Pilot Discussion

[Maxx Mazda]

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I sat in the cockpit for a couple of hours chatting with the 2 pilots in a Falcon once coming back from OKC to Calgary, including landing. One of the coolest experiences ever. Those guys were in their mid 30s and seemed to love their jobs. They were actually staff at our company so they had somewhat of a normal schedule. One thing I remember is how crazy busy things got on approach with all the radio calls haha.

Devon Petroleum by chance? One hell of an outfit to work for.

[Aleks]

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Devon Petroleum by chance? One hell of an outfit to work for.

Yup, it was. I believe they said there were either 6 or 8 pilots as staff there. Had their own hangar down there too.

[revelations]

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Seaplanes are cool. Everything else is less cool, and that's the way it is. Can't go here with anything else.

Sure you can, its called a helicopter ..... haha (esp with floats) ... but yes the planes are the best way to get around up North.

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That's still true today. I can't wait to not fly a fucking Cessna lol. I'll take the radial in a Beaver, but a turbine Otter or Twotter is king of the bush.

At least you have something like like an EEC to look after temps in a turbine, where as staring at CHT all day long and playing with mixtures gets ooooold fast.

[Buster]

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That’s just it. It’s so subjective. Sure it’s cool to walk around the terminal with a couple FA’s in tow and have people get the fuck outta your way, but some of the most fun I’ve ever had flying was my time up north. We used to be able to rip 10’ off the deck at 200+ knots. Envious of the guys who still get to do that.

I grew up in a fighter pilot house, with most of my "uncles" being fighter pilots, and about a 100 stories to tell of my own experiences living in that environment.

I always get a kick out of civilian airline pilots walking around the airport with attitude. They have no idea.

[Gman.45]

Wow, that $ isn't as high as I'd thought it be for pilots.

I was an ATC (Winnipeg Center) back in the mid 90s, I started my ifr/enroute ATC training at TCTI in Cornwall ONT back in late 93 and graduated in 94, got my ticket in 95 at Winnipeg ACC and started my own business in 96 and left that job. But even back then, 1/2 my class was Canadian Airline pilots who had just been laid off, and they all complained about making "just" under $100k in our first year once training was completed. It was a pay cut for them, however the lifestyle was decent as we did a 4 on 4 off sched, and only by union decree could spent about 2/3 the time of our shift on the scopes (insane, but that's how it worked then). I could have made $200k if I transferred to Gander, but instead stayed in the West and made $125 working a minimal amount of OT - the OT I did work was a scheduled scam with the union, which is one of the reasons NavCanada came around instead of Transport Canada running ATC in Canada, one of many. Anyhow, my point is that the $ seemed a lot better in aviation/pilot back then, and that was 20+ years ago now (I was 19 when I started, got very fortunate to be hired, but I had a lot of aviation experience and knowledge by then already, and looked older).

What do WestJet drivers make, or Air Canada pilots - I realize it depends on experience/time in, hours, routes, equipment, etc, but ballpark what is the range like?

I realize it's a dream job for many, I figured the $ for guys flying commercial especially with the bigger carriers would make more. 95EaglAWD, that's a great gig, floatplanes would be a fantastic gig IMO, same with Mazzda, I worked a similar number of days a month when I was ATC, back pre 9/11 (a long time before 9/11), when any ATC could fly jump seat with AC or Canadian back then a lot of the time. Had a lot of fun seeing things from the flight deck perspective, and I'd always get as many question as I'd ask about our end of the whole operation.

I grew up in a fighter pilot house, with most of my "uncles" being fighter pilots, and about a 100 stories to tell of my own experiences living in that environment.

I always get a kick out of civilian airline pilots walking around the airport with attitude. They have no idea.

I grew up on air bases too, my mother taught at a couple different air bases in Canada and one in Germany. Small world, my uncle flew with CF5s and later CF18s with 441 sqdrn, and a good friend of mine from high school is a 2500hr Hornet pilot and Empire test grad, and flew the Eurofigher, Gripen both there, and the F16 and SuperHornet on exchanges with both the USAF and USN. He now is CO of the RCAF test sqdr/Fighter standards and eval team FSET. He has 3600 hours in 40+ types. Pretty crazy, and I get the two "knife hands" in the air every time it's "story time" from him. Good times

[Buster]

PM'd you GMAN.

I spent the mid-80s to early 90's in both Lahr and Baden in Germany.

[Maxx Mazda]

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I grew up in a fighter pilot house, with most of my "uncles" being fighter pilots, and about a 100 stories to tell of my own experiences living in that environment.

I always get a kick out of civilian airline pilots walking around the airport with attitude. They have no idea.

That comment was meant to be pretty tongue in cheek. I explored the military route when I was in high school, the answer I got from the recruiters was “if we don’t think you’d make a good pilot (even in a transport, not necessarily fighters) you still owe us 7 years behind a desk if we deem that’s what you’d be best at.” Kinda steered me away.

It blows me away how much Air Force might the USA has. They have more fighters in mothball storage than we’ve ever had active all combined. I bet you’ve heard some great stories!

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Man are those some awesome shots! Colour me jealous!

[Buster]

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That comment was meant to be pretty tongue in cheek. I explored the military route when I was in high school, the answer I got from the recruiters was “if we don’t think you’d make a good pilot (even in a transport, not necessarily fighters) you still owe us 7 years behind a desk if we deem that’s what you’d be best at.” Kinda steered me away.

It blows me away how much Air Force might the USA has. They have more fighters in mothball storage than we’ve ever had active all combined. I bet you’ve heard some great stories!

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Man are those some awesome shots! Colour me jealous!

For sure, I didn't think you were serious about your comment. Although you do see the odd airline pilot acting cocky, it's not that common.

[Gman.45]

It blows me away how much Air Force might the USA has. They have more fighters in mothball storage than we’ve ever had active all combined. I bet you’ve heard some great stories!

Heh, back in the late 80s at the end of the Cold War, there were literally, 2.5x as many squadrons and 3x as many active fighters in Tactical Air Command and the US Navy.

Under Trump's administration this situation is improving, but still, right now nearly 1/2 of all USMC, USN, and USAF fighters aren't in a condition to fight due to parts/supply/logistics/etc issues. Lots of articles out there about this if you're interested.

At the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the USAF alone had 134 active fighter squadrons, all spun up and ready to fight. There is now just 55, and again, 1/2 of those are empty shells of squadrons due to aircraft out of service.

Still, even with down units, the USN chart of the Navy's airpower alone is SICK.



The USAF's is even crazier, and this isn't counting the drones. (Drones here - https://www.businessinsider.com/char...e-fleet-2016-3 )