My own little world

It's funny sometimes to think about the the pilot world. There's something about pilots that makes us part of a club, that non pilots just wouldn't understand. Not only do we connect in a way that someone who hasn't experienced their firs solo, or hasn't seen the fog sticking to the valleys in the calm early mornings just wouldn't understand, but we also have our own language. It's similar to the military language of abbreviations, acronyms, and regulations. Kind of like french is similar to spanish. It helps to learn one if you know the other, but the two can't really communicate. When I talk to another pilot about my new job I tell them that I am doing part 135 cargo. That's all I have to say, and they understand. I told my mother this yesterday, and she had no idea what I was saying. I explained it as best as I could in non-pilot terms. Part 135 is the section of the regulations that govern most non airline commercial pilot jobs. In aviation the FAA rain supreme. They regulate everything from when, what, and how much we fly. For example they tell us that we can't work more that 15 hours in a day, and no more than 7 of those hours can be flying. after a days work we can not return to work without 9 hours of off time, and at least 24 hours of consecutive off time per seven days. They tell us how often we have to inspect our airplanes (every 100 hours of flight time), and even what has to be inspected during those inspections. They regulate our cargo, documents, our plains. They tell us what weather conditions we can fly in, and what conditions we are not allowed to try and make it into an airport. It's true that if the weather conditions are above FAA minimums we fly, and a lot of people won't fly with the weather that low, and we get more flight time than most people, but it's regulated to make it safe, and so an employer can't pressure the pilot into something he's not comfortable with. Or in pilot terms 135 cargo.