AMA PC regular turned airline pilot

[Spiff]

what's up PC, long time no see. I was a regular here during my college days as I lived in the middle of nowhere and had nothing else to do. Today I'm a captain for a cargo airline here in the US. I'm happy to see this place is still around. AMA

 

[Fairy]

Welcome back Spiff! :)

So what is it like living with the balls of steel required to fly a plane?

 

[Ghost Owl]

Do you remember that time multiple lifetimes ago when I changed your username to Spliff?

 

[Spiff]

Welcome back Spiff! :)

So what is it like living with the balls of steel required to fly a plane?

Thank you!

It's definitely stressful sometimes. We say it's a job with hours of monotony followed by seconds of -OH MY EFFIN GOD PULL UP WTF

 

[Spiff]

Do you remember that time multiple lifetimes ago when I changed your username to Spliff?

>:(

Your little shenanigans still rears its head when I try to log in

 

[Hisuitake]

Welcome back to PC~

What are your hobbies or interests other than being a captain of a cargo airline?

 

[Nah]

What made you get into aviation in the first place?

 

[Starlight]

You ever been tempted by pax, or you a freight only kinda peep?

 

[Spiff]

Welcome back to PC~

What are your hobbies or interests other than being a captain of a cargo airline?

Reading, guitar and the gym take up most of my time. I've been more involved with reclusive activities since moving for work since I don't really know anyone in my new town. Moving by yourself to a new state is pretty weird.

 

[Spiff]

What made you get into aviation in the first place?

I think there are psychological factors at play with this. My childhood was fairly isolated and with few opportunities for travel. Even the most monotonous activity was exciting and novel to me, like going to a new grocery store with my sister or something dumb like that. So the idea that I could travel and see new places everyday and get paid for it was a very romantic idea for me. To this day I still get a smile on my face when landing at a new airport.

 

[Spiff]

You ever been tempted by pax, or you a freight only kinda peep?

Good question. Lately I've been trending towards sticking with cargo. It's generally less volatile than passenger ops, and there's a certain blue collar element to it that I get massive enjoyment from. Plus boxes and pallets don't care when I have a crunchy landing, LOL

 

[Meganium]

Your title caught my interest!

How has the industry been for you during these trying times? Very curious to hear from someone from PC.

 

[Spiff]

Your title caught my interest!

How has the industry been for you during these trying times? Very curious to hear from someone from PC.

Last year was rough. At the time I was a flight instructor and was working maybe 5-10 hours a week. Flight schools were considered "educational" by my state's shelter in place order so we stayed open throughout 2020. But we lost a ton of business and was bleeding through my savings. I had interviews with 2 regional airlines completely canceled due to the sharp drop in passenger throughput. You can see from TSA's throughput numbers how passenger numbers fell off a cliff after March 1st 2020. Pretty crazy

Now the lucky bit. Since everything was shut down I was doing some flight lessons in the evenings. I didn't normally work those hours, but it was nice and cool out, and the airspace wasn't as busy, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace since there wasn't much else to do. On one such evening there was a crew for a cargo airline waiting for some freight to arrive. I spoke with the captain about how crazy the year was + my canceled interviews, and he mentioned that his airline was actually running a new hire class for First Officer positions. He connected me with their HR and I got an interview a few weeks later. This was probably one of the only airlines that was actually doing any hiring.

So I got the job. Three months later, my airline decided to make me a captain, so I spent most of last month doing the required training for the upgrade. If I hadn't done an evening flight that one day, I'd probably still be scraping by for pennies as an instructor. I definitely got lucky in a year that was god awful for most pilots.

 

[Roni]

what's the best and worst thing about being an airline pilot?

 

[Spiff]

what's the best and worst thing about being an airline pilot?

I get to do what I love for a living, but it comes at a massive cost. The work rules are not very good, after most trips the minimum amount of rest I get per the FAA is 10 hours. The company can call me for a trip any time after that. Rinse and repeat for about 3 weeks. Things like exercise, dating and otherwise basic self care become really difficult. I've been awake for over 24 hours on multiple trips before. These will all improve as I move on to larger airlines, but at this stage it's just how to cookie crumbles.