I am a big supporter of your push for “Australia”, and for the development of our aviation industry.

It is clear that you (like myself, and many others) have the flying bug, and as you know, it just becomes part of what we are.

It is for this reason I was very surprised at the Flying as a Career section of your website, as it gives one of the most pessimistic and self centered views (from I assume an old and bitter Qantas pilot!) of the industry I have ever read! I think we are all concerned at the declining amounts of GA flying being done in Australia, and had I read that account of the industry prior to my training, I doubt that I would have joined the industry either!

There is a very negative view over all aviation in Australia, perpetuated by websites such as PPRuNe. Compared to most of the world, we are doing very well, and have quite highly paid crews. GA is declining, and I think that the negative attitude is partially to blame. We need more people promoting the industry (like you do), to give it a kick start back in the right direction.

 I am a First Officer flying for one of the large Australian carriers. I was “one of the lucky ones”, getting a start in a major airline at a very young age. At the age of 24 I have visited (with work) 10 different countries, flying some of the biggest and most expensive aircraft ever built. I have seen in the New Year in London, I’ve wandered through Central Park New York in the snow, seen in the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong and Singapore and the finish of the Los Angeles Marathon in Downtown L.A. One week I was on Safari in South Africa, the next I was planting a garden for an AIDS orphanage in Johannesburg. I now have friends from cities all over Australia and the world, working for all manner of airlines, and just general people I’ve met through other friends. The best part… all of this has been done with work within the last 5 years.

Sure, slip times have decreased from the “good old days”. We are becoming more and more a part of a competitive aviation environment, with pressures from all sides to decrease costs. We still get 24 to 48 (with the odd one up to 85) hour slips in international ports, and 12 to 48 hours in domestic ports. The time is all yours, and it is what you make of it.

On the domestic side, things are a lot more routine and it is far more like a “day job”. There are many challenges, and rewards, of flying nearly 1000 people a day between Australian cities. You are at work more regularly, but also home more nights. Depending on which aircraft you are flying, and for which company, it is possible to work about 15 days a month and only spend two or three nights away from home.

Flying has definitely changed, and today’s pilot is far more of a “manager” than ever before, especially on long haul flights. The “stick and rudder” pilot skills are not practiced as much as they used to be, instead a high level of systems knowledge and automation management is required for ever increasing complexity. Today’s pilot usually doesn’t have to wrestle a heavy aircraft down in a snow storm with almost no visibility to a perfect landing – but the skill is expected, and he is trained and checked to ensure he can. I don’t see this as a decrease in the pilot’s abilities, just a change in his focus. He still has to do fuel calculations, decode weather forecasts and create plans to ensure the safe disposition of the aircraft at all times, whilst managing an aircraft worth over US$200 million with over 400 passengers on board.

One of the hardest parts is acknowledging that you will be away from your family and friends on some of those special occasions like birthdays and Christmases. For me, that is more than offset by the fact that you get more days at home throughout the year where you can do those special things. Some crews take their families with them on their trips over Christmas, or move their Christmas a couple of days either side. It is unfortunately just part of the job.

I would say that being an Airline Pilot is still a very attractive career, with one caveat: you have to want to be involved in aviation. It is not a job for a couple of years, it really is a career. It is a tough, but ultimately very rewarding career with very good job satisfaction. Financially, it is not the place to be if you want to be a “high flying” executive earning in the millions a year, however I have been fortunate to make a 6 figure salary for 4 of those 5 years of airline flying. Some of the newer airline positions don’t pay that sort of money initially, but in most cases airline flying is still a well paid position.

I won’t pretend that it is for everyone, and if you love flying, but don’t like the idea of being an airline pilot, then it is probably better to look elsewhere to get your flying ‘fix’. There are some great jobs in “General Aviation”, including freight running, flight training and specialized roles like the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Alternatively you can get that executive job and keep flying as a hobby. It really is “horses for courses’.

With the new university degree programs, and FEE-HELP from the government, a flying career has become available to many who previously couldn’t afford the training. The road can be a tough one, and getting that airline job can take a while… but if you want to be an airline pilot, then you should go for it, and not let some of the overly negative people in the industry ruin your dreams.

I am proud to be part of the exclusive club of airline pilots, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.