I left school at 16 as a panel beating apprentice, did 5 years of that thinking there had to be something else. At school the vocational guidance people said I was better suited to being a labourer when I said I wanted to be a pilot. I decided not to take their advice and started training going through to commercial and Ag rating. First lesson was in 1978 and first flying job in 1980. I have been unemployed a few times since with Ag being very seasonal work, something else has always come up. Mostly Ag work through to wildlife/mineral survey, freight, charter, fire spotting and bombing. I spose my career changed only once but there have been lots of jobs within that career. I have not made a fortune but it is all I have ever wanted to do.
I have missed out a bit in busy seasons when the kids were growing up, I regret that. I have done panel work for short periods when things were very quiet so the first 5 years weren’t wasted.
We are in changing times, especially in Europe where you have gone through major changes in employment in the last 20 years. There always seems somebody willing from Europe somewhere to do any job cheaper than people in England work for. Your companies also seem to be using that fact to lower wages and conditions. The only wages that are going up are the people at the top end of companies taking advantage of the lower wages the bulk of workers are getting.
It’s a bit the same way in Australia with the job market changing drastically in the last 20 years also. I take it for granted that my job is seasonal, I have lived with that for over 30 years.

I like the cat piccies 😀 I believe in life after death, but only in the minds of the living.

Any way of looking at this without being a facepage person?

Off topic I realise but connected directly: I notice most of the ex (Also current military pilots Daniel) fighter pilots are in much the same mould. You tend to get a “Best of the best” Top gun mentality. I spose they target a certain sort of individual that they think makes a good fighter pilot. If you’ve read Chuck Yeager’s biography you’ll know what I mean.
There was a show about recruitment and training of RAAF fighter pilots a few years ago on Australian TV. If you didn’t go out, get on the turps and have a few fights they considered you weren’t “Fighter pilot material”.
I’ll also say as a group of people the British don’t seem to suffer the same mentality. There always seems to be a reserved, modest attitude to most things, flying aircraft included. I’ll use the programmes made by Ewan McGregor and his brother as an example, conservative, informative, provocative and deeply interesting viewing without resorting to the “Best of the Best” rubbish.

But who is it Daniel?
What does he say?
Is there anything of interest in the interview?

Read it and see, he’s an ex RAAF pilot who flies a Nangchang and a few aerobatic machines.

No question anymore, bought down by groundfire.