Hot take: Hitting 10,000 flight hours didn't feel like a milestone, it felt like a warning

I hit 10K flight hours last month and everyone expects me to be proud, but honestly I just felt this weight of all the close calls and overnight shifts. My back is done, my hearing is shot, and I'm still chasing a crack in a 737 bulkhead that nobody else can find. Has anyone else hit a number that made them question how long they can keep doing this?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.hayden8d ago

Add up how many of those close calls were really just luck, not skill.

hugo_robinson258d ago

Yeah "just luck not skill" is something I hear a lot and it kind of misses the point I think. I read somewhere that a lot of top performers in high risk jobs actually design their systems to stack the odds in their favor so even if it looks lucky its really just good prep work. @taylor.hayden you ever look into those studies about helicopter pilots and emergency room doctors? They say the difference between a lucky break and a skilled save is usually how many backups they had ready to go before things went wrong. So yeah some of it is luck but a lot of it is just making your own luck by being ready for the bad stuff before it happens.

logan_young298d ago

Buddy of mine flew search and rescue, said he had three backup plans before his first move.