You are absolutely right!
Hey CRUXX:
How many times did you fly Perryville to Ogden non-stop and land with less than 1500, 20 30? "by the way Lou died a couple of years ago, good man!". Don't remember team T and T out there pointing a gun at you to do it. In fact I remember you sitting in the hotel in Chester drinking beer and laughing about all the money you were making. This is not the forum for specifics but I personally saw you do some of the things that you are bashing AJI pilots for. So do not pee on my leg and tell me it is raining and do not tell me you left AJI to take the moral high ground. You were a pirate just like the rest of us, dangerous cowboy no but a pirate non the less.
I am not saying the things you mention AJI doing to you are not true, I just do not have any personal experience with it. I am not suggesting one company is better than the other I do not really care. I just see a little hypocrisy going on here.
I have said it before and I will say it again alot has changed in the near decade since you left.
I always had a good time flying with you buddy and you are a first class stick. Glad you are at Spirit and hope life is good
The GRINGO!
Gringo,
You are right...but that is one of the many reasons I left. No T & T didn't put a gun to my head, in the beginning we were all very naive and most of us, including myself, were so happy to be building jet time that we looked the other way. And the stuff I pulled at Ameristar....wow...I look back and can't believe I did it, and that doesn't even compare to how I flew the 310's at Royal before that. I was a cowboy, sometimes even a dangerous one. I remember the Perryville to Ogden flights (K22) if memory serves. I remember thinking the USA Jet guys were a bunch of dorks....and maybe they still are
. I remember thinking those JUS panzies, not going flying non stop, getting deiced and all that. And then the blinders slowly came off after I made captain at AJI. Hey you know what, Tom and Teak gave me a helluva opportunity and one that I appreciate.
But you know what experience is...it's that thing you get right after you needed it. And I learned from all those mistakes I made then (and the ones I still make today...mostly programing errors now). We all got a lot of experience in a very short period of time then. And I know things are different, AJI went from what 8 planes total to over 30 when I worked there.
All I am saying is to VS19 is don't bash what you don't understand. As far as working conditions....there was a reason the USA Jet guys were different, they were treated better. That's all. They did the same job...just differently. And yes USA Jet has more arrogant pricks than most other freight companys....that I will have to admit to. A lot of those guys didn't fly freight for other companies and don't have anything else to compare it too.
Did I do all that "shady stuff"? Hell yeah I did. Do I regret it...not really because it gave me some great experience....and even better stories!
What I remember from both places was too very different theories of doing the exact same thing. And...as of a few years ago...USA Jet did it more by the regs than any other freight company out there. We gave the illegal trips to Ameristar time and time again. Maybe things are different now.
...and to Lou, he was a great man. I'll have to raise a Stag to him.
