Hi guys, thanks again for being here! Thanks for leaving your comments, I am always curious to hear your thoughts. Are you working at home? Did you lose your job because of this pandemic? I wish you all the best and I am sure it's going to be alright! Keep the wings level!

I’m nearing the end of my 35 year airline career. There have been many setbacks, oil prices, 911, gulf wars, age 65, to name a few. I’m minimally affected but I foresee permanent changes ahead. I would encourage all those in the beginning of their careers to persevere. There will always be a need to travel by air and robot pilots will never be reliable enough to make them financially viable. Five years from now there will be another huge pilot shortage but this time there will be no pilots in the pipeline. Good luck to all of you and remember, take care of your passengers and crew and you’ll be fine.

I started flying when I was 20 and now, 30 years later, I am looking forward to retirement. In the beginning of my career, I purposely avoided things like mortgages while my friends in other walks of life, began to settle down. It was a sacrifice but it paid off in the longer term. As many pilots know, sometimes you need to take a step backwards in order to make two steps forward. For those who were “tied down” many opportunities were lost because they could not afford to relocate or they were forced to abandon their dream all together. The past decade has seen tremendous growth but aviation has always been an industry of cycles. One piece of advice an old Captain once gave me when I was starting out was to enjoy the journey because if you get to the Airlines and it isn’t what you thought it would be, you will become very bitter. I love my job as a Widebody Captain for a national airline but I wouldn’t trade my journey of ups and downs to get here for anything. This is an unprecedented time but every red light eventually turns green again. And remember, us old guys are leaving!

I have no wish to be a pilot but still found this video inspiring.

I am 66, retired airline pilot. In 28 years went through 7 airline closures. Good Luck. You´re right, it´s far far far from over.

Captain Hoolie here, Fortunate enough to start my career at FedEx after having a military career. That’s my background, but I must say after experiencing this Covid era and what has gone on, flying cargo should be at the top of your list. In the past 23 years I’ve experienced 9/11, gulf war number two, the economic downturn of 08, and COVID-19 and all the numerous bankruptcies that hit the passenger carriers over the past 20 years. Flying cargo has always been the safe move and has afforded me a constant paycheck that (knock on wood) will stand the test of any future calamities! As I fly today over the Asian skies, it is very quiet except for all the “cargo flying call signs” I hear on the radio. If you want to have a better chance at a long-term career in aviation as a pilot, I can’t say it enough, “CARGO, CARGO, CARGO!”

Just a few months ago, there was a shortage of pilots and a bright future for anyone qualified. Now the airline industry is in tatters with layoffs. What a violent and sudden change of course.

I'm not a pilot and when I watch this I appreciate the job and the sacrifices every pilot have done. I wish you all the best!

I lost my job due to this virus; I was in the restaurant business, shop has been closed for 2 months. We had to close down, lay off all the workers, and at this rate will probably have to close down the business. I thought retail was the hardest hit, but you've reminded me that aviation as well as countless others are in the same boat. Let's all hope for a brighter tomorrow!

Two years ago I was about to start my pilot career but my parents forced me to go for an Engineering degree... Looking down the lane today I feel grateful of choosing an Engineering career looking at the crysis... At least I got a backup plan and I can begin my pilot career as soon as everything gets back at full pace as it used to be or hoping to get the situation better than before. Also, thank you Mitchelle for making this honest video. Stay safe everyone.

As a public school maths teacher, I find your comments brilliant! - which means I agree your point of view entirely! Don't know how many times I've given similar advice to students nearing graduation. Thanks.

Michelle, my heart goes out to you and all the other pilots during these challenging times. Whatever happens, I hope something really good comes from all of this for everyone. This video was very well done! You're a bright light in the darkness. Thank you!!

This is some of the very best, thoughtful, well-presented, open-minded, realistic but encouraging career advice I've heard, and in only 11 minutes and with relevance for anyone who has or is going for very specific training for a specific career focus. Thank you! (And I would bet money that Dutch Pilot Girl would ace the Mensa test.)

Great Advice Michelle...many people, if not already, have or will be going through a series of life-changing experiences. Many younger people who have never been laid off or fired need a mentor like you to bring them through the dark times. For us older folks who have had many changes in their lives in their pursuits despite being strong in determination, still, need a breath of fresh air and guidance every so often. I believe 100% of what you say. I have been through the many challenges that life can bring and have the mindset that to listen to people that bring you down, certainly are not people you want in your life. Personally, I want to realize my full potential and be all that I can be. I have many goals yet to achieve and will not let a virus or any other circumstance get in the way....Bravo Michelle

Thank you! For sharing these important points....

Thanks for the great video! Still working and very thankful for it and still working on getting my ppl too.

My dream job was to be a pilot but ended up as a full-time trader and flying RC planes 😅

Thanks Michelle, here is hoping you remain successful & happy, I'm recently returning to work after some family related downtime but have found your YT and IG postings inspirational. Keep it up👍🙂rt

I can relate to some if not most of the things you mentioned. Super motivational in these tough times. Best of fortunes to you and all crew out there.

Excellent advice! I’ve experienced 2 furloughs at 2 different airline, one during 9/11/2001. Even after the worst, jobs will return!

Thanks for this video. Everyone wants to know “what will happen next?” Your suggestions and guidance is valuable, optimistic and also true to listen. As you said “action time is now.” Time to sharpen your abilities and having quality full, precious times with your families and being keep in fit mind&body. Smiling face as always and good points about life to touch in every videos... all the best, wish you health and be safe DutchpilotGirl 👏👏👏👏

There is a saying "Success comes to those who never fails, but to those who never quits."

Very well put. All the best getting your future on track.

Dear Michelle, You might think I'm just a crazy, old man but I repeatedly watch many of your videos. Why would a 76 year old male with millions of passenger flight miles but who neither trained to be a pilot nor has ever flown an airplane watch your videos? First, I find your reasoning exceptional perhaps because we think alike but I do believe you have a well-trained, well-disciplined head on your shoulders. Your grasp of the English language not surprisingly may even surpass mine and I was born and reared in the USA. Second, I am nearly hypnotized, mesmerized by your appearance. You are such a lovely, bright, talented, articulate professional that I simply enjoy watching and listening to you. I hope you never tire of recording and sharing your videos. I also hope your careers being a pilot and author prosper provide you with necessary resources to make your life as happy as you are lovely. Wishing you excellent health and happiness, A long-time subscriber in North Idaho, USA

"Most media coverage is based on inaccurate information" ....true words here said! Specially when it comes to "hype" informations, as we are facing right now.

An uncommon inspirational video for a young professional woman. Impressed! All young people in your generation should see this especially now in these difficult times.

Thank you for the honest and uplifting video.

Great video and important topic to talk about. Hope that the situation will come back to normal ASAP.

I’m a Cabin Crew Member from Portugal 🇵🇹. I just finished training and was about to do my first flight when the outbreak started. At the moment I’ve been layed off with no prospect of coming back. I’m young so I’m still living with my parents because I’m not yet financially self sufficient to move out, and I guess I won’t be for awhile because no one hiring anywhere. I dream of becoming a Senior Cabin Crew Member and after that getting my pilots license. Hope we all meet in the skies someday! ✈️

Thank you for saying that the media is inaccurate. I've literally looked for 2 years for someone to confirm this. As always, your video is incredibly inspiring and helpful. It's quite interesting to see how your videos have improved over time. Keep up this amazing work. You are helping out a bunch of people. Greetings from Germany

Thank you for your always insightful and well considered comments and thoughts.

Thanks for putting together such a cohesive opinion and view of the reality. - Especially the part about following your dreams - we all just have one life - let's use it wisely!

WOOHOO! Your back! Wow! That's very insightful the hard facts of becoming a pilot, but well worth it! There's an old saying, "Bad times don't last good people do!" Awesome information! Thanks!

I’m 15 (I say this so you know where I am in my life) and the part where you told us to keep our dreams for being a pilot really inspired me, thank you so much ❤️

I do enjoy all of your videos and comments. I too had that dream many many years ago, in the age of Pan Am and TWA, etc but never materialized. Now I am in my 70's and live vicariously through your adventures. Thanks for being honest and inciteful. I do hope you did you lose your job and if you did, shame on them for letting you go. I know about the seniority thingy but it would be a damn shame. Safe journeys

Fantastic advice here, especially around who we listen to and their perspectives relative to our own goals! Thank you!

You’re amazing! I wish you the best in your career and life! I’m hoping I can still continue my sponsored training :)

To whoever negged this, this woman put in her utmost to help out anyone in the airline business, or any business for that matter as a parallel reference. If you don't like aviation, just leave. If you don't like constructive content in these difficult times, good luck on you doing it your own way. Go DutchPilotGirl!!

Great video, thanks for sharing you valuable perspective and I’m sure you’ll manage to keep your job 💪🏼

Very insightful. Good basic and sound advice. No bells and whistles, only plain, down to earth facts. Well done!

Hope u have a good day too!

Actually, becoming a pilot was my childhood dream. But, when I grew up, I had to give up on it due to unknown reasons and currently, I am an engineering student. I wish to complete this studies nicely and wish to start training as a pilot and actually stop working and start living with my childhood sweetheart. I wish I could do so. Thank you Mitchell for this career advice. I hope that you will make such kind of videos in the future.

This is a rough time for most, but really hard for pilots. Best luck to you and keep posting videos and growing your channel. Every little bit helps.

This is pretty neat, I found your channel today, and about to start a midterm. Thanks!

Mooi verhaal met prima advies. Daar zullen veel collega’ wat aan hebben. Hou vol in deze crisistijd en zorg goed voor je gezondheid.

Michelle....you are so intelligent, articulate, well informed, ........ did you ever think of just doing a channel where you just answer questions from viewers. Many of your fans would love to hear your views on a wide range of topics....politics, science, social , maybe even relationships......... someone as gifted as you in just about everything would be a valued asset to the many,many, many ,many people who would watch your channel on miscellaneous topics.💞

Very well done, I liked the video and detailed information. Thank you

You are so refreshing and enjoyable to listen to. I just Subscribed so I don't miss any new videos. All the Best with this Airline crisis. I have family with two large airline companies and they are hanging on.

I just graduated a week ago online with a degree in mechanical engineering, and finished my CFI. My advice to other people who want to become pilots is the same, get a degree from a college that can provide a reasonable income in case you loose your medical, been in a traumatic incident, or the economy crashes.

I'm 30 and have been wanting to get into aviation since I was a teen. I've been fortunate to be able to save up enough to pay for my flight training out of pocket. I left my stable job right before the pandemic and I'm itching to start training

Awesome advice, thank you for the motivation and encouragement @DPG

Awesome and truthful video. Your advise is spot on.

Like how you said something along the lines don't ask advice from people who have different outlook of life or if you don't want their way of life.

Still “piloting” my 18-wheeler and sometimes delivering paper towels and toilet paper. Wish I could fly to Hawaii right now, but the quarantines make it impossible. Hope you get back to flying soon.

I'm not a pilot, but I am retired Military (20 years as a SATCOM tech on aircraft carriers). With the world in this awful situation, there's so much negativity, and it can be pretty overwhelming. This video is a major breath of fresh air! Thank you for giving such a positive and encouraging viewpoint! I wish you all the best, DPG!!!

I need to tell you something about those little white x's on the light panels. Yes, if the lights in a panel are not lit, sometimes pushing on the white x will get the lights to come back on. You shouldn't do this too often or too hard. Behind that white x is a small plug that plugs into the airplane panel wiring. If you push hard and don't tighten the screws holding the panel up, you risk breaking the solder joints connected to that tiny plug. Connected to that tiny white x are soldered on wire runs that go to the tiny "peanut" bulbs (28 volts or 5 volts) that light up the panel. By pushing hard, you risk shorting or disconnecting these runs from the light bulbs meaning the panel will not light again, until fixed by a mechanic. I've fixed many of these panels by tightening the screws to the light plate panel or by resoldering the connections to that white x.

Last time I was this early, 747 were flying with KLM

in the description: "The media loves to talk about aviation, pilots, pilot salaries, etcetera. Those articles and headlines are rarely in the advantage of pilots and are never accurate or complete. Logical right, as they are written by people who do not work for airlines or are involved in the aviation industry at all. However, they do influence the public opinion, YOU." srsly here in Pakistan there is so much corruption that airlines pay money to news channel to avoid bad things going to the public. Well said

Ah, I love that. Beautiful. So encouraging. "Don't give up in your dreams".

Thanks very much for the videos keep up the awesome work

My dream is to become an airline pilot and I would like to be a military pilot even if I'm a girl. I try to stay positif even if people tell me that it's a bad job because you can't see my family and it's apparently a tyering job but I will never give up. I'm just trying to stay positif.

We have exactly the same subs number! Race you to 200!

Wonderful straight-forward talk, easily understood.

What an honest, positive and refreshing post in these hard time. Thank you for sharing and thank you for maintaining such a positive outlook in these trying times.

Thank you :)

Being a pilot is a difficult and demanding job that requires constant studying and training,complete alertness at all times.It is a job that does not forgive mistakes.A job that sometimes makes you pay for other peoples mistakes.Lately pilots haven't been payed well and it is slowly and steadily becoming a job for adventurers with no room for families and family life.For some reason airlines prefer to fill up their planes with cheap tickets antagonizing each other and claim that there isn't enough money to pay pilots decent wages.

I'm finishing up my commercial multi training right now - subscribed because of this video. Love the part where you talk about not wasting opportunities that come up. I had an opportunity come up for my flight training and I took it, and there have been times (like now) when I've questioned whether I made the right choice. But the thing to do is just keep pushing on, and I know that everything will work out in the end.

Very inspiring thanks for the advice.

I’m a pilot for South African airlines and lost my job due to covid 19. I did not know what to do so I thank you for giving me some advise.❤️🇿🇦

you go girl... I would love to see more women as a pilots/captains/first officers

This one is one of your best video production. Lots of good info and you presented it very well.

Very informative...and thank you for this information

Hi! Hope to see you, Joe, Kelsey and Mentour together one day!

FLYING AIR FREIGHT WITH A LARGE CARRIER IS THE MOST SECURE PILOT JOB DURING THESE DIFFICULT TIMES WE ARE LIVING IN.

Thank you for your insightful video.

Great video as always, thanks 👍 I'm just a sport pilot and miss flying a lot, had my proficiency check last week after 3 months without flying. It's just a magic feeling everytime one takes off

Always enjoy your video's, have your ever considered astronaut training with one of the commercial companies like Space X...would you ever consider going into space

Im almost 28 years old, im 2 years away from becoming an aeronautical engeenier, but i want to start a pilot carrer as soon as posible because of my age, If all gets to worst, i will allways be an engeenier, thats why im willing to take the risk of the pilot carrer, I just hope its not to late for me and for my age....

A great and inspiring video! I am fighting for my dream of becoming a pilot and you are very right about people that usually discouraging. Life is about failures and achievements to reach a dream!

Just love listening to you. Your messages are so inspiring. You can be an inspirational speaker.😁. What you say comes from your own experiences and mostly from your heart. Stay Safe, Fly Safe!

Airline industry is a nightmare, this is why i keep flying for fun only!

young, healthy and have a brain. that's me out

What a great and meaningful video ! You are a wonderful light in this world !

I just found this video whilst browsing other aviation stuff and think it a valuable 11 minutes spent despite it being too late in life for me. It is well thought out and the information put over in a very pleasant manner. The advice about advice (!) being based on perspective is spot on. Think about it, we all do the same. When asked for advice, no matter how reasonable we think we are ourselves, we can only create comments wholly or at least partly based on our own experiences. So with that caveat, I can give you some of mine, but take them with the questioning attitude that you think necessary! I recently retired at 65 and can look back on my 40yrs airline pilot experience with pride and near total pleasure. I was fortunate in that I only experienced one Company folding during my employment. But things were very different 40 years ago. No matter what line of work you followed, then, you expected (wrongly) for the career to be a continuous and stable and fair one. Because that is how things had been even before those distant days. We always base our judgements on History, biased with perception! Two things to remember. 1. The job market for pilots is pure supply and demand, and to a certain extent that goes for terms and conditions too. And the supply and demand are usually a bit out of phase. 2. There is good luck and bad luck. There is also shit luck which is where many people are at the moment. On a lifetime scale I guess it all averages out so many of you are deserving and will get better fortune, but who knows when. To expand on terms and conditions. If at the stage of considering this career, I suggest that you do not focus on salaries. Difficult to ignore the optimism of “hey, in 20yrs time I could be a longhaul Captain on £150K”. Back in the 1980s all UK pilots wanted to fly for Cathay Pacific. Unbelievable money and tax rate 15% and this was before the property prices went crazy out there. But look at that airline now, a shadow of itself and of course the Hong Kong nightmare of present. I would think that t&cs for pilots are likely to move in the wrong direction for at least a decade. And then who knows? Maybe planes will get so automated that the authorities accept just one pilot, think what that would do to the job market. I don’t see it myself because I always felt the need for someone sharper than me in the RHS to bounce ideas off. But it is a fact that the skill needed to be a pilot has reduced due computer driven systems. That may have a diluting effect on t&cs. It can also have an effect on how satisfying you find the job to be. To continue on supply and demand. When I started flying and got myself a PPL through working at two jobs and scrimping and saving it was the mid seventies. There had just been a war in the middle east and as a result the oil price quadrupled (from memory) almost overnight. Airlines went bust. BOAC laid up their thirsty B707s and VC10s etc etc.To be honest I wasn’t really that aware of any of this (naivety and optimism of youth!) and I focussed on proceeding to the heady heights of a CPL. The airline industry looked almost finished, to go the way of the ocean liners method of transatlantic transport. I thought I would try and get a cropsprayer job, preferably in UK rather than Africa which seemed the only other option. In fact as things turned out, (good luck) a few airlines started to recruit for the first time in 2 or 3 years just as I finished my self sponsored studies for the CPL. I was in! Now the same MAY happen in the 2020s, but like any good pilot you have to plan ahead (for what if they don’t). This period looks as bad as that war in the 1970s and the 9/11 tragedy. We came back from that. History is no provider of valuable predictions. Have another skill/qualification as a back up. (I found that quite a few copilots I worked with had internet based enterprises going). That doesn’t necessarily mean a degree which is expensive and not directly applicable to flying anyway. If starting training don’t pay too much in advance in case the flight school goes bust. Be realistic. Good luck to all. You deserve it.

Sis, how can I contact you personally .I am a girl age 15 from india. I have some doubts and questions for my future. Please help me . Waiting for your reply....

10 views, 10 likes *Perfect*

Thanks a lot for this video, this is what I needed. I feel like this video was just made for me. Thanks again!! ❤️

Very wise and honest video. Thank you for the video.

Banks should suffer with their customers. Any aid relief given to banks should be dependent on the banks relief given to their customers.

Don’t know why, but lately each time you start your videos by saying « I hope you are all doing well today » I expect you to say « I hope you’re doing absolutely fantastic ». 😳😄

Great advice which is applicable well beyond the aviation industry to take the path that drives you most. You are an encouraging speaker.

Its September and hope you are doing alright. Thank you for the insight and advise and all the best.

Very informative and inspiring. Thank you.

Nice pep talk....cool that folks like you are around to share some social stability in trying times....Another jewel you possess and share freely with your followers... Thanks for posting.....🌏🛩

Great reflection and thoughts. Stay strong, we will get over this

That conclusion though! Much love and respect! 🙌🏽

Thank you for great advice. I fly for fun and do other work. Your advice is just as useful outside aviation as inside, well done and keep up the good work.

Very well said! So far, the best video I have found about the current situation in aviation and I appreciate this advice and positive attitude. No tragedy is happening and aviation will soon return even stronger than before. The best advice is dream, work hard, improve yourself every day and fulfill your dreams. ✈️

So much wisdom in this video. Thank you!

Great job respected Ma'am Bundle of thanks.....God bless you