I lost my job on April Fool’s Day and now it appears that I am getting it back on Labor Day. Somebody has a sense of humor.
One week from today I will drive out to Phoenix for about a month and a half of training to be able to fly the friendly commercial airline skies again.
It is funny how bittersweet this all is. I am crazy super excited about having a steady paycheck again and the little things like people watching in airports and catching up on my reading are making me smile a bit. The trade-off for the paycheck is that I will be gone from home at least eighteen days per month. I rather got used to being at home 
There are so many things that I have come to love and appreciate and so many wonderful memories that have been made over the last year and a half, all because I was unemployed. I also hope that because of this experience I have become a better person and will stay that way, foregoing the negativity that naturally lingers in the air when anywhere near an airport or airline employees.
I know I can be better and not so grumpy at work (yet to be seen). At the very least I should have some stories to tell in the near future.
With only two days left in this journey, I am facing a bit of an identity crisis. This blog, I’m afraid, has been a bit neglected simply because what do I do with a blog from an airline pilot’s perspective once you strip away the airline pilot? Officially, my new title becomes “Furloughed Airline Pilot”….does that leave me with a nugget of my former identity?
The big question is now “In what direction do I take this blog?”. Is a travel-less travel blog appropriate?
Ideas? Anyone?
The mailman was kind enough to bring my certified letter from the company informing me that I am officially laid off on April 1st. April Fool’s Day???? Seriously?
Since then I have hit the ground running….on the phone, emailing, filling out job applications, sending out resumes, and of course, lest we not forget “Networking”. I have almost become a permanent fixture at the airport chatting with people I know, engaging the people I don’t know.
I am entering the end of one era, and the beginning of another. Should be interesting!
Anyone know of anyone hiring?
Today, 57 of my fellow pilots were let go. Let go in a crazy world of corporate greed and bailouts. A world where there are no jobs unless you want to outsource yourself overseas. I feel for them and their families, and yet I sit here crossing my fingers and praying it won’t be me next.
I have spent the whole of my adult life chasing airplanes all over this great country, so now the question has to be asked….How far am I willing to go to chase airplanes? What other skills do I possess? Should I go back to school? If so, what for? I ask myself these questions, and inevitably end up crossing my fingers and praying that at the end of the day, I will keep my job.