I find it fascinating that so many of us frequent a website about our career, and discuss so many different things here based upon the fact that we are all pilots. The conversations here are hardly limited to flying a plane, as the discussions are about as varied as you will find anywhere, as are the personalities. What is it about pilots that allow us to share this bond, or interest us so much that we will spend our free time socializing online with a group of people that for the most part we will never meet, nor do we really know much about, besides a shared bond to the sky? I don't think it could possibly be that we are here to simply network, and further our careers, albeit that may be part of it, the people here are much more genuine than that. I don't think it is because we have nothing better to do. Oh no, I think there is something more to it than that. Something much more. I think it is something much deeper.
I think that along with our love, or hate, for the career and politics that come with it we all share a bond. A bond that only those that have struggled and sacrificed to accomplish something that was once thought impossible can share. Face it, there is nothing quite like trying to make it as a pilot. The travel, the highs, the lows, the YES moments of getting jobs, the heart wrenching pain of getting furloughed, or having the plane sold, just to later have it turn around and turn into getting your dream shot somewhere else. Keeping a family fed and happy when your miles away, and staying in contact with friends you have not seen in years because the career chose a path for you that you never expected, it is something that most can not understand. It is unique, and it is special. No one knows about it when you first sign up for that intro flight at the local airport, but you can bet your bottom dollar that making it as a pilot is much more about your ability to adapt and accept change than it is about your ability to fly a plane. It takes a unyielding desire to succeed to make it in this career, and I know for myself I don't think I could do anything else. Nothing else was ever interesting enough to make me be so persistent.
I think I come here because I know I am not the only one here that feels that way, and I like knowing that other people have been there, and overcome the same obstacles that I have to be here, today. This career makes me excited to see what the next surprise is tomorrow, and I love reading about how everyone here handles those surprises and how we celebrate each others successes and help each other through the struggles. That is why I keep coming back here and why this is my favorite website on the internet.
Thank you PPW for the Modern Hanger Talk.
