The International Cessna 170 Association

I've been an airline pilot for 24 years. Its been a good life. I've dedicated myself to it, I'm proud of it, and I'm very blessed to have had the opportunity....and I still love to fly!

Good for you Clayton. It is always refreshing to hear from to someone who likes their job and is appreciative of the opportunity to do it.

I know it took a lot of hard work on your part but so many people who give the same hard work won't get there simply because of their station in life, bad luck or no good luck.

An interesting thought - with all the federal benefits associated with aviation, seems like more people would be flying and owning aircraft.

The FAA's budget is about $13.5 billon per year regulating and providing services to about 600,000 pilots and about 250,000 light aircraft. Does that work out to about $25,000/pilot, or $55,000/aircraft year in benefits ?

Even if some of them dont like their jobs, they sure seem to do a pretty good job of getting the plane from point a to point b in one piece nearly 100% of the time. Probably has something to do with good simulator instructors.

voorheesh wrote:Even if some of them dont like their jobs, they sure seem to do a pretty good job of getting the plane from point a to point b in one piece nearly 100% of the time. Probably has something to do with good simulator instructors.

Hmmmmm... Would that be simulated learning?

I was a pilot for a regional airline for 24 years prior to "retiring" in 1998. I remember my first and last flight for that company and I enjoyed every one in between. I have memories of drinking coffee at 0530 at the Holiday Inn in Reno, NV and listening to crews from US Air, United, AA, America West (probably others) complaining about everything imaginable and then going out and flying their flights ending up thousands of miles away safely and getting the job done. Employees at my company were no different. In looking back on it from an aviation perspective, I have concluded that TRAINING is the back bone of the industry and I owe my success and perhaps survival to the skill and efforts of the instructors I had over the years. On more than one occasion some unexpected event would cause my "training to kick in" and we would get back on the ground safely. A good sim/flight instructor is worth their weight in gold. I remember training for an airplane where the entire curriculum was in a sim and the first flight was with pax (some had more time in thea/c than me). My instructor worked me so hard I was ready to throw in the towel. He made me do the non precision/circle land so many times I was a wreck. When I went for my FAA ride I did not feel worthy but in the end he had trained me so well the "ride" was easy compared to his sessions. So in case you haven't been thanked lately George, Thanks and keep up the good work!