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

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bryan-air-255908/we-asked-pilots-if-they-d-choose-aviation-again-the-answers-were-brutal
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bryan-air-255908/we-asked-pilots-if-they-d-choose-aviation-again-the-answers-were-brutal.md
Podcast: [Bryan Air](https://stenobird.com/podcast/bryan-air-255908)
Published: 2026-02-06T18:05:00+00:00
Episode link: https://bryanairpodcast.com/we-asked-pilots-if-theyd-choose-aviation-again-the-answers-were-brutal
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bryanair/Episode_256.mp3?dest-id=1599416
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bryan-air-255908/episodes/we-asked-pilots-if-they-d-choose-aviation-again-the-answers-were-brutal
Duration seconds: 3148

## Resource

🎙️ 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 L…

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