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Early retirement
Due to what's going on in the world with the Corona virus and the way it is impacting airlines, I put in for retirement today. Hardly anybody is flying in the States these days and though the government is going to help them out, they still stand to lose a lot of money.
So they made an offer to get people to retire early and I had planned on retiring around the end of the year so it's a no brainer for me. With almost every aviation job I've had, I've really enjoyed it and it will be tough to leave. When different things get you down in life, there were 2 things that would help me forget about them. One was my work and you know what the other one is. There's a small chance they could turn down my early 'voluntary' retirement application. Back before 9/11, we had Boeing 777 airplanes that would overnight in Boston. That ended shortly after 9/11. So it's been almost 20 years and now they planned on bringing in 777 overnighters again. The problem with that is you have to go to a school for each type of aircraft you work on. The 777 school is 2 weeks long. Only a couple of mechanics on each night are qualified to work it and it's a big plane that often requires several mechanics to work it. They usually send people to another city for the training, but that's something the employees don't want to do at the moment. So there's a small chance they might turn me down, but I think they stand to lose so much money in the next year, it's more important for them to cut heads where ever they can. I'll still have my travel privileges which have enabled me to see Alizee on the occasions I've seen her and I do hope to see her one more time. On my last night of work, for the week that is, we had a pretty easy night with just an easy inspection and relamping a wing tip navigation lt. Attachment 3023 777 nav lt apr 2020 wing.jpg 777 2.jpg Attachment 3026 Last edited by Scruffydog777; 10-12-2020 at 03:47 PM.. |
#2
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I have been wondering about how you are faring, being that you had posted a number of times that you are an airline mechanic. Early retirement packages are cheaper for the company, but you might have to give up something as well. It might be worthwhile to get what you can now, because who knows if AAL will be around at the end of the year? They are expecting to be bailed out like the rest of the airlines, and in my opinion they should. They were ordered to not operate their business, and reducing headcount suggests that once they are allowed to fully operate again, they are not expecting to offer the same amount of flights as before.
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#3
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What a liability it must be for the airlines that operate the A380. Airbus and their 380 customers were lucky there wasn't enough interest to build a second batch of those planes. |
#4
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I am not a comfortable flyer. I am pretty much a clone of RedRafe in body size (6-3, 235 lbs since he had posted that recently), so cramming in those seats give me a good dose of claustrophobia, and I will pay extra to not be in a middle seat! Anything over around 4 hours is too much, plus I do not like heights, let alone 35K feet. As luck would have it, being that I was a IT consultant and had some choice in who I worked for, I ended up working for clients in the aviation industry since 1997, and continues today. Maybe I was confronting my nemesis. The one remaining is an airport system in a major US city. One piece of software I wrote recorded incidents at an airport, not only at the facilities but also in flight. I have a saying that IT people know more about a company than the president or CEO, because we need to analyze raw data to ensure our software is working correctly. The amount of problems pilots report in flight was just a little bit alarming. Not things like engine failure, which would make the news, but things under the radar like funny smells in the cockpit, gyroscope failures and other instruments. Being that I don't care for flying anyway, this did not give me any warm fuzzy feelings. |
#5
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Congratulations on having had such a valuable and cool career! And congratulations on being able to look foreword to an exciting retirement! |
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#7
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OK, your last couple of statements above, quelled my main concerns about your retirement... You obviously have a "plan", and, its one that is going to keep you physically and mentally very active, by the sound of it, which, trust me, is a very good thing... I've seen far to many wonderful people retire, then simply slow down, lose their "way", their "path" and, then... ... That IS NOT an "option", for you still have so many "things" still to do... Alizée "awaits", and you pretty much are our "Ambassador", don't you know ! It goes without saying, that I wish you nothing but happiness, health, and good fortune on your "new enterprise"... |
#8
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Congrats and good luck with the application Scruffy! On to bigger and better things, always
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#9
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Good luck Scruffy.
In less than three years I'm getting out of business. After thirty one years of dealing with employees and their constant never ending BS, it's time to have some peace an quiet. I got myself setup for a retirement career. I got into real estate sales a year ago and found something I enjoy. One piece of advice find something to do that you enjoy during retirement.
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#10
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Retirement plans are something that I am going to have to deal with fairly soon, but I stink at golf and there is only so much fishing one can do. There is not much on TV that I find interesting, and piddling around in the garden doesn't sound much fun at all. I have a big list of things that I have always wanted to accomplish but never did due to the lack of time, so those would be a start. |
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