Mid-life Career Change to Airline Pilot. It's Doable.

I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...

What was the response from ground?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...
I love when I hear that, or calls to the FBO on guard...
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...
Wait’ll you check in with tower and they tell you to land and hold short, but let them know if you can’t make it. You acknowledge that, and then make a quick cabin announcement, after which the captain notices that you forgot to switch the mic back to the radio, and says, “Tell tower we’re not going to make it.”

So you dutifully key the mic and say, “Tower, we’re not going to make it” over the PA.

wasn’t me, but I know a guy. :rofl:
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...
Naah, it just cancels out one buttered landing.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...
Nothing anyone of us hasn’t done…

But it’s still funny when someone else does it !
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...
Pfft!! Pales in comparison to the Southwest guy ranting about the Chicago domicile FA’s being grannies and gays. Or the Southwest ‘rollin coal’ dude at John Wayne. And Controllers get stuck mics to. Toronto
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just wanted to come here and say that yesterday I keyed the mic on ground and said:
"ladies and gentlemen, We will be airborne in just a few minutes. Will the flight attendants please prepare for takeoff"

I am looking for the live ATC feed now. I deserve to be ridiculed for this.
Click to expand...
Ya wanna be ridiculed. OK.

 
Well I found out this week that your company doesn't do the DFW-PIA route. So I guess I'll never get to buy you dinner.
 
 
That was actually my alternate today from Pennsylvania to chicago. If the weather had been worse I would have gotten a free dinner lol
 
Kritchlow said:
Hey, I had a great one but in reverse. We got a new clearance enroute, and instead of the FO reading it back to ATC he picked up the PA phone and read it back to the cabin.
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Any pilots in the cabin were probably like :biggrin:, while the rest of the pax were like :confused2:. (Or maybe everyone was just :sleep: )
 
First recurrent (almost) in the books.
2 days of ground leading up to a test on fatigue followed by a repeat of the Knowledge validation exam we had in initial training.
So basically an annual written that is on par with an FAA written exam. 160 questions covering systems, procedures, limitations, etc. Nothing scary


A week off which means a week flying the line.
Then sims.
Sim 1 was upset recovery and emergency drills.
Sim 2 was maneuver Validation (I hate this one. It is hard and stressful and feels like a check ride that your career depends on). Passed with no issues.
Sim 3 tomorrow is LOE or a line oriented flight where me and the captain and I just do a flight in the sim from X to Y with a minor emergency / diversion thrown in.
I have diverted enough in real life that this is a non event. communicate with everyone, load the box, plan your arrival and approach and Bob's your uncle.

Recurrent feels like a new lease on life. I am cleared for another year of flying at this company which I really like.

Pros this year: I am a line holder with 15 days off a month and I can hold weekends off. In October, I will start making 2 year captain pay which with a tiny bit of OT will eclipse what I was making at the top of my IT career.

Cons this year: We have a billion FOs and are still hiring at light speed. We have a captain shortage and are opening a new base in DC. So I suspect forced upgrades are coming and low seniority FO's are going to get displaced to DC. I will dodge that bullet but it will lower my seniority and I suspect as soon as I hit 950 hours, they will force upgrade me to captain. Normally that would be great but since I will be getting captain pay in October, there is a strong desire to stay in the right seat with my current seniority and the higher pay.

Still love the job. Love the lifestyle. Love the plane. Hate min rest overnights and 4 day trips with 5 leg days but every bid period, my life improves ever so slightly.

Year one of this transition has been great. Year two will likely be less exciting but an ever increasing level of comfort, security, and quality of life.
All Good.
 
Glad to hear it! I just finished my recurrent in the 605 so I understand what it's like to be done. However, I know your 121 recurrent is way more strenuous than my 135 recurrent. Although since I'm current in 2 airframes, I get the pleasure of recurrent checkrides every 6 months, so that kind of makes up for it a little.

And congrats on holding a line!
 
AV8R_87 said:
A cockpit video of one of your flights has been leaked:

Click to expand...

I feel this. LOOOOOOONG flights are BOOOOOORING

"How long you been with the company?" "3 years. You"
"1 Year. You going to flow soon?" "2028. Do you think you will flow?
"No. At my age its better to stay put and aim for the training department." "Kids?"
"2 you?" "1 on the way"
"Ever flown with captain Asshat?" "Oh I hate that guy. I have a list. you have a list?"
"There's a cloud ahead. ask for left deviations" "Whew! dodged a bullet. we almost died"
"Yep we are good, safe pilots" "Number 1 FA is kinda cute"
"Yeah but she has an Adam's apple" "So..." "Fair enough. Do you need to pee?"
"No but I need to see if FA1 really has an Adam's apple. Give them a call" "They're ready. Get me a Coke Zero and some ice"
"Oh sorry center um.. you were coming garbled. can you repeat that last little bit?"

I will take a 3 leg day of 1 to 1.5 hour flights every day of the week. You are busy the whole time, working, descent planning, and communicating.
When they get to be 3+ hours, especially late at night, it can be less enjoyable.
 
I remember a time when the pilot was talking about xxx airport on the PA, when the flight was actually going to yyy airport. The passengers(that are listening) get nervous hearing such things. Events like that can happen when you go to a handful of airports any given day.

When the audio panels are in easy view between the pilots, I’ll allocate slight scanning to see what button is pressed, and at times not changed after a PA or switching. It’s 2 seconds well spent to check the audio panel before the mic button. Of course we’ve all BTDT, just be sure it isn’t something that drags you in front of HR, or the media.
 
A couple of decades ago I send an email reply (to the customer) instead of "forward" (to an employee), with a negative tone about the customer. Lost the customer. It was a good wake up call. Since then, I don't send electronic messages that I wouldn't mind anyone seeing, and same when on a phone call or conference.
 
Albany Tom said:
A couple of decades ago I send an email reply (to the customer) instead of "forward" (to an employee), with a negative tone about the customer. Lost the customer. It was a good wake up call. Since then, I don't send electronic messages that I wouldn't mind anyone seeing, and same when on a phone call or conference.
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I’ve got a former boss who missed the W and touched a row down when typing the greeting to Mr Whit—— in an email. Fortunately the customer has a good sense of humor.
 
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