All this regional jet talk has got me asking a few questions?

[TonyC]

Are you freaking kidding me? I had no idea Chinese cargo haulers were doing work between US cities!!

Thank Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) for that. Cabotage through Anchorage has been a reality since he got his way. If he and Fred Smith keep at it, you'll see a lot more of it, and it won't be restricted to cargo, and it won't be restricted to Anchorage.

Be alarmed.


Be very alarmed.




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[TonyC]

The question is; Can Chinese cargo airlines pick up freight in the US and drop in the US? ...

The answer is yes.

So can Korean, and Japanese, and Russian, and... well, anybody. The only restriction is that it flies through Anchorage.





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[Flightjock30]

I mentor quite a few teenagers who are interested in aviation and take flying lessons. I have recently (around 2 yrs ago or so) started preaching that anyone interested in an aviation career go into air traffic controlling or engineering and fly for fun on the side. Some ATCs I know make just as much as major airline pilots did pre-9/11 BUT NOW THE FAA IS TAKING A SIMILAR APPROACH LIKE THE AIRLINES AND PLAN ON REDUCING WAGES TO UP AND COMING ATCs ENTERING THE WORKFORCE!!! THEY ARE ALSO CONTINUING TO PRIVATIZE VARIOUS SECTORS OF THE INDUSTRY (Class D Towers and Flight Service Stations). IN ADDITION CURRENT CONTROLLERS ARE BUSY FACILITIES ARE BEING OVERWORKED DUE TO UNDERSTAFFING. UNSAFE!! Where is aviation coming to?

 

[AGuyThatFlys]

I mentor quite a few teenagers who are interested in aviation and take flying lessons. I have recently (around 2 yrs ago or so) started preaching that anyone interested in an aviation career go into air traffic controlling or engineering and fly for fun on the side.

Agree with you but even engineering isn't what it used to be. I was a Boeing engineer and as early as the late '90s, the engineers' union, SPEEA, was worried about jobs going to Russia.

I was a CFI in Seattle and had two students who were contract (temporary) engineers on the 787 project. They were from Italy!

Ask not what happened to aviation, ask what happened to this country.

 

[Kaman]

Didn't FedEX try to put non-union, alien pilots into the operation out of Subic Bay? On another note, I think that some airlines are sending airplanes south for heavy checks/scheduled maintenance...

 

[MJG]

I had no idea Chinese cargo haulers were doing work between US cities!!

Well consider yourself informed. I still am alarmed at the number of fellow airline pilots that I talk to that have no clue that this is going on right here, right now. This threat is very, very real and it's hitting the cargo haulers first. But I can't help but think that the passenger haulers aren't far behind. Like Tony said:

Be alarmed, be very alarmed....

 

[Chronic Jetlag]

Senator Ted Stevens has a lot political influenct in AK. He even has an airport named after himself; and he's not even dead yet. Talk about hubris! In an effort to benefit his own constituencies he's opened up a big can of worms. I fear it's only a matter of time before cabotage occurs in the lower 48.