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Union Airline Pilots Occupy Wall Street
Hundreds of uniformed pilots, standing in stark contrast to the youthful Occupy Wall Street protesters, staged their own protest outside of Wall Street over the past couple of days, holding signs with the picture of the Hudson river crash asking “What’s a Pilot Worth” and others declaring “Management is Destroying Our Airline.” (www.forbes.com) さらに...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Among the "old timers" (and believe me; I am a really old, old timer) there used to be a saying: If a pilot keeps his aircraft from falling out of the sky or crashing on landing or takeoff, he has earned his salary 10 times over for the rest of his life! Since the number of lawyers have exceeded the numbers of fleas I think that statement is probably more true today than yesterday!
Chris; your point and mine are the same. Money was not the difference- experience was. Everyone has to gain that to be the best they can be. Sully wasn't paid the big bucks in the military, but I bet he was pretty good and got better every mission.
If the airline can afford a 90 million dollar plane, they should hire and pay some actual qualified pilots and maintenance personnel, instead of taking people in with no real world experience, straight out of simulator school. Each of those Buffalo pilots had under 1000 hrs of total time, not just time in type, but lifetime total; like one 10yr old kid trying to teach another 10yr old quantam physics: neither is qualified to teach or learn something so complex. I understand the concept of On The Job training, but hell you would expect the Captain to have some considerable experience while training the rookie.
Tough pill to swallow for those of us who slip the surly bonds on our own nickel. Let's take a look at "highly skilled" workers: The picture of the Airbus in the Hudson relates to two highly skilled pilots making, minimally, four times the quoted entry level pay. Why not show a picture of that neighborhood in Buffalo, where you will find the entry-level paid pilots' and passengers' bodies strewn about? Dont take it from me alone. Flying Magazine's Martha Lunken wrote about these entry-level pilots, who learned on a computer in six months with others in the cockpit with them from day one, accruing 750 hrs of flight time and suddenly declared competent fly people to places like Buffalo. A lot of these folks have less "alone time" in a cockpit than I do. That's unfortunate.
A professional is a professional all the time. Never saw anyone do a better job because they got paid more. I remember when truck drivers wore a uniform w/shirt and tie and were considered professionals. Now i would not let 50% of them drive my car let alone a heavy duty truck. What happened was not just about pay.
Pilots are a first class investment - buy them aat cost and sell them at their own estimation - You'll make a bomb!!