Brush with Ex TWA....

I'm ex-TWA. TWA is a depressing story...along with Eastern, Braniff, PanAm, etc.

From the early 1940s to the late 1970s, all TWA new hire pilots were the best of their time. It was the premiere international airline...in the world. In the 1970s when American Airlines increased their advertisement in Europe...TWA sold more tickets...TWA was viewed as the American airline.

As this old guard of TWA pilots (the best of the day when they were hired) retired over the past few years...their peers at American, Delta and United were collecting retirements in the neighborhood of $1.5 million in a lump sum plus $4000 to $5000 in a monthly annuity....the TWA pilots are retiring on no lump sum payment and a Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp payout of approx $2000 per month.
 
Well at least the guy made it to the majors to live his dream, I think its good that he mentioned the "reality" of the industry cause it is..UNSTABLE maybe people should think about contigincies (spelling wasnt part of ground school) ..my old CFI told me the aviation industry was like ocean waves theres an "UP" but always a "down"....
 
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He shoots...He scores....but who said it?

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Oh come on, we need something a little harder than this!!

Everyone knows it was Mr. Jack himself.
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I think if it was not for American no one would have bought TWA and they would have been sand in the wind.
 
Can't harp enough on having a backup plan. For me, flying-wise, I can always get some shady flight gig someplace in the world if the military decides to RIF anytime soon ala late 80s/early 90s. Barring that, there's other non-standard flight gigs in the states such as mil flight testing, civilian mil training, target towing, aerial firefighting, etc. If flight is no longer an option, then it's back to riding the truck and putting the wet stuff on the red stuff.
 
Well just to add a little perspective or balance to all of this.

The airlines are not the only companies in the world who lay-off people, merge, downsize, close etc. Hell right after 9/11 K-Mart laid off something like 75,000 employees. Sure, they may have better luck finding a comparably paying job (non-skilled jobs are easier to find than skilled) but still that's 75,000 folks out of a job. Enron nixed the jobs (from unskilled to executive) of thousands of folks. jobs, right now, are being "outsourced" overseas and we're not talking about answering phone calls we're talking about software engineering, management and other high-end jobs.

My point is don't think a "desk" job is any more inherently stable or secure than a flying job. If you have a job – any job – you're at risk of losing it.
 
The only jobs that are safe are....well, there aren't any.

And performing well isn't going to help you keep your job either. I learned that at my last one.
 
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The only jobs that are safe are....well, there aren't any.

[/ QUOTE ]Well, mortician comes to mind. You'll never run out of customers ...
 
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The only jobs that are safe are....well, there aren't any.

[/ QUOTE ]Well, mortician comes to mind. You'll never run out of customers ...

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Nu-uh ... haven't you seen Fox's "Tru Calling?" If you help folks from getting killed you're ruining your business!
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The airlines are not the only companies in the world who lay-off people, merge, downsize, close etc. Hell right after 9/11 K-Mart laid off something like 75,000 employees. Sure, they may have better luck finding a comparably paying job (non-skilled jobs are easier to find than skilled) but still that's 75,000 folks out of a job.

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Oh my god, I'm LMAO of that one!!!

You strike a good point!

Perhaps it's just a bit more dramatic when you lose a $150,000 job eh?
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Hey don't get me wrong guys. Don't interpret this as if I'm an ass who really doesn't care. I do care. It's just I found it quite funny!
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And DON'T flame me! It was only a joke.
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The only jobs that are safe are....well, there aren't any.

And performing well isn't going to help you keep your job either. I learned that at my last one.

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I got nixed at my last job in January because they lost a lawsuit, causing them to "cut out any non-necessary positions." Apparently when I was hired, my job was necessary, but now I guess not
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and my performance evaluation was outstanding as well, and I got along great with all the coworkers and managers. Whodathunkit!

Now I figure, if I'm gonna be laid off, might as well be doing something I really love!
 
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Now I figure, if I'm gonna be laid off, might as well be doing something I really love!

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Actually Brendan, don't you think it'd be the opposite...
If you get laid off from something you really love, I think it's going to hurt more than getting laid off something you don't like as much...
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BTW Brendan, WX's not too bad, how's that checkride coming along?
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Yeah, I'm having an " I don't make much sense today" days.

I dunno, but maybe my point is, if you're gonna bust your but for something, maybe a better bet to really enjoy it instead of being caught in a cubicle fearing a pink slip.

Speaking of pink slips.... I'm almost ready for the checkride, I promise! The fear of a pink slip is great (gigantic), but my instructor thinks I'll do fine. I somehow have this feeling that the one time I screw up is the one time that Wally is in the right seat
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I did another ground session this morning with Lloyd, really got into detailed stuff about everything, then tonight I teach violin, so my next sim time will be tomorrow morning before I hop in the plane at noon. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Please press your thumbs for me I fear these friggin checkrides SO MUCH!
 
You'll do juusssssssst fine man!
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Just don't get too nervous! I'm sure being nervous is a big negative in the equation! (it's funny though, because I'm giving advice that I'm sure I wouldn't accomplish! lol)

Oh, so when exactly are you scheduled for the checkride, B? I think that anxiety will build up even more and hurt you a bit more, the more you wait...I'm sure you're ready for it.
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(Well at least it seemed the last way we went up! just joking man
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<<then tonight I teach violin>>
Hey, bring that violin next time we go up! Who knows when it may come in handy!
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Play it for the lady at KFRG's LIJet Center so we can get the landing fee waived! This way you won't pay for the fuel so it can be waived!
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Anyway, good luck to ya Brendan!
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Please press your thumbs for me I fear these friggin checkrides SO MUCH!

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I feel your pain. I always come out of those things feeling like a big fat idiot (even though I've passed them all so far). Of course, that might be because I am a big fat idiot!!
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Anyway, good luck!!

MF
 
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