Airline Pilots

In the 1970's airline pilots were a relatively small group of almost exclusively men... about 30,000 of them.  It seemed like a lot of pilots at the time but later you will learn that it is a relatively small network of individuals.  

ALPA... Air Line Pilots Association is the union that represents most pilots in the industry.  You will come to dislike the union... greatly... all unions... you will think of them as a legal plague on the company and in the end the employees themselves.  You know they are needed in some way, but you will personally see the ill effects of the union.  The dirty little secrets...

The pilots you are about to work with and call friends are Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, Astronauts, International Aerobatic Champions, Test Pilots, Fighter Pilots, Lawyers, Gynecologists, Dentists, aeronautical engineers and regular guys like you.  To you it feels like you are starting your career all over again... the new guy... little.

The pilot group is tight knit and protective.  The egos can be huge.  Your reputation follows you around through the belly of the beast... like that old joke from elementary school... the "kick me" sign stuck to your back.  You will do your best not to make a mistake... you will succeed but you won't know that or believe that until the last day of your career.  Some pilots will  make a mistake and not make it to the next airline due to the network of fellow pilots.

News travels fast when you mess up... whispers in crew lounges, cockpits, jetways and bars in layover hotels.  You will see and hear that over and over.  The egos are big and the mental bullying intimidates some pilots... you are one of the intimidated at times.  Your goal will eventually be, to retire one day and have people trying to put a face with the name of the guy retiring.  You will not really succeed at that.  There will be plenty of guys just like you, quietly doing the job well... not making the 24 hour news cycle... not being the loud pilot in the bar.

You need confidence in yourself and your aircraft to blast off on a dark stormy night and disappear into the clouds.  You need that confidence as soon as you lift off and then as you accelerate to 500 MPH.  You need it to land on a short slippery runway.  You need it to land in visibility so low there are no visual clues to help in your touchdown.  Some guys have it and some don't... you have it (but it disappears when you become the new guy)...  there will be a time when you won't have the confidence, when you will be so unsure of yourself that you will turn cold, pale and shake... you will be thankful that it's dark and no one notices.

There is a thin line between being confident and good in your job and developing a big ego.  If you have a big ego you better be perfect.  There is a saying:  "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots.  But there are no old bold pilots."  You have heard that a lot, but at the end of your career you know that it is not true... there are a lot of lucky old bold pilots...  at times you have been a bold pilot.  

You will make smart decisions and dumb decisions... and you will fail to make decisions.  It all adds up to ... experience.  With experience things become easy. It is eerie when things happen that you seem to sense before they are about to happen.  You reach a point that when you are instructing a new pilot you are explaining what is going to happen before it does happen.  You know what another aircraft is going to do before it does it.  You know what a controller is going to say before he says it.  You have become supremely proficient... it's not that you are smart and all knowing... it's your experience level... lots of guys reach that level... they have been there done that, thousands of times.  Situational Awareness is what pilots call it now days.  You fight complacency because you know complacency is your biggest enemy.   

You will be at the peak of your profession when, again... age will eliminate you... you knew the last flight would happen some day... but it was too quick.  You had always wondered if you would make it to the final flight... you were blessed... you made it... some friends didn't.

You fly off into the sunset thinking:  "Maybe it was best to leave now, before you had a hiccup and ended up with the unseen sign taped to your back that says, "Kick Me"..."  

What a fun ride it was...  it was wild.  It was much like the movies at times.

Come fly the airlines with a pilot that's "older than dirt"... according to one co-pilot.