The fact is that I have never claimed to have served in the military. I guess I made it into my airline career the hard way, like most of those being hired now and especially those currently flying for the Regionals. While the SPC ad that was referenced by ANDY indicates my status as a veteran, I can not be responsible for what is printed in the newspapers if I had nothing to do with proofing for accuracy. I would guess there are more inaccuracies in that ad but I just don't know because I had nothing to do with it.
Right now I have RETIRED from airline work. I made that decision recently when I turned down a contract to fly in a Captain position flying B777's internationally out of JFK. I did that because that's my choice. I just have no interest in flying any more 16-hour legs, then feeling like a zombie for days, only to do it all over again in three days. And the idea of starting as a new-hire with UAL is something I'm just not interested in now. Personally I am sick and tired of the whole airline business and I use caution before I recommend it to anyone.
Regarding UAL, if a person is young and has a lousy flying job I would certainly recommend moving to any better job, even UAL. But if a person has a good corporate job, or a good job as a senior Regional captain, that person should think very hard about changing. Otherwise, it is quite possible to soon find yourself unemployed and unable to return to your prior job. I have seen this happen many times before.
Now UAL: Their training is fair to good. Not great, just fair to good. It could be great but everything is provided to the bare minimum and only scripted emergencies/irregularities are trained. Only the test is trained and tested, but that is the way it is because to do otherwise would result longer training time or more failures, which slows down the training, resulting in more crew required to operate the airline. It's all money. So while some may think their airline training is good, just think about whether you're really confident that you'll follow the electronic checklist exactly, just as you're suppose to, for all the emergencies/irregularities without missing an important note or direction to reference another checklist. So now do you really think the training was so great?
Right now I avoid the commercial airports at all cost because if you think it's bad as a crew member, it is far worse as a passenger. I'm really surprised that any real people still fly.
Does anyone who works for UAL get concerned with the selloffs and outsourcing? How about the fact that UAL is about the only airline to have no interest in purchasing new equipment? Is there a message here? I would think so, and it shuld be concerning.
