Buddy Spike

That's fine in a theater where being a POW is an option. Being burned alive in a cage or having your head sawed off with a rusty blade on LiveLeak might motivate some folks to face those odds and shoot back.

This starts at year two for me given the above assumptions (moving to DFW and staying, working 73 hrs only). Salary only add 16% for 401k.

141 is still incredible! There's a site called myaacareer.com that can give you a good idea of your career earnings. This assumes I only want to live in DFW and upgrade when it's available there, flying long call for my whole career (73 hrs) and contributing nothing to the 401(k) except the 16% the company gives us. Starting at year two. It's nearly an eleven million dollar career, and that's with AA which is bottom of the barrel in terms of earnings potential and work rules.

It's all about luck and timing. I was hired at 33 also but my Sen@65 is only 141. Guys getting hired now with 30+ years to go will be in the top 1%.

What about Corpse man?

More importantly, I've heard of people using Linkedin as a dating site for professionals. Anybody had any luck picking up hot business chicks on these sites? As an airline pilot, I think it's time to start looking for my first ex-wife. Bonus points if I can get alimony out of the deal.

You've obviously spent zero time in the Navy Reserve. Comparing the two reserve forces (which is valid, not comparing AD to AD), the Navy Reserve is about as fucked up as it gets. I can't tell you how many months in 6 years we had one - YES - ONE jet available to fly. I didn't even know what a hot pit/hot seat was until it became a necessity just to maintain currency. I doubt the sky writer thing would've ever happened because, well, the ARC has better things to do than dick around on a 1 v 0. But as for risk aversion, well, every day I'd listen to dudes (and leadership) in the ready room marvel at the eagles doing closed patterns or unrestricted climbs and marvel at how they still had their wings. The biggest myth in aviation is that the Navy treats its pilots like adults. No, they don't, they just give you more rope to hang yourself with nebulous rules that can be used against you at their leisure. And I'll bet you went through an actual TX and MQT when you transitioned to the Guard, right? Not a "CAT Other" 8 hr checkout and a "go watch the DVD to learn BFM" directive? Meanwhile the flying schedule would get delayed twice a week so we could all gather round in the base gym and do group PT/jazzercise at 0730. Yeah, the Navy is definitely less fucked up.

I saw a sim IP job at Holloman posted on a Facebook group that was pretty close to $187k (if you took the no health insurance buyback).

Says the guy who spent 6 years in a Navy Hornet squadron and had a very good friend get FNAEB'd for it.

AKA standard takeoff. Unless you're in the Navy where they lose their shit over fighter pilots being fighter pilots.

What does a Reaper pilot "step" to? The conex?

So it's like the Navy. Maybe they should put finance/admin under the SQ/CC so it's easier to get paid.

Worse than the green boots?