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N_Molson

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Well he's Flight Instructor and active commercial pilot with a lot of experience (already), hard to get a lot better than that in civilian aviation.
 

steph

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My favourite airline in Germany. Would have been one choice for application, had I completed the training before I switched to the railway...
Why on earth would one switch to railway? Not that railway isn't cool itself, buuut..you get what I mean. On the other hand, flying for a commercial airline isn't always an ideal job. Relatively low pay, weird hours etc. Especially since most employers are the low cost companies.

This guy flies with birds. He'd probably need a ton of paperwork even for 'normal' long range low alt flights, let alone with geese.. And I'm not sure the airfields he lands at want to accidentally end up on the migration route of geese. :D. I'm still on the fence about getting an ultralight license. I mean, yes, they're cheap , but they look a bit too flimsy. Did a few general aviation touristic flights over the years, and it felt amazing, but G.A. certification is way longer and more expensive.

 

TheShuttleExperience

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Why on earth would one switch to railway? Not that railway isn't cool itself, buuut..you get what I mean. On the other hand, flying for a commercial airline isn't always an ideal job. Relatively low pay, weird hours etc. Especially since most employers are the low cost companies.
I know what you mean ?

It's basically because train driver is a safe job. Especially in Germany and at times of climate change. While aviation actually is a weak business. Even at Lufthansa they cut jobs since Covid19. They're down to the level of 2008. And their flight school is literally closed with only theoretical education left. Not to mention low cost carriers, which is like "hire and fire". I certainly could get a Job at Eurowings with my home base at Palma de Mallorca. Sounds like a dream. But that would mean a relocation and probably Spanish employment law... and no one knows for how long I could keep that job and what comes next.

As a train driver I'm permanently employed (municipal). I am at home every day (20-30 minutes by car). The duty hours vary between 7 and 9 hours with at least one hour break. On average I work for 3 to 4 days (5 max.) and get 1-2 days off.

 

Urwumpe

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The most annoying thing about railroads in Germany is the government that operates them.... many routes got closed and freight transport reduced to trucks, for which then a more expensive Autobahn has to be build and which damage the old village roads, that have never been build with heavy traffic in mind.
 

Matias Saibene

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before I switched to the railway...
The railway is fantastic. I love trains. I remember greeting the drivers passing by with their trains (in Bahía Blanca) and contemplating those magnificent formations. It has its charm. Then when I grew up I started using the MSTS an excellent train simulator.
The most annoying thing about railroads in Germany is the government that operates them.... many routes got closed and freight transport reduced to trucks, for which then a more expensive Autobahn has to be build and which damage the old village roads, that have never been build with heavy traffic in mind.
Be careful, this is how they began to close the railway in Argentina, one of the largest railway lines built by the English (and that many people here forget).

Here I leave you a video of the project of the engineer Livio Dante Porta, a steam genius who had invented a revolutionary system and had implemented it in his creation a 4-8-0 locomotive called La Argentina.
This was in 1949, sadly it ended up being scrapped instead of in a museum. And here I leave a link with a lot of history of this machine, it is very interesting: L.D.Porta's First 'Victim' - A Metre Gauge 4 Cylinder Compound 4-8-0

And not to get off the topic of the thread, here are two great videos from the BBC about birds in flight, one of which is with swallows, birds that I love.
The swallows in all their artistic grace at 0:42
 

Urwumpe

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Here I leave you a video of the project of the engineer Livio Dante Porta, a steam genius who had invented a revolutionary system and had implemented it in his creation a 4-8-0 locomotive called La Argentina.
This was in 1949, sadly it ended up being scrapped instead of in a museum. And here I leave a link with a lot of history of this machine, it is very interesting: L.D.Porta's First 'Victim' - A Metre Gauge 4 Cylinder Compound 4-8-0

Thank you for sharing, I never heard of him and his work before, but it sounds really fascinating.
 

TheShuttleExperience

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The most annoying thing about railroads in Germany is the government that operates them.... many routes got closed and freight transport reduced to trucks, for which then a more expensive Autobahn has to be build and which damage the old village roads, that have never been build with heavy traffic in mind.
It's even worse. There are many issues. It's already hard to get qualified and motivated staff. Few of my colleagues are strange personalities with a very poor working morale, no matter how much one would pay them. And this also applies to dispatcher and technicians. But the worst of all are managers and local politicians that change their swivel chairs like pot plants, and all this in combination with German law and politics.

But I love my job. I have learned not to care at all. Especially not about colleagues that are complaining all day long and drown in self-compassion without any reason. If you hate your job, why are you still there? I close and lock the door of my driving cab, take my seat and simply enjoy the duty time while the panorama of nature and cities passes by. I often hear that I am probably the most motivated, most relaxed and most punctual person in our company. But actually the people should start asking why they are not, because there is actually no reason to be pessimistic and demotivated.

But there are luckily another few very good people and colleagues... (sorry, it's in German only)


ps: same guy, different workplace...

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531013ab-0dfb-4d31-aa7f-900ca6eb1141_w1600_r1.417989417989418_fpx68_fpy33.jpg
 

Urwumpe

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But I love my job.

I think being happy with your job is important. Or as I already said my boss, when things got annoying: "Other customers also have beautiful contracts." (In german "Andere Kunden haben auch schöne Aufträge." a pun about the standard phrase friends say, when your girlfriend left you here.)

I wouldn't say my job is extremely exciting, but its never boring and changed a lot over time. I doubt I will get the chance soon to build upon my Scrum Product Owner certification, that is maybe the worst aspect of it. Also, the organisational processes could get improved, our new Indian owners still have problems to adapt to german business laws.

Some throwback into the late eighties (German language only sadly):

 

TheShuttleExperience

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I think being happy with your job is important. Or as I already said my boss, when things got annoying: "Other customers also have beautiful contracts." (In german "Andere Kunden haben auch schöne Aufträge." a pun about the standard phrase friends say, when your girlfriend left you here.)

I wouldn't say my job is extremely exciting, but its never boring and changed a lot over time. I doubt I will get the chance soon to build upon my Scrum Product Owner certification, that is maybe the worst aspect of it. Also, the organisational processes could get improved, our new Indian owners still have problems to adapt to german business laws.
I think in terms of german business, India is a completely different universe...

But same here. I also wouldn't say my job is extremely exciting, but exciting (especially when you have to kill delay or deal with "non-normal" situations). Extremely exciting would be to push two thrust levers forward to accelerate and lift off 75 tons and 180 paying passengers. But that train has left the station ?

Some throwback into the late eighties (German language only sadly):

I saw it years ago (y) Represents the Ruhr region quite well. And it's still equal.

Now I have to think of Jim Carrey on Metal...

 

N_Molson

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Why on earth would one switch to railway? Not that railway isn't cool itself, buuut..you get what I mean. On the other hand, flying for a commercial airline isn't always an ideal job. Relatively low pay, weird hours etc. Especially since most employers are the low cost companies.

This guy flies with birds. He'd probably need a ton of paperwork even for 'normal' long range low alt flights, let alone with geese.. And I'm not sure the airfields he lands at want to accidentally end up on the migration route of geese. :D. I'm still on the fence about getting an ultralight license. I mean, yes, they're cheap , but they look a bit too flimsy. Did a few general aviation touristic flights over the years, and it felt amazing, but G.A. certification is way longer and more expensive.


Go for the ultralight. It is way cheaper as you say and some ultralight aircraft nowadays look and perform better than some older planes. And you can upgrade later to G.A, it shouldn't be too hard once you have practice. I'm thinking to it, too.
 

TheShuttleExperience

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Go for the ultralight. It is way cheaper as you say and some ultralight aircraft nowadays look and perform better than some older planes. And you can upgrade later to G.A, it shouldn't be too hard once you have practice. I'm thinking to it, too.
Yes. On the other hand, I would spend a little more or become member of a flying club and get the PPL, maybe with night flying qualification and instrument rating later on (which gives you way more freedom). One colleague gets his LAPL soon. It's just a little cheaper than the PPL but really a restriction, since he often spends his holiday in the U.S...

By the way, great YouTube channel:

 

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Two Rafales had an incident at an airshow. Basically, slightly clipped each other in-flight, but both landed safely. the tl:dr is that the workload is huge during the airshow stuff, and probably somebody forgot to check the other aircraft's position. I just hope it doesn't affect the flybys for the upcoming airshows. Apart from La Patrouille de France, they're usually the stars of the show

 

N_Molson

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Two Rafales had an incident at an airshow.

Saw that one. Very bad day for the French Air Force (Armée de l'air)...

Now this is for me the scariest of the series, because the pilots were "far from reality" for a long time and "ordinary people" had to endure sustained 5+G, something that trained astronauts would take seriously ... Say what you want about Boeing but what a good plane ! It really went "beyond the call of duty"... :hailprobe:

 
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