But, I'm a pilot.

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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So imagine you've been going to school to learn how to fly a plane. That's all you've ever wanted to do, fly a plane. You practice, you fly simulator missions. You practice some more. You take your pilot certifying exam and pass with flying colors. The mail arrives and you open the envelope to pull out your freshly printed P-card.

Then you get a job.

The boss is excited to have you. He says, "Son, we've heard you are one of the best new pilots out there. We are thrilled to have you!"

You're excited. This looks like it's going to be a great job. You are going to be flying a beautiful plane. You've got an excellent work schedule, and you're gonna make some awesome money.

Then your boss says, "...but, we have to send you to school to teach you how to be a carpenter."

A Carpenter? You don't want to be a gosh darn carpenter. You're a pilot. P-I-L-O-T! You just graduated from pilot school. You've wanted to be a pilot ever since you were a kid. All you want to do is fly the plane.

The boss says, "I know. And don't worry son, you'll get to fly that big shiny plane ... Right after we send you to school for 12 weeks to tech you everything there is to know about how to build houses."

Build houses? WTF? You do NOT want to build houses. Is this guy nuts? He's talking to a pilot! With a "P"!

The boss just smiles. "I know, I know. It seems like we focus on house building a lot. Matter of fact, our first pilots were carpenters." He smiles benignly and leans back in his chair. "We may only build one house a year, but we practice house building every day. When you walk into the break room you'll see magazines and posters about house building. We'll sit around the break room table and talk about the beautiful houses we built. The beautiful houses our fathers built. The beautiful houses our friends have built! It's a big part of our lives. House building is tradition here, son."

You stop and think for a moment. What he's saying is, if you want to fly the plane, you have to learn to build houses. Even though you may build just one house a year, you'll practice house building every day and almost never practice flying that plane until you actually have to do it. And that plane may fly 20 or 30 flights a day. Some of them in really bad weather, the kind of weather where you have to use all of your pilot skills.

Sounds pretty backwards, doesn't it?

Welcome to fire based EMS.
 
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DesertMedic66

Forum Troll
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Are you offering to build me a house? :p
 
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NomadicMedic

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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No. You missed the point. Houses no longer get built. People just talk about building them, the way they used to build them in the old days, the way they build them now. The big machinery they use to build them. They have big conferences on building houses. Every day, people practice building houses. However, very few houses actually get built.

Meanwhile, the planes just keep taking off and landing. The pilots are flying, but certainly not practicing. The pilots can't remember the last time they talked about flying. They're just doing it. And after they fly 10 or 12 flights, they have to come back to the hanger and practice building houses.
 

DesertMedic66

Forum Troll
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No. You missed the point. Houses no longer get built. People just talk about building them, the way they used to build them in the old days, the way they build them now. The big machinery they use to build them. They have big conferences on building houses. Every day, people practice building houses. However, very few houses actually get built.

Meanwhile, the planes just keep taking off and landing. The pilots are flying, but certainly not practicing. The pilots can't remember the last time they talked about flying. They're just doing it. And after they fly 10 or 12 flights, they have to come back to the hanger and practice building houses.

I got the point the first time haha. I was just making a sarcastic comment :p
 
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NomadicMedic

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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I know you did. And I was being sarcastic back atcha. :)
 
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JPINFV

Gadfly
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...but the first pilots were bicycle mechanics.
 

Anjel

Forum Angel
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Ha I love it. So true!

They should practice flying planes everyday and how to get along with other pilots.
 

RocketMedic

Californian, Lost in Texas
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The oldest two pilots can tell everyone how it was done in 1990, and ensure compliance with tradition.
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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Beautiful story. I loved the moment it clicked in my head where this was going. XD
 

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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Bumping an old thread because it's just awesome
 
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