Pilot Job-Freedom or Limited

[FoxElite]

Okay,you can guess what i'm trying to tell here.Some friends of mine are pilot(both civilian and military)And when i ask them about their job,some of them said it's a very wonderfull job,the feeling when you handled a stick to control tons of metal,the feeling when you can travel by the way no one else could....etc...you named it.But some others said it's a very restricted and boring job,you have to follow your orders(in military case),or follow your flight path(in civilian case),when you're in the sky,only the cockpit,the instruments and the radio are your friends...and there is nothing "freedom" about it.Well,there are so many opinions here,so i make this thread to ask about your feeling about the pilot job.It's no matter you're a fighter pilot or commercial pilot or freelance pilot,just say your point of view ok :)

[SNAFU]

Methinks as glider pilot you experience the best of freedom you can get in aviation. But even as glider pilot you have to ask for permission for almost anything you, outside your given room. At least in Europe - in the US or other less restricted airspaces it might be different.

 

But that was the reason I stopped flying glider planes and went back to sailing boats - the only room for being free are the seas and big streams in my opinion. ;)

[Madone]

I had a friend flying as civilian but he stopped because it was really annoying and difficult to navigate with altitudes and too expensive. But I think that's like everything, there's pro & cons, but I don't think the first flights can't bore you, but if you fly at the same place all the time it can get pretty boring

[JaseGill]

I used to fly Military many moons ago and now I only fly for pleasure.

To be honest there is no feeling like being your own Captain and I actually enjoy it less when I have passengers because for me its the freedom and distance (literally) from the "real world" that I enjoy, having someone sat next to me kind of removes that distance for me..

If you can afford to do it for fun, and its not cheap in the UK, then do it. doing anything for a living can become a drag but that's true of all jobs and flying for a living isn't any different in my opinion.

J.