Training, where the fun begins.

Ahhh the brain. I haven't really had to use it in a while. I haven't really had to study hard since Lear training last summer and even that was a joke. I got pretty tired of the instructor saying "works good, lasts long time" when I tried to ask some systems questions.

Part 121 is a whole new ballgame as far as training goes. I can plan on the ground portion taking 4 weeks. Sims to take 2 and OE another week and a half. In total, I can expect to be training for 2 months, ugh! Its a really long time to be away from Erin and the Squirt, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that'll allow them to come visit once or twice. Thanks to all the points and miles I've racked up over the last year or so, I have a few nights worth of hotels, a few airline tix and even enough for a car rental, so having them come down to see me wont cost a ton of $$.

During college I was a big fan of "C's get degrees". I only applied myself when I absolutely needed to or just plain felt like it. It worked. I graduated......eventually. If it were up to me, I woulda stayed longer cause I had such a good time, but the parental units said "enough is enough". Back to the original topic of using the brain. I actually enjoy using my brain on occasion. Especially when the better I do at something, the quicker I'll get some sort of reward out of it. Kinda childish, but its how I operate. I figure the harder I work in ground school, the better I'll do, then hopefully in a few months when I bid for Captain, they'll remember how good I was and I'll get awarded the upgrade. Besides, I love being a good pilot. I take pride in my flying abilities and owe it to myself and the people riding behind me to be the best at my chosen profession.

Well its back to the books. Have an FOM test to study for, then I need to memorize about 15 pages of limitations, 4 pages of memory items, read somewhere around 1500 pages of materials that need to be permanently burned into my memory, learn my new plane inside and out, every system, light bulb and switch, every regulation and then I'll finally go get to fly a simulator. All for an annual salary of $13,800 after taxes!!!! Yeah baby!!! Welcome to the big leagues!!!!

Its official

Well the Pros have outweighed the Cons. I have decided to become reformed freight trash. I am crossing over to the light side and will start my training to become an "airline pilot" in a short period of time.

It is not my dream job, in fact far from it, but it should enable me to spend more time with the family and upgrade in a very short time. Like I said in previous posts, I had hoped to avoid the regionals, but the intolerable conditions at my present company have forced my hand. I think it says something about my company when 4 out of the 6 guys in my class have forgone an upgrade and left early. In fact, only 1 of us will become a Captain here, the rest have left or are in the process of leaving. As for those who have come after me, they are leaving too. In fact one guy only lasted 3 months before he bailed for greener pastures. The promise of a quick upgrade and that all important Turbine PIC is not worth the crap we have to put up with to get it. There is no way I'll put my family through another 18 months of this garbage. I do believe I have scraped the bottom of the barrel with this company. Things can only get better from here. Even though I have gotten the formal invitation to upgrade, leaving is a better option for me and my family.

Had I gotten this job straight out of college, I'm sure I'd have been really excited that I landed the job. As it is, my excitement level isn't exactly sky high. In fact its more blase' than anything. I'm conflicted because I know I'm passing up an upgrade and instant PIC turbine for another damn paycut. I've come to realize that my career progression is going backwards. I started out making over 30K flying a Navajo. I then went to a company to fly Beech 99's for a paycut to 26K. Then on to jets for another paycut in base salary. And finally I fly the biggest plane to date for a friggin airline and I'd make more working at McDonald's than I will for the airline!
This is not how things are supposed to go. Your pay should increase with the size of plane you fly, not decrease. And it doesn't stop there. After I make Captain at my new company, I'll be making a decent salary well above 50K, when I leave to go to my dream job, I'll again have to endure another paycut. Granted its only for a year, but still, you go from making close to 100K to 35K for a year and it'll take you a few years to again reach the 100K mark. Ugh. Remind me why I'm doing this again? Oh yeah, truck driving school was full.

Big changes are comin' round the bend

Stay tuned for some news. It has to do with my posts from several months ago concerning dancing with the devil that brought me. All I'm going to say is that I'll be going to training somewhere on some plane. More to follow later.

Sittin around.

I've been doing a lot of sitting around lately. Thankfully I've been in some pretty cool places and decent hotels. I wish i had my camera with me on this rotation because I could have gotten a lot of great pics. I spent my weekend in the Oakland/San Fran area and I'm spending the holiday by myself in Anderson, S.C.



I had not been to San Fran since I was a kid, so it was cool to go check out. Seeing as how I'm such a huge History Channel dork, there were a lot of historical things to go check out. My new all time favorite place to hang out is the USS Hornet. It sits docked at the old Alameda Naval Air Station and was about a 20min walk from my hotel. I spent 7 hours there on Sunday and still didn't get to see everything. In fact, my clothes that I wore that day still smell like aircraft carrier. It was awesome to have followed in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong as he first returned to Earth from the Moon. (The Hornet was the aircraft carrier that picked the crews of Apollo 11 and 12 from the ocean) I was able to take 2 tours of the ship. The first was the engine room tour that brought us into the depths of the ship. We got to see the engine rooms, parts of the galleys, the catapult, brig, weapons assembly room and a host of other sights that you cannot see on your own. The second tour was of the Island above the flight deck. I got the chance to sit in the Captains chair.....pretty neat stuff. The ship is a historical landmark. Every inch of the nearly 900ft long ship has a story to tell. From fighting the Empire of Japan in WWII to the coasts of Vietnam, the Hornet saw it all. It was difficult to soak in all the history involved with the ship. I'm still contemplating things I saw that day. If I ever get the chance to go back, I'll get there even earlier next time to I can spend the entire day there. Absolutely astounding!



That was Sunday. On Saturday the Captain and I walked down to the docks to catch a ferry over to San Fran. For 11 bucks we caught a ride to and from the Fisherman's Wharf area of the city. I don't remember much about my last trip to S.F because it was so long ago, but I do remember seeing a picture of me sitting on a crapper in a cell at Alcatraz. I have vague recollections about a story told to us on the ferry over to the island that they had a trained shark to swim around the island. I know its a bunch of BS now, but back then I thought it was cool. We went over to where they sell the tickets for the Alcatraz tour and to our dismay they were sold out until the next Thursday. (Note to self: plan ahead on vacations) So we then proceeded to see the sights around the area including Lombard Street, the Seals in the bay, all the seafood restaurants and the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. Again, thanks to the History Channel and Modern Marvels for my prior knowledge about the ship. It was cool to go see in real life.



Here are some more gratuitous pics of "been there, done that".






The view from my hotel room in Queretaro, Mexico


I'm probably going to get thrown in some sort of CIA jail, but here's a pic of White Sands Missile Test Range that I snapped on our way into ELP.