Thing is, most of the guys and gals are inexperienced, and this is their first flying job out of the safe confines of a flight school or fbo. It is the first time most of them have had to really deal with weather. Seeing weather on a screen and being in it are two different things. The first few weeks of flying Tennessee in the Commander were the most frightening of my brief flying career. That's how it is for most freight dogs. You get over it. Why do they do what they do? More reasons than just pressure from above. We might as well ask: why do people do what they do? As hard as one tries to be a professional, logical captain, it does not matter to the ever changing flux that the pilot must penetrate on a regular basis.
Not supposed to be done that way? No, it isn't. Is it the way it's done? Yes, sometimes. Sometimes friends and bosses die. Most of us get through it better for it all. I wouldn't trade that time for anything. I still look over when I hear the Aero Commander rev its engines up in the morning on takeoff, on its way from DAL to Harlingen.
We're all inexperienced. To say we're not is ignorance of how it all works. You can't run a business like most 135s and pay your captains anything, hence they are the callow young, hungry for the experience. At that time, finding one's way through life is as easy as passing your instrument checkride every night.
I have a special place in my heart for freight dogs. I know where they've been and where they can go. They're the Rodney Dangerfields of the professional world...
