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Three years later, I became a board- certified doctor and airlines were indeed again laying off pilots. Seven years after that, the airlines again went on a hiring spree. By then, I was in my early 30s, had 7,000 hours and nearly every rating known to man, but I was also comfort- ably situated as a physician, home every night and making a B747 captain’s pay. I like flying all right, but not enough to be stupid about it. I stayed working as a doctor and flying a lot personally with just the occasional professional flight.
A little under 20 years went by and the practice of medicine changed in this country. An increasing number of physi- cians were either plain quitting or retir- ing early out of frustration with what had become an untenable malpractice environment and an increasingly dys- functional healthcare system. As this was unfolding (and with our children grown), my wife and I decided to take a two-year sabbatical, move onto our boat and just go cruising. When we returned and I asked my physician friends how things were, they all said, “Stay away, it has only gotten worse.” So, I got a job working internationally as a cruise ship doctor. But while home from those trips, myolddreamofflyingforalivingbegan to look more and more attractive. As luck would have it, aviation was in the early stage of yet another one of its booms, with pilots being hired left and right by the commuter airlines. This resulted in a shortage of pilots qualified to fly turbine business aircraft. I was fortunate enough to find several flying jobs I could take on a part-time basis without needing to move to another part of the country. And that is how I wound up doing what I am now.
One of the questions I am often asked is, with such a varied background, how did I like returning to flying profession- ally? Truth is, I found it to be more enjoy- able and vastly improved from when I did it earlier. The equipment is much better and easier to fly. Direct routing via GPS all across the country is now common. Downloaded weather radar makes it so you always know what kind of conditions lie ahead and on either side of your air- plane. The ground services around the country have vastly improved. Flight plans can now be filed or changed easily over a cellphone. FBOs across the coun- try have become professional service
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Jet Journal February 2020 / TWIN & TURBINE • 31