"....why did you retire?"
Not a choice, Larry.
Airline pilots are "force" retired in accordance with the "age 60 rule"
originated in 1957 and contained within
appropriate sections of Federal Air Regulations.
In spring of 2001, the House passed a bill that would have upped this to age
65. It
was to be passed by the Senate 9/25/01
but Osama hit us "9/11" at which point
the Senate got busy with other business,
the airline industry began it's financial
tumble, layoffs began and this bill "went
away".
Otherwise, I would still be terrorizing the
friendly skies and all concerned. Though
God only knows where I would have ended
up domiciled, considering my seniorty number and all the furloughs. Probably
be commuting to DFW from present home.
I took almost 2 years off after retirement.
One gets bored with hanging out, working
on the Frogeye notwithstanding. And you
gotta watch spending time in the bars with
friends. It can get to be a bad habit....and
expensive......and I don't mean just $$.
So, I was raised by a working man (owned
his own biz) and have worked since age 11.
Worked all my life....though as a regional airline pilot have really "been on
vacation"
for the last 20 years, despite being away from home a good part of the time. I
mean
I love flying, and best of all "scheduled" flying...it wasn't really "work" for
me. More
like a 20 year holiday, really.
And I'm getting older. I'm in good shape at
the moment but at 63, less than excellent
health may very well be in the cards. A
"just around the corner" (no commuting time/costs) with a Fortune 5 corp. with
excellent bennies that also involves low-key aerobic activity would be ideal.
(And being home every night with regular
hours and a decent sleep schedule is not
a bad thing healthwise. Despite being able
to do what I love to do, I've had 30 years
on the road with irregular and often short sleep/rest periods at least 4 days
out of every week!)
Well, that's what I got thanx to two
high school buddies holding exec. positions with GE. And 32hrs. qualifies as
"full time"
with respect to bennies. That's only 4 8hr.
shifts. And the place of work is beautiful,
along with excellent food at the employee (read "low, LOW prices!:) cafeteria.
I'm a voluntary bachelor after all (though I can boil water:).
It's not just $$$, Larry. I'm $$$ comfortable.
For me it's psychologically healthy to have
SOME obligations to others while I remain
actively involved (to some extent) within life's mainstream. And being a
"working" man doesn't necessarily mean working
hard or not having fun working. And
I work with a good team of guys/gals. Nice
people! :)
Retirement is a different thing to different
people, I guess. I like my time off, but
"Hangin' around gets OLD" as far as I'm
concerned.
Cap'n Bob
Basic Frog
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