skatergeek
Beet Farmer
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-02-18-pilots18_CV_N.htm
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Alex Scarcella never played with dinosaurs. His love was always planes.
He was just 17 when he got his license to fly. And he became a commercial airline pilot a few months after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
After nine years, Scarcella, 31, says that there are moments when his dream job is decidedly down to earth.
"It's a job like any other," says Scarcella, who is currently a first officer with JetBlue. "It's got its great moments, and it's got tedious moments. But all in all, I can't imagine myself doing anything else."
The image of the dashing airline pilot crisscrossing the globe has become iconic. But the once-glamorous world of a pilot has lost some of its luster. U.S. airline pilots ferry about 2 million people a day in a system that often resembles mass transit. And the highs of the job are often offset by the mundane struggles many American workers face: pay cuts, pension worries, long hours and stress.
It's only in the wake of extraordinary events that the curtain is pulled back on a pilot's life, be it the heroic landing of a US Airways jet on the Hudson River that rocketed Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, to fame in January 2009, or the crash less than a month later of a Colgan Air plane outside Buffalo. Federal transportation officials have blamed the Colgan accident in part on pilots who behaved unprofessionally and were inadequately trained.
A career in an airplane cockpit can mean 16-hour days and part of the week spent away from home. During the travel downturn following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, pilots at some major airlines took pay cuts as deep as 40% and saw their pensions erode. Constant travel, particularly over multiple time zones, can be wearing and strain family life. And some pilots working for smaller, regional airlines are paid so little that they cannot afford to live in the city where they are based or take on second jobs to make ends meet.
Yet, as pilots climb the professional ladder, experts say, they can earn salaries in the six figures. They may see the world and enjoy more days off duty than on. And the office comes with a great view.
"Every time we take off there's still a little sense of wonder," Scarcella says. "It's almost magical. ... Being up there and seeing the things you can see at dawn at 30,000 feet as you're coming across the country. It's pretty unique."
'It can be a very grueling job'
Bob Hart, a captain with United Airlines, says he's pleased that most passengers probably don't give him a second thought.
"I think the vast majority of passengers ... board aircraft today and they're thinking about the next e-mail or upcoming business meeting or a song they are listening to on their iPod, and that's the way it should be," says Hart, 50, who has been a pilot for 33 years. "As a pilot I'm glad they're that comfortable."
But the pilots' day begins long before takeoff, as they inspect the plane and review flight plans. Once airborne, they handle a complex array of tasks, from skirting a storm to monitoring systems that keep the cabin pressurized.
"It's true aircraft today are highly automated," Hart says, "but make no mistake about it, these aircraft do not fly themselves."
Yet, changes in the airline industry, particularly in the last decade, have left many commercial airline pilots disillusioned, says John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association.
"There's still a mystique about aviation in general, but the hard facts are that it can be a very grueling job," says Prater, who is a captain with Continental Airlines. "I've been an airline pilot since 1977. ... I have never seen the morale across the entire industry so horrible. Pilots who've given their entire lives to this profession, if they can, get out."
Pressure to trim employee costs intensified after airlines were deregulated in 1978, Prater says. But he says pilots' pay and benefits began to rapidly erode after the Sept. 11 attacks, and bankruptcies at several major airlines.
"We in the airline industry are still struggling to try to get back wages that were cut 30 or 40%, (and) pension plans that were terminated," Prater says.
There's also less opportunity to advance right now. Major airlines have done little hiring during the current economic downturn, and pilots are now able to stay on the job until age 65.
According to the most recent data, the number of issued commercial pilot licenses, which are required to become a co-pilot, jumped to 10,595 in 2008 compared with 9,318 the year before, according to the FAA. But the number of airline transport pilots licenses, required to become a commercial airline captain, dropped to 5,204 in 2008 from 5,918 in 2007.
The lack of advancement, low starting wages and training that can cost tens of thousands of dollars are leading fewer young people to become commercial airline pilots, says Les Westbrooks, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"If I'm a smart young person ... I can go into medicine, engineering, I could go anywhere," Westbrooks says. "I would say that the passion of the students to fly ... is what has sustained the industry for a long time. But there comes a point where your passion and mathematics meet. And we are at that point."
However, for young pilots willing to give the profession a chance, the payoff can be well worth it, says Kit Darby, an aviation consultant.
The most senior captain, flying the largest jet at a major airline, earns on average nearly $180,000 a year, Darby says. Pilots starting out at a regional carrier may earn as little as $21,000 annually, but by the time they become a senior captain, piloting the largest aircraft, they can earn more than $95,000 a year.
"Think of it as an apprenticeship to live through and get to the next level," says Darby of the low wages and long workweeks new pilots at smaller airlines often endure. Seniority at a larger airline ultimately means "you determine which days you work, what kind of plane you fly, when you work ... whether you go to Lubbock or London."
The average pay has gone down, Darby acknowledges. "It's not as good as it used to be for some," he says, but "you don't have that kind of flexibility at most other jobs unless you own the company."
Battling long hours, fatigue
John Schroll, a captain with AirTran, heads to work before dawn.
A commercial airline pilot for the past 27 years, he usually leaves his Florida home at about 3 a.m., and catches a 6 a.m. flight from Orlando to Atlanta, where he gets ready to pilot his first flight. Four days later he heads back home.
On a recent evening, he was in bed by 6:30 p.m. "You don't want to come to work tired," he says. "I'm expected to perform at a certain level. I owe it to my profession, to my passengers, to my company and the rest of the people I work with."
The hours can take their toll.
"On a beautiful sunny day, I don't think there's a pilot alive who will say he doesn't like his job, but when it's backed up and you sit two hours (waiting) to get de-iced ... you get tired mentally and physically," he says. "You've got to prepare yourself when you're home. You've got to get your body ready for work."
Though some pilots can have a maximum workday of 16 hours, the FAA requires those on domestic flights to fly no more than eight hours during a 24-hour period, and to have at least eight continuous hours of rest.
Those rules, set decades ago, have drawn complaints from pilots and federal officials who say they are inadequate.
The National Transportation Safety Board made addressing pilot fatigue part of its "most wanted" list in 1990. And questions were raised about the role fatigue may have played when the Colgan Air plane, operating as Continental Connection flight 3407, crashed near Buffalo on Feb. 12, 2009, killing 50 people.
The NTSB concluded that "the pilots' performance was likely impaired because of fatigue," but could not determine to what degree.
The FAA now plans to issue a proposed ruling on pilots flight time and rest in the spring.
"Our whole push right now is to change the rules so they're more based on science," taking into account such factors as the length of the flight, says FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette.
NTSB Chairwoman Debbie Hersman says she's hopeful that the FAA will finally take action, but she has heard such talk before. "We've been waiting over a decade for this issue to be addressed," she says, "and it's not over until the regulations are changed.
"You can see in the life of a pilot there are many potential ways that they can be fatigued," Hersman says. "They're commuting. Many times, they're crossing multiple time zones for their job. ... This is a very brutal lifestyle."
Schroll says traveling to and from Atlanta is stressful. "I hate commuting," he says. But his wife and children have spent their lives in Florida, so moving isn't an option. And years ago, when he worked for the now-defunct Eastern Airlines, relocating for his job cost him personally. "I ended up getting a divorce because my wife wouldn't move," he recalls.
Despite that, Schroll says he has a good job and appreciates the standards that he and other pilots must adhere to. He still studies for weeks for twice-a-year exams required by AirTran that check his knowledge and skill in the cockpit.
Prior to AirTran, Schroll piloted an aircraft that caught on fire. "I've had landing gear fall off. ... I don't think there's a pilot alive who hasn't had maintenance issues," he says. "You put it on the line every day because situations arise."
Recently, competition has increased among airlines and with it the demands made on pilots who are working more days.
"I don't think there's any glamour in the job anymore," he says. "I remember when I was a kid looking up to pilots, you envied them so much. My son wanted to be a pilot, and I told him no way. I just thought there was a better career doing something else, because times have changed."
A 'struggle' when starting out
Dave Ryter, 39, a captain at American Eagle, is among the more senior pilots at his regional airline. He lives just outside Dallas, where he says the cost of living is more manageable, and makes what he calls a decent living for his family.
But he knows that those starting out at regional carriers often struggle to survive on the low wages. "A lot of pilots have ... part-time jobs when they get home," he says, "and everybody sort of hangs on and hopes things get better."
Ryter was once in that position himself. He worked a second job part time, taking sales orders, and his wife had a job. Now, though his wife does some part-time work, she is able to stay home and take care of their three daughters while he spends four days a week flying.
It's difficult being away from his family several days a week, he says, but it comes with the job.
"It's not (that) it breaks your heart any less when you have to leave home for four days and your kid grabs your leg and says 'don't go,' " he says. "But my kids have never known anything different. They know Daddy goes off to work, and he'll be back home in a few days. ... They get used to flying somewhere on Thanksgiving so they can spend it with you when you're at a hotel."
Being a pilot is not without its challenges, he says. But when it's good, it's great.
"There's nothing like taking off into the sunrise," he says, "and you look at your partner and say, 'Boy, this sure beats working at a desk.' "
I didn't see this posted yet...if it was..oops..
