Just a piece of adivce

[crashresidue]

Cheers people,

 

I know it's been a while since I've posted - and a lot of things have gone down since then.

 

I gave up my medical two years ago due to vision/safety concerns. To me, it was a good call. Yea, I'm still fighting the aviation addiction, but I'll kick the habit - about two years after I'm dead.

 

Any way, what I want to talk about is making friends within the industry - DON'T DO IT! Make "acquaintences" instead. It's a whole lot easier on you if the RIP you read was just someone you knew rather that someone that you let into to your heart. Now, I'm NOT talking combat - I'm talking just your everyday flying losses (sp?).

 

Hershner is my prime example. Roger and I flew together for a couple of years. He was a grand pilot. Three years older than me, but with almost twice the flight time. At 14,000+ hrs(my time) - he showed me easier ways to do things. I was impressed! To loose him was the final straw. I quit visiting here, JH went by the wayside too. Aviation stopped being the focal point for me. I'm not a "pilot" anymore - just a "used to be".

 

Guess that's all I wanted to say. I lost about "one" friend every 18 months in the civilian world - it wasn't worth the pain it cost.

 

cr

[Goldy]

Cheers people,

cr

 

Crash- Always great to see you post! While your advice is genuine, you know that most of us will go down that same road. We'll fly, we'll learn, we'll make and lose friends along the way.

 

I sure wish there was a way for you to teach many of us lower time guys the real world of commercial operations. The kinds of things you could teach us have nothing to do with earning a rating, but rather flying as safe as we possibly can in each circumstance. Eyesight fading or not, what you have to offer is of tremendous value.

 

I don't think your flying days are over, I think your teaching days should be just beginning!

[Falko]

 

 

I don't think your flying days are over, I think your teaching days should be just beginning!

 

goldy is right. A CFI doesn't need a medical as long as your are not the pic. So your student needs at least his private pilot license. You could also apply with 'Flight safety international" they train people in simulators (S76,S92,EC135..etc). Go to www.jsfirm.com and lookup their openings. Since it's all in the sim, no medical required and they pay very well with lots of benefits.

 

falko

[rick1128]

goldy is right. A CFI doesn't need a medical as long as your are not the pic. So your student needs at least his private pilot license. You could also apply with 'Flight safety international" they train people in simulators (S76,S92,EC135..etc). Go to www.jsfirm.com and lookup their openings. Since it's all in the sim, no medical required and they pay very well with lots of benefits.

 

falko

 

Not only does Flight Safety prefer experienced pilots as instructors, but also Simuflite. They have a Bell 412 sim in Dubai plus a S76 and AW139 sim (joint venture with Agusta) in Morristown, NJ. Plus Agusta, Bell and American Eurocopter conduct flight and ground training and are looking for instructors from time to time.

 

Also, you do not need to have a current medical to be Director of Operations.

[Wally]

Crashresidue-

I think I read it somewhere- "death is the price we pay for life". That was personally theoretical when I was young, invulnerable and immortal. I thought the profundity referred to me... Long story short, I was wrong all the way around. My death isn't the cost I pay, dying is the other side of being born.

It's the loss of those dear that's "the price". If your loved ones are important (and love isn't trivial), it's important that you honor them and their memory, value the difference made in your life. I hear that in your post. You gotta know that you were, and are, the other half of that bargain. If you had it to do all over again, would you want them deprived of you? Not if you truly loved...

 

P.S. You ain't ever gonna be a "used to be", you're just not flying right now. It's like being a virgin- you are, or you aren't, and once you're not there's no going back. You can't "unexperience".

Edited September 19, 2010 by Wally

[Trans Lift]

Very nicely said Wally.

[crashresidue]

Thanks Wally - that's an approach that I hadn't thought about.

 

cr

[KyleA]

Crash, coincidental that I would read your post as I just lost a good friend and student in an accident 3 weeks ago. Perry was known by many. When he came to Carlsbad, he lived at my house while I taught him to fly. Hell, he babysat my kids. Since that time 20 years ago, he learned to fly rings around me. Tours, offshore, logging, fire, as well as one hell of a K-Max driver.

 

After 22 years flying for pay, it never gets easier when someone is lost. Last year I walked away from the whole industry in frustration that I would never find the kind of job I had for the previous 15 years. Not a day goes by when I don't miss it. Not just the flying but the friends I shared the skies with. But I was adamant about coming home to my family at night in trade for my career. Guess I got what I wanted.