food on the table. During that discussion, the gent on the other end of the phone said 'we will have to take a couple weeks and bring you up to speed on the idosyncracies of our industry, we make boxes that go into the avionics bay of airliners, so you will have to get up to speed on airline and airport procedures'. I laughed, proceeded to say 'ok, have an atpl, been working in the pointy end of airplanes for over a decade with somewhat over 5000 in the book, think I have a fair idea about airplane and airport operations already'. Two days later I was at head office for a formal interview that included a flight evaluation. I joined that team as a design engineer, with a job description that included occaisional trips to the airport as 'engineering test pilot'. I didn't realize it at the time, but, I had just landed the ultimate pilots dream job. This was a full telecommute position, work from a home office, spend 2 days a month at corporate head office with the rest of the team, and occaisional trips to the airport when we mounted prototypes into a company plane and flew them to gather testing data for certifications. I wasn't really familiar with the aircraft they used for this process, but, a week at FlightSafety fixed that. Didn't fly a lot, just enough that a day in the airplane was still fun, annual trips to the sim kept us current. A dream schedule, work from home office, no fixed hours but instead, fixed delivery dates, enough money to live a comfortable lifestyle, and enough free time to actually do it.
Wind the clock forward, another decade, eventually I left that position and hung out the shingle for 'goldeneagle development Ltd'. Early on most of the client base was in the aviation field, but over time I gradually shifted the client base to other industries, aviation is just to cyclical and I didn't like the way revenue suddenly dries up for companies wholly vested in aviation. Today I am the CEO (and owner) of an engineering firm that does annual revenues in 8 figures, with a number of employees all working in full telecommute positions scattered around the world. I live in an out of the way corner of BC, completely away from the big city rat race, life is very good.
So, wind the clock again, was about 2 years ago. I was on the phone with an east coast client, early by west coast time, around 7am, the client was insistent that I need to be present for meetings later the next day at the east coast head office. I was equally clear with the client, from where I am, not possible to get flights arranged for me to get there on that schedule. Around 5pm that evening, a big shiny corporate jet arrived at our local airport to wisk me off to those meetings.
As the plane was doing the taxi out, and I'm watching two folks up front run thru pre-takeoff checks, it suddenly donned on me. Yes, now I know how to define if we have reached the 'big league'. It's not about flying in the left seat of the big shiny jet at all, it's about when that big shiny jet shows up, and I get into a seat in the back sipping whisky while somebody flies me to where I am going. That was a somewhat surreal experience, and only then did I truly realize where the 'big league' is.
I wouldn't trade those early years of flying for anything, did the floats gigs, hauled night freight, worked in fire suppression, did a lot of things over those years and it made me who I am today. Turns out, a widely based experience base in aviation was not the end goal after all, it was just part of the preparation process for that day when luck happened. I was prepared, and a very unique opportunity presented itself. I had two vastly different forms of education and experience, then one day an opportunity arose that was tailor made for somebody with just that combination. I was a scarce commodity, and scarcity is the mother of pay increase. If I chose to be like that fella here on this site who serves greasy fried chicken, I could have a hangar with a pitts or various airplanes, but, I choose not to. Airplanes long ago transitioned from big shiny toys to just another way of getting from point A to point B in my mind. My wife has been threatening to buy me an airplane for my birthday, but, I keep telling her I dont want one. It's just a money pit, and years ago airplanes stopped being fun, turned into work.
There is no fast track to the big league. If your view is the left seat of a big airline as made it to the big league, it's all about patience, sitting and waiting for a seniority number to pop up high enough on the list, along with a few prayers the outfit doesn't go tits up before you get to that point. OTOH, if your version of the big league is working in the C-Suite, you need to set yourself up with a variety of education and experience, none of which happens overnight. When I was younger, I thought surely that left seat of a big shiny jet was the ultimate goal, but, as life progresses, priorities change. Shiny airplane syndrome fades in the mid 30's for most, then quality of life becomes the defining factor. Different folks have different ideas about what defines quality of life. I'm 58 years old, semi retired now, my 'big break' happened 28 years ago which sent me down a different path, away from flying full time. 2 years ago I had the revelation that told me, yes, I have arrived in the big league, and it's a very different picture that what I thought it would be as a youngster mesmerized by shiny airplane syndrom. Having sat in both seats, I can say quite definitively, the view is far better from the back seat where the mini-bar is set up.
Just some rambling thoughts from a been there, done that perspective. And no, I will NOT eat that crap from Colonel Sanders outlets, it's not fit for human consumption. But some day he and I will meet up and go for a ride in that pitts, hasn't happened yet.
Alright, this is purely academic but what do you figure is the absolute fastest balls-out kamikaze approach to flying for a national airline today? Here's what I propose:
[/quote]
If you want to get to the 'big league', first you have to define 'what is the big league' in your own mind, as has been suggested earlier in the thread, it's different things to different folks.
Getting there will always take a bit of luck. Now define luck. Luck = The random convergence of opportunity with preparedness. The person that spends the time and effort to become prepared, will eventually bump into opportunity, but often times, it takes some creative thinking to recognize the opportunity.
In my own case, I did as some here suggest, bought the Aeronca Chief at the ripe old age of 16 when I had the student permit. Flew it a LOT as I progressed thru the PPL. After I had the logbook showing enough hours to move on, sold the airplane and used the cash to fund the CPL course. The biggest hurdle I had after passing the CPL written and flight tests, waiting on a birthday to roll around so I could qualify to apply for the license. While I was doing that waiting, did the multi and ifr. At the ripe old age of 18 I had a shiny new CPL with ratings, and was totally mesmerized by shiny airplane syndrome.
Back in the 80's, first job was difficult to get, but I did get my start, and spent the next few years doing mostly seasonal work with fall layoffs. To keep myself occupied during the winter, went back to school, did an education in engineering, the kind of engineering that results in a pinky ring, not the kind the results in a Snap-On toolbox. As time went on, I ended up working on a rotational gig for some time, 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, during my time off I did freelance work in my other field for a few companies. During that decade, I learned a lot. A hotel room is a hotel room, and it doesn't really matter where it's located, as long as it's clean and the bed doesn't have bugs in it. Restaurant food gets old. Time at home becomes precious. Airplanes are rarely 'shiny', and ultimately they all work the same way, push handles forward, they make more noise, pull yoke/stick back, nose goes up. Arriving at the left seat for big airline is not about what you know and what you are capable of, it's about patience, sitting in a long line waiting for a seniority number to pop up. In 89 I landed what I thought was the dream job, fairly large organization with a wide variety of corporate jets, lots of room to move up over time. On Jan 1 1990 there I was, staring at yet another pink slip (corporate downsizing) 7 months after I picked up and moved to a new location for yet another job flying airplanes. That was getting rather old.
A short time later, was on a phone intro with a firm for a short term contract back in the engineering world, man has to eat, so you take whats available to put food on the table. During that discussion, the gent on the other end of the phone said 'we will have to take a couple weeks and bring you up to speed on the idosyncracies of our industry, we make boxes that go into the avionics bay of airliners, so you will have to get up to speed on airline and airport procedures'. I laughed, proceeded to say 'ok, have an atpl, been working in the pointy end of airplanes for over a decade with somewhat over 5000 in the book, think I have a fair idea about airplane and airport operations already'. Two days later I was at head office for a formal interview that included a flight evaluation. I joined that team as a design engineer, with a job description that included occaisional trips to the airport as 'engineering test pilot'. I didn't realize it at the time, but, I had just landed the ultimate pilots dream job. This was a full telecommute position, work from a home office, spend 2 days a month at corporate head office with the rest of the team, and occaisional trips to the airport when we mounted prototypes into a company plane and flew them to gather testing data for certifications. I wasn't really familiar with the aircraft they used for this process, but, a week at FlightSafety fixed that. Didn't fly a lot, just enough that a day in the airplane was still fun, annual trips to the sim kept us current. A dream schedule, work from home office, no fixed hours but instead, fixed delivery dates, enough money to live a comfortable lifestyle, and enough free time to actually do it.
Wind the clock forward, another decade, eventually I left that position and hung out the shingle for 'goldeneagle development Ltd'. Early on most of the client base was in the aviation field, but over time I gradually shifted the client base to other industries, aviation is just to cyclical and I didn't like the way revenue suddenly dries up for companies wholly vested in aviation. Today I am the CEO (and owner) of an engineering firm that does annual revenues in 8 figures, with a number of employees all working in full telecommute positions scattered around the world. I live in an out of the way corner of BC, completely away from the big city rat race, life is very good.
So, wind the clock again, was about 2 years ago. I was on the phone with an east coast client, early by west coast time, around 7am, the client was insistent that I need to be present for meetings later the next day at the east coast head office. I was equally clear with the client, from where I am, not possible to get flights arranged for me to get there on that schedule. Around 5pm that evening, a big shiny corporate jet arrived at our local airport to wisk me off to those meetings.
As the plane was doing the taxi out, and I'm watching two folks up front run thru pre-takeoff checks, it suddenly donned on me. Yes, now I know how to define if we have reached the 'big league'. It's not about flying in the left seat of the big shiny jet at all, it's about when that big shiny jet shows up, and I get into a seat in the back sipping whisky while somebody flies me to where I am going. That was a somewhat surreal experience, and only then did I truly realize where the 'big league' is.
I wouldn't trade those early years of flying for anything, did the floats gigs, hauled night freight, worked in fire suppression, did a lot of things over those years and it made me who I am today. Turns out, a widely based experience base in aviation was not the end goal after all, it was just part of the preparation process for that day when luck happened. I was prepared, and a very unique opportunity presented itself. I had two vastly different forms of education and experience, then one day an opportunity arose that was tailor made for somebody with just that combination. I was a scarce commodity, and scarcity is the mother of pay increase. If I chose to be like that fella here on this site who serves greasy fried chicken, I could have a hangar with a pitts or various airplanes, but, I choose not to. Airplanes long ago transitioned from big shiny toys to just another way of getting from point A to point B in my mind. My wife has been threatening to buy me an airplane for my birthday, but, I keep telling her I dont want one. It's just a money pit, and years ago airplanes stopped being fun, turned into work.
There is no fast track to the big league. If your view is the left seat of a big airline as made it to the big league, it's all about patience, sitting and waiting for a seniority number to pop up high enough on the list, along with a few prayers the outfit doesn't go tits up before you get to that point. OTOH, if your version of the big league is working in the C-Suite, you need to set yourself up with a variety of education and experience, none of which happens overnight. When I was younger, I thought surely that left seat of a big shiny jet was the ultimate goal, but, as life progresses, priorities change. Shiny airplane syndrome fades in the mid 30's for most, then quality of life becomes the defining factor. Different folks have different ideas about what defines quality of life. I'm 58 years old, semi retired now, my 'big break' happened 28 years ago which sent me down a different path, away from flying full time. 2 years ago I had the revelation that told me, yes, I have arrived in the big league, and it's a very different picture that what I thought it would be as a youngster mesmerized by shiny airplane syndrom. Having sat in both seats, I can say quite definitively, the view is far better from the back seat where the mini-bar is set up.
Just some rambling thoughts from a been there, done that perspective. And no, I will NOT eat that crap from Colonel Sanders outlets, it's not fit for human consumption. But some day he and I will meet up and go for a ride in that pitts, hasn't happened yet.
-
Chuck Ellsworth
Good to see you are still on these forums Goldeneagle, if you are ever on the island drop by I am still living above the lake.
Your story is very similar to mine except I hung in flying until I was seventy because I had developed a flying business that was very rewarding and very interesting.
Now I seldom fly but I am still involved in the business world and am looking for a Hughes 300 that we can use for personal transport and a bit of fun flying.
In fact I just got my medical back so I can fly the thing.
My last medical was done in Amsterdam in 2004 and my last medical in Canada was done around 1996 as I recall.
Anyhow good to see you still around.
Chuck. E.
Your story is very similar to mine except I hung in flying until I was seventy because I had developed a flying business that was very rewarding and very interesting.
Now I seldom fly but I am still involved in the business world and am looking for a Hughes 300 that we can use for personal transport and a bit of fun flying.
In fact I just got my medical back so I can fly the thing.
My last medical was done in Amsterdam in 2004 and my last medical in Canada was done around 1996 as I recall.
Anyhow good to see you still around.
Chuck. E.
-
Colonel
- Posts: 3450
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:31 am
GE: Thank you for spending the time to type in that amazing
auto-biography. You have had a very interesting and successful life!
I was a little saddened to read:
[quote]years ago airplanes stopped being fun[/quote]
But I suppose one has to ask, "What does a porn star do for
fun in the evenings when he goes home?"
I refuse to grow up, and derive enormous childlike pleasure
from riding ridiculously over-powered sportbikes, flying fun
airplanes completely lacking in utility, and writing embedded
software.
They are all a rush, in very different ways, at least for me.
And that's the important thing to remember - enjoyment
is tremendously subjective. As long as you're having a
good life, that's what matters.
auto-biography. You have had a very interesting and successful life!
I was a little saddened to read:
[quote]years ago airplanes stopped being fun[/quote]
But I suppose one has to ask, "What does a porn star do for
fun in the evenings when he goes home?"
I refuse to grow up, and derive enormous childlike pleasure
from riding ridiculously over-powered sportbikes, flying fun
airplanes completely lacking in utility, and writing embedded
software.
They are all a rush, in very different ways, at least for me.
And that's the important thing to remember - enjoyment
is tremendously subjective. As long as you're having a
good life, that's what matters.
-
goldeneagle
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 10:40 pm
[quote author=Chuck Ellsworth link=topic=8086.msg22450#msg22450 date=1521248091]
Good to see you are still on these forums Goldeneagle, if you are ever on the island drop by I am still living above the lake.
[/quote]
hehe, on the island still eh ? Well, surprise surprise, so am I. Living on a small acreage just south of YBL. I ducked out of the big smoke about 10 years ago, spent a few years elsewhere, settled in here in YBL 5 years ago, love it up here. Just far enough away from the big smoke folks are civil, small town attitudes.
Good to see you are still on these forums Goldeneagle, if you are ever on the island drop by I am still living above the lake.
[/quote]
hehe, on the island still eh ? Well, surprise surprise, so am I. Living on a small acreage just south of YBL. I ducked out of the big smoke about 10 years ago, spent a few years elsewhere, settled in here in YBL 5 years ago, love it up here. Just far enough away from the big smoke folks are civil, small town attitudes.
-
goldeneagle
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 10:40 pm
[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=8086.msg22452#msg22452 date=1521255683]
I was a little saddened to read:
[quote]years ago airplanes stopped being fun[/quote]
[/quote]
I got quite jaundiced toward airplanes after the 7th pink slip, from what I thought was a career job, really got sour on the whole biz back then. Little did I realize at the time, that pink slip was the ticket into a whole new world, one that I really enjoyed and thrived on.
[quote]
I refuse to grow up, and derive enormous childlike pleasure
from riding ridiculously over-powered sportbikes, flying fun
airplanes completely lacking in utility, and writing embedded
software.
They are all a rush, in very different ways, at least for me.
[/quote]
Still doing embedded stuff here too.
Motorcycles, i got cured of that a very long time ago. Back in the dark ages, when I still flew for a living, spent some time doing medevac in bc. When I left that, realized something. Over that time, I had many times flown a car accident victim from the interior to the big city. Not once had I flown a motorcycle accident victim, but we did numerous trips taking the body snatchers up to harvest body parts after a motorcycle accident. Figured there was a lesson in there somewhere.
After I moved up to YBL, had a minor medical incident, so I was without medical for a while. I let go of the hobby job on the 421 when that happened.
these days I just write code for fun projects, and we do manage to catch a few salmon.
I was a little saddened to read:
[quote]years ago airplanes stopped being fun[/quote]
[/quote]
I got quite jaundiced toward airplanes after the 7th pink slip, from what I thought was a career job, really got sour on the whole biz back then. Little did I realize at the time, that pink slip was the ticket into a whole new world, one that I really enjoyed and thrived on.
[quote]
I refuse to grow up, and derive enormous childlike pleasure
from riding ridiculously over-powered sportbikes, flying fun
airplanes completely lacking in utility, and writing embedded
software.
They are all a rush, in very different ways, at least for me.
[/quote]
Still doing embedded stuff here too.
Motorcycles, i got cured of that a very long time ago. Back in the dark ages, when I still flew for a living, spent some time doing medevac in bc. When I left that, realized something. Over that time, I had many times flown a car accident victim from the interior to the big city. Not once had I flown a motorcycle accident victim, but we did numerous trips taking the body snatchers up to harvest body parts after a motorcycle accident. Figured there was a lesson in there somewhere.
After I moved up to YBL, had a minor medical incident, so I was without medical for a while. I let go of the hobby job on the 421 when that happened.
these days I just write code for fun projects, and we do manage to catch a few salmon.
-
Liquid Charlie
- Posts: 524
- Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:34 pm
Having concentrated on commercial ops I know the FDT limitations. I didn't know that spilled over into the private sector. If I had a cub and the wx is nice I'm going to fly it until I can't fly anymore if I was trying to go somewhere, say you have a month off and you want to do a trip that will likely take you close 200 hours to do. Taking a few days to have fun you are looking at 10 hours a day flying -- I wouldn't do it because my ass would be sore but it would [b]not[/b] be the regulations, if they exist, that would stop me --
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
- 26 Replies
- 17566 Views
-
Last post by doe.agnes
-
- 7 Replies
- 1604 Views
-
Last post by David MacRay
-
- 4 Replies
- 1392 Views
-
Last post by David MacRay
