We Asked Pilots If They'd Choose Aviation Again - The Answers Were Brutal

 🎙️ EPISODE SNAPSHOT

 

Welcome to The Bryan Air Podcast. Boardroom decisions land on your flight deck—we translate them first.

This is The Bryan Air Debrief, where we break down airline strategy, economic forces, and the business moves shaping your career. No corporate spin. Just the intelligence pilots actually need.

We asked our listeners a simple question: if you could go back and choose a different career path, cargo, corporate, regional, international—would you? The responses hit harder than we expected. One pilot says he'd leave aviation entirely. A 40-year veteran says chase hard currency as fast as humanly possible. A bush flying legend says slow down and enjoy the ride. And one captain loved the job so much he'd almost fly for free. Six pilots, six radically different answers—and buried in all of them is a truth about what this career actually demands versus what Instagram makes it look like. Plus, trade war rhetoric reaches the flight deck as Trump threatens to decertify Canadian jets, the FAA furloughs 10,000 workers during a government shutdown, a new rule means everything you say on the flight deck gets recorded for 25 hours, and we introduce you to AI agents that could change how you prepare for every flight. The question that lingers: are you flying because you love it, or because you haven't stopped to ask yourself honestly?

 

⏱️ TIME-STAMPED FLIGHT PLAN

00:00 Introduction and What's Coming This Week

00:30 Listener Responses: "Would You Choose a Different Path?"

01:40 Gavin Pretorius: "I'd Leave Aviation Entirely"—The Entrepreneurial Case Against Flying

04:03 Mike Mason: Bush Flying, Patience, and Why You Shouldn't Rush Your Career

08:38 Willem van der Merwe: 40 Years In—Why He'd Chase Hard Currency First

13:31 Walter Waldeck: From C-130s to F-27s to SAA—A Legendary Career Spanning Decades

18:03 Jaco Bester: Are Student Pilots Getting Into Aviation for the Instagram?

23:49 Roland Raible: "I Loved My Job So Much I'd Almost Do It for Free"

28:23 The Magic of a Good Crew—And What Happens When It's Not There

29:36 Choosing a Career Path: Begin With the End in Mind

30:46 Trump Threatens to Decertify Canadian Jets—Playground Tactics With Real Consequences

33:20 FAA Furloughs 10,000 Workers During Government Shutdown

34:07 25-Hour Cockpit Voice Recorders: Privacy Concern or Safety Necessity?

37:46 Air India Grounds Dreamliner Over Fuel Switch Defect Linked to Fatal Crash

39:04 Boeing Predicts 2.37 Million New Aviation Jobs by 2044

41:49 Captain's Announcement: AI Agents Are Here—Meet Open Claw

50:30 Super Brew Formula One Challenge: The Bryan Air Prediction League Is Coming

52:02 Conclusion and Sign-Off

 

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