Enigma, I really do not disagree with your perspective if that is really how you feel about the job. ]
..........I didn't say how I feel about the job.
[Last week, I played in a golf tournament with three major carrier pilots. While they had all been through some rough times, by far they thought it was the best job that they could have ever had. ]
Good for them, but their timing, luck, and qualification landed them at a major. Tell me about the unlucky joe who originally went to work for PanAm, and who is still underemployed ten years after his dream job went down. For that matter, what does the fact that three current major airline pilots consider this the best job they could ever had? They are part of the luck few. I work with pilots who originally went to work for Eastern, Braniff, AirFlorida, TWA, PanAm, etc. Most of the ones I know couldn't get a job in the early mid-ninetys because they wouldn't buy their position. They have found themselves underemployed for ten years or more, and I place a lot of the blame for their situation on FAPA, AirInc, etc. having continued to ecourage entrance into a profession where there were 747 Captains out of work. Your point would be made even less relevant were you to talk to those guys, because they too would tell you that being a pilot was the best job they could have had. That statement only means that pilots love to fly. It has no bearing upon the value/worth of aviation job services such as AirInc.
[As to the regional experience level. I come from a business background. For the most part, I understand that many of the furloughees are in a grey zone and may be unemployable. ]
Be that as it may, how can you defend the propaganda mills that continually attempt to draw more entrants to an industry that is, and has been, oversupplied with labor?
[Frankly, I commend the carriers that are hiring form their trying to put a balanced class together of people who will leave them later at different times. ]
I don't have a problem with that, it's just sensible business, but we still haven't dealt with the topic of luring people into a profession that is already oversupplied with labor
[The bottom line of this is that I have a passion for aviation, think that our best and brightest are not coming to this industry as before, and, if we don't do something about it, will lead to problems downstream. ]
If you have a passion for aviation, and worry that the best and brightest are not coming to the industry, then why do you continue to defend those who are not looking for the best and the brightest, only those with money. I don't know what you consider best and the brightest, but I suspect that the "best and the brightest" who become interested in the industry soon realize that their talents could be better utilized, and appreciated elsewhere. Somewhere where they don't have to worry about losing an opportunity to someone who's only qualification is his daddys ability to write a check.
If you want the best and the brightest, I would suggest that you go on a crusade to develop a entrance system that ensures that the best and the brightest are able to compete with their skill and motivation, not by having to rely on how much the wife earns.
[I will leave the criticism to others of this business. I think most of it is the result of going from a regulated situation to deregulation. To have done that in the short time it was accomplished in a business where one makes their capital expennditures based on 20 years on average put tremendous pressure on carriers.]
I agree, but it hasn't stopped the carriers from providing golden parachutes for incapable CEO's.
[ The union situation with its artificial restraints is getting out of hand. ]
If the unions are the problem, (and as those that read my ramblings know, I have problems with unions at some levels myself); then why not convince congress to abolish the RLA? Unions can not force management to do anything, union contracts are business Agreements. To me, that means that management agreed to the terms of the contract, so management deserves half of the blame. If you have dislike for unions, why are you bothered that the best and the brightest don't come here. This is a unionized business.
I would agree that the unions were an obstacle to deregulation, but they have been getting weaker not stronger. As of today, companies are disregarding their contracts in issues of scope, no furlough clauses, etc., and the unions seem powerless to stop them. How is that "getting out of hand"?
[Perhaps I am not fair because I know I never wanted to be an airline pilot. Had I, a corporate or fractional would have been my choice. Maybe a FEDEX or night freight pilot. In the end, you have to find what is right for you.
