You are embarked on a career that carries with it responsibility, financial rewards, prestige, and a few drawbacks; the average surgeon would most likely debate with you, however, whether the perils you run are worse than his. Like you, he holds people's lives in his hand; unlike you, he runs a risk of career-threatening lawsuits, and he often works a grueling long week that leaves him precious little time for non-medical pursuits or even, in many instances, for his family. By contrast, pilots with major airlines often are able to do their flying jobs and run other businesses simultaneously while putting in fewer total hours per month than the average physician puts into his medical practice alone.
No matter what profession you decide to compare yours with, piloting will come out quite well. Your career choice is excellent. The worst drawbacks that your career can face will come from you, not from the nature of the game. To play the game fully, you must do the "extras": Go the extra mile in making your skills and flight record airline-ready; take the extra trouble to be completely prepared for a crucial job interview; make sure you shine during probation; do everything possible to enhance your instrument skills constantly, rather than letting them erode from too frequent reliance on the autopilot; take care of your health and fitness; put together a "survival" plan in case of a furlough; and be developing other interests and skills, even a full-blown business, in case the unthinkable should happen and you should wind up without a flying job.
If you do not do all of these things, you are falling short of the full game plan in the same way that a baseball player does when he fails to "run out" an infield grounder. If the ball player is still standing at home plate when the shortstop commits an error, either the shortstop or another infielder will have time to recover and throw the ball player out before he reaches first base. But if the baseball player had "run out" the play, he would have been safe at first.
A Body in Motion Tends To Stay in Motion
Nothing that has been said in this article is meant to imply that piloting is any more insecure than any other line of human endeavor. It is not. In fact, it is one of the greatest opportunities in the United States and in the world for an individual with significant technical ability to have a lucrative career and retire very well off. Moreover, most people go into piloting because they love to fly. So the pilot is doubly blessed: He gets to do what he loves and get wealthy doing it.
The pilot is in a dynamic industry that draws its participants into contact with a great many people, ideas, and opportunities. Of course, the road to a flying job with a major airline is arduous and demands a great deal of your time and effort. Until you land a position that you are able to regard as a career objective, you may have little time left over for other kinds of endeavor. But once there, you need not wear blinders. Opportunity is all around you.
You have accomplished Plan A, landing a seat with a major airline. You should definitely take care of Plan B, which is making sure a furlough or a loss of license does not catch you unprepared. And you can even be looking into a Plan C - some other form of endeavor that may add fun and profit to your life when you are not flying.
"Run out" all of your grounders; the maximum safety resides in optimum hustle, and only there.
The authors hope the information in Airline Pilot has been helpful to you in molding your career plans. If it has, we have accomplished our goal with this article, just as you undoubtedly will achieve your goals if you give them a total effort. Happy .
