Thanks for all the well wishes and advice so far
I called the GM back (His first words were "so... what's up??") and pretty much told him:
1) It gives me the opportunity to travel with my wife
2) It lets me use my pilot's license
3) It pays more than I am making now.
He acted like he was shocked out of left field about it. Me, the shining example of line service techs, bringing new and awesome ideas to the company, creating awesome badges that tell the new guys where the fueling ports are on different aircraft, always coming in on time for any call in (including 9pm call to be there at 3am the next day more than a handful of times). A dutiful, always pleasant, always diligent employee who always goes the extra mile for customers. One who (almost) never broke anything on an aircraft! Pushing around millions of dollars a day!
What would cause a qualified and educated person to just up and leave, right after a yearly review and an above average raise?
After that 12 month review with my manager, he ushered him out of the room and set the stage for the info I was on the edge of my seat for.
With a smile and a wink, he revealed the fruits of my labor and hard work...
.50c an hour.
Yep. 1 extra paycheck a year. About $1000. And he saw my surprised expression and assured me that it was an above average raise, more than they usually give, and the next year's will be even better! Then shook my hand with a smile and said thanks for all your hard work!
I had to try really hard not to laugh at it. I walked outside to go talk to my boss about it and my phone rang with the offer. I told them I just got a raise and asked for a bit more money - it worked. Not as much as I'd like to make ideally but it'd take me 3 years of that raise to get to that level.
Our competition on the field pays more. One of the guys interviewed to work at our place and he spilled on their pay. Equal to start, 2 bucks more in 6 months, even more at the 1 year mark. Downside is I don't like them. But management knows that and still decided to hit me with .50c. On top of that there are a plethora of other issues. I made a new position, designed it and made the SOPs for it, was told I'd be management for it and I'd be the one pioneering it, and then other people were assigned to it. Lots of problems and turnover despite a rah-rah speech about we're the "best crew they've ever had and they're not just saying that" and "we want people to stay" and "you are the company".
Not to say they didn't do things well in other areas but on the whole it's been a draining experience with a lot of issues that everyone has but no one wants to talk about out of fear they'll get fired. Which brings me to my next point:
The exit interview.
What do I say, what can I say, what should I say? There are a lot of problems and I genuinely want to help them get fixed. Management doesn't know or look enough underneath them to recognize issues and when they are brought up they are met with negativity. Know it all kind of attitudes. At one point the word "fear based management" was used. I feel like me leaving at the time of the raise might send a message about retaining people who are as qualified and knowledgable. But I want to do more.
I also want a good reference because of my last job. I want to approach it with a sense of honesty and "don't be offended but" that leaves everything above board.
). 
