The psychology and money of flying for a living
The instrument panel has no gauge for this.
Altitude & Assets is the weekly dispatch on the money and psychology of flying for a living — written by someone who sits across the table from pilots every day, not a media outsider looking in. You track airspeed, altitude, fuel. Almost no pilot tracks the one number that actually decides how this career ends.
Free. Weekly. No spam — just what nobody taught you in training.
What we cover
The Pilot Brain
Most aviation content is either deeply technical or purely hobbyist — checklists and cockpit photos. Altitude & Assets sits in the gap nobody else covers: the psychological and financial realities of building a life around flying. We write about the identity shifts of a flying career, the capital decisions that actually move the needle, and we sit down with the people making them.
What happens if you can't fly
What a loss of medical, a furlough, or a career change actually costs — and how pilots protect against it before they need to.
Where the money actually goes
How aviators who fly for a living should be investing, structuring, and protecting what they earn.
Conversations from the inside
Direct conversations with the operators, owners, and investors shaping the business side of aviation.
The writer
Written by someone who sits across the table
I've sat across the table from pilots at 2am after a medical got pulled, at kitchen tables working through what a divorce settlement does to a command upgrade, and in crew rooms where nobody wants to say out loud what a furlough actually does to a person. Fifteen years and 2,000+ of those conversations later, this is what I keep coming back to: the money and the psychology of this career are the same conversation — whether anyone treats them that way or not.
I'm the Founder of PilotInsure Brokers, working directly with pilots and aircrew at FlySafair, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Airlink, CemAir, Delta, United, and Qantas, among others. I also built P-FMS, a financial tracking platform built for the actual shape of a flying income and career. Altitude & Assets is where I write about what I see — not theory, not generic finance content repackaged for pilots.
What this actually reads like
Recent dispatches, and how pilots responded
Not projections — actual reader reactions to actual issues. Four dispatches, four different angles on the same core idea.
No Cake for Captains: The Neuroscience of the "Pilot Brain"
"Why is it that in aviation, perfection isn't celebrated — it's just the minimum expectation?"
124 comments · 397 reactions · 88.9K impressions
Twenty Minutes in the Car Park: Why the Pilot Who Failed Is the Upgraded One
"Every pilot knows the car park moment."
86 comments · 74+ reactions · 34.2K impressions
Why Pilots Can't Take Compliments: The Neuroscience of the "Unimpressed" Brain
"Have you ever tried to compliment a pilot? It is almost painful to watch."
56 comments · 77+ reactions · 19K impressions
Pilots: The Heaviest Thing You Carry Isn't on the Loadsheet
"The heaviest thing you carry onto the flight deck isn't on the loadsheet. Then what is it?"
9 comments · 41+ reactions · 14.1K impressions
Coming soon
The podcast is next.
Altitude & Assets is expanding into video — long-form conversations with the operators, investors, and industry leaders shaping the business of aviation. Subscribers hear about it first.
If you want to front-run the rest and see us build from the very first episode, follow the channel and you won't miss a thing.
Follow on YouTube →Where this comes from
The practice behind the page
Altitude & Assets comes out of real conversations at PilotInsure — the practice I built specifically for pilots, crew, and ATCs, covering investing and insurance end to end. If something in an issue hits close to home and you want to talk specifics, I'm the person to talk to — not a call centre, or someone still trying to figure out aviation. I work with individuals and operators wanting the best insight for their finance, retention, and career or business cycle.
FSP 50102 · PilotInsure Brokers · 2,000+ pilots and aircrew served globally
Good to know
Frequently Asked
What is Altitude & Assets?
Altitude & Assets is a weekly newsletter covering the psychological and financial realities of building a career in aviation, written by Franz Smit, Founder of PilotInsure Brokers.
Who is it for?
Commercial pilots, aircraft owners, and aviation professionals who want identity-level insight into money and career risk — not generic industry news.
How often does it publish?
Weekly, direct to your inbox, with occasional deep-dive dispatches on major industry shifts.
Is it connected to PilotInsure Brokers?
Yes. Altitude & Assets is written by Franz Smit, Founder and Managing Director of PilotInsure Brokers, a specialist aviation financial services brokerage (FSP 50102) serving pilots and aircrew globally.