article said:
(2) The industry has driven the good people away: The last four years have not been kind to the airline industry.
Four years?? It's been a lost decade kid. What he meant to say was "You know I got hired 7 years ago and made captain pretty quick, I'm fairly happy but I've noticed for the last 4 years everyone I fly with (read: FO's) has become more and more unhappy. By the way, an FO who left for corporate asked me yesterday if I remembered what a pension was, does anyone know? Email me privately if you could please, I'm lost and just old enough not to know I can google it. When I don't know everything I feel like less of a pilot, and ego is everything for me."
I'm kind of speculating here because I've had the chance to upgrade for a while, and am back to making first year CA pay on the Saab (from 3 years ago though... eh) being an FO and not doing jack. It seems like the guys I talk to are pissed because they still haven't upgraded in 4-6 years time and any pay raise is nearly meaningless compared to the almighty TPIC and the 40% payraise that comes with it.
article said:
(3) The upcoming 1500-hour / ATP minimum requirement for all airline pilots might be scaring away good people. The ATP rule won't go into effect until 2013, so this is a perfect time to get an airline job. In two years of flying 85 hours a month, it'll be easy to beef up the logbook. This may be the last time in history that a guy with less than 1000 hours has a shot at an airline career. But I'm concerned that some pilots have only heard part of the story and have given up, thinking the rule is already in effect.
What he meant to say was "I also believe in the pilot shortage, unicorns, and that I'll be at a major in 3-4 years even though it's been seven for me. Luckily though, Maria in planning makes my life so nice thanks to being a checkairmen and I never have to deal with scheduling, so I suppose as a checkairmen who spends a couple months each year at the training center and are home every night that- I'm sorry I lost my place talking, I just like hearing myself. God I've got it good."
(4) Now that we're all wired and connected to the cloud, we just process information differently: My company is taking a hard look at our training procedures to see if we can present the information in a way that's more exciting for tech-savvy pilots. Unfortunately, many regional airlines see their training departments as expenses rather than investments, so there's not exactly an open checkbook for new training initiatives.
What he meant to say is, "God I'm pissed I might have to go back to being a real pilot and flying the line. I've become fat and happy sitting in the training department and doing IOE for a bunch of wide eyed FO's who think I know everything... and I do! These "Technologies", whatever those are, are gonna kill my lifestyle. Oh well I'll get in a class somewhere at a major, I'll have to call Todd and see who is hiring these days."
(5) Economic hard times have made it difficult for instrument pilots to stay proficient if they're paying for their time themselves. I'll be honest; I don't know if I could have afforded to get all my ratings in today's fuel environment. I paid between $50 and $85 an hour to rent most of my training planes, and I struggled to do that. That was when avgas was about $1.50 a gallon. Throw in reduced hours at work or downright unemployment, and staying proficient takes a back seat. We're seeing a lot of people coming in the door who haven't touched an airplane for three years!
"I trained and went to flight school from the years of 97-01, I can't remember exactly, and when 9/11 happened I still had a good CFI job living in the same town as my folks and my wife (at the time) made pretty good money so I didn't have it so bad."
(6) No one is getting commercial pilots' licenses any more. The FAA will tell you that the number of commercial pilots licenses issued has plummeted in the last three years. It is only a fraction of what it was four years ago. That means that the regionals are going to be competing for a smaller and smaller pool of pilots. When that happens, the quality of the candidate pool remaining quickly drops.
"I'm oblivious to the fact there are nearly 20,000 pilots furloughed or working at the regional level who can either make ok money doing something that keeps them home every night(and will come back when the industry doesn't blow), or who will leave their regional in a heartbeat at the outstation. Luckily, I've always been able to fly for a living and I'll be able to get picked up right at the hiring "boom" for retirements at mainline so I'll be able to secrete myself back into the training department at my next airline and I can tell them how dumb they were for not getting to the airlines 2 years ago when I did. God I'm smart. I hope those 2 extra years of not flying and being home every night with your family and making a descent wage were worth it because I'll get in the Training department again, nah nah nah nah nah. Wait, they are gonna do it all online now??? WTH! Oh well I'll just stay at my regional and keep flying these new pilots I hate so much on IOE. What do you mean they are getting rid of the CRJ? Dammit!"
If I have to bring a note from my doctor and talk to the chief pilot because I got sick in December, I find that goofy. If you get a common cold, I need to try to get an appointment, last minute, go into the office and potentially infect more people only to have the doctor say "Yup, you've got a common cold. Plenty of fluids, you'll be better in a week!"
