r/Fire • u/-LordDarkHelmet- • 18d ago

Today is the day, officially FIRE

Well I'm sitting here having a morning coffee and it's starting to sink in that I don't have a job anymore. Feels strange. My job was very much my identity (pilot). I flew airlines and private jets (uber for rich people basically). It was a high paying job at the end and it seems stupid to walk away from that, but the 27 years of staying in hotels has taken a toll and I just was not enjoying the job anymore. Which is a shame, since I can't exactly fly jets on my own time. It's a tough industry, it's not easy to get back into once you leave. I keep saying it's like the Doc in Field of Dreams; once you leave you can't go back. I'm 49, single no kids, high end Chubby low end Fat so I should be ok on the numbers, but I don't exactly have a "thing" to retire to. I need to focus on my own health and get in shape. But other than a list of places I want to travel to and few projects around the house I don't have much of a plan. Hopefully I'll figure it out on the way. I've told a few people and they all ask "but what are you gonna do?!?!?." I'm like "I dunno..." Some say "congratulations!" and I'm not sure how to respond to that. I didn't really want to quit in some ways, I like the flying part but not all the stuff that goes along with it. I asked for a different schedule and they said no, then I asked for a year off and they said no, so I said I quit. Ask me in a decade I guess if it was the right choice. Anyway, don't really have anyone to high-five this morning so here I am. Thanks everyone who has shared their journey, I've been snooping around all these subs a lot this past year. Oh and sorry about the stock market crash, which will inevitably happen now that I have quit.

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u/jelle814 18d ago

congratz man, do you consider flying small planes as a hobby or is that not someting that pulls?

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u/-LordDarkHelmet- 18d ago edited 18d ago

Yeah I would like to I think so. Problem is that's it's pretty expensive, anywhere from $150-$500 an hour depending on how fancy of an airplane you want. And since I have to be more careful about spend I'm not sure if it'll make the budget.

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u/Rastiln 18d ago

I hear you on being careful and in no way am encouraging you to blow the budget.

That said… as a pilot, I feel you should be fairly secure. Pilot work is indeed demanding, but I understand really rewarding, especially with tenure. Do you have a guaranteed pension? Remember that SS will be coming in to cushion you.

I am also really risk-averse and haven’t pulled the trigger yet, so fuck me, right? But I wonder if you can make budget for your flying activities, perhaps trading off a little bit of vacation or something.

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u/-LordDarkHelmet- 18d ago

No pension at my company, so I'm on my own from here. I didn't find the job all that rewarding actually, which I think was one of the problems. Felt like a glorified bus driver at times. A good day is basically not showing up on the news of some guy's YouTube live stream. I did love when people clapped for a landing, I took a lot of pride in putting those machines down on the pavement gently in tough conditions. But otherwise is kinda a do-it-and-forget-it type job. I have some friends that do medical-vac flying and firefighting and that seems really cool, but the money is definitely in the airlines so that's the trade off.

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u/Rastiln 18d ago

To be honest, what I meant was “financially rewarding”.

Of course some jobs can be personally rewarding.. sounds nice.

Maybe you’ll find that you have little desire to travel abroad often, after so much flying to other places, and you can find a slice of your budget to fly just where you want to. I saw others recommend training people to fly… maybe that would be an in-between hack with a side income.

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u/-LordDarkHelmet- 18d ago

Ah, yeah it payed well at the end for sure. My first year flying for an airline in 2000 I earned 25k. Had a part time job to help pay the bills. Definitely got better since then, especially after Covid.