As a regional pilot, I am appalled at how much vindictiveness seems to be out there.
News flash: I don't use a backpack except when out hiking, I don't use hair gel, my shoes are always shined and my shirt always pressed, and I didn't dream of flying an RJ for $40 an hour when I was growing up. I was in high school when the pilots at the majors deemed the "Barbie Jet" too insignificant to fly themselves. If I could have gotten on at a major with 500 or 1000 hours like pilots did in the 90's, I would have done so gladly. Post 911, I was competing with 10,000 hour ATPs for right seat corporate and TP cargo outfits. Getting hired at Great Lakes was an accomplishment then (!) Sorry I didn't decide take the sacrifice some of you guys are alluding to and sit out the regionals in blind hopes that just towing banners and instructing would get me to where I wanted to be eventually.
I have always wanted to get on at a major carrier. I am, however, very very tired and wary of this attitude that I, the EVIL REGIONAL PILOT am somehow the enemy. Your management, with their golden parachutes and their penthouse offices, they are the enemy. The public, who don't care if they're treated like slime and packed like sardines as long as the ticket was $5 cheaper, they are the enemy. We as pilots in general are losing the PR battle while squabbling over "my flying". Sully had the golden moment, the center stage and the public support to point to his (entire) crew's actions and saying "See, this is why we should be properly compensated and respected! Not just for the thousands of times passengers arrive safely EVERY DAY but also for the few times your life might seriously be in jeopardy and we do what we are trained to do." Instead he thumped his chest and maligned regional pilots. Repeatedly. My problem with him is not his suggestion that the public pay more for more experience, I'm all for it. My problem is his overt message is that somehow the only skilled pilots are at mainline. And that ALL pilots at mainline carriers are so skilled. We ALL know that's not the truth.
Do I wish things were different in this industry? Of course I do! I'll say it again, I DO NOT WANT MY CAREER TO BE AT THE REGIONALS. This is supposed to be a stepping stone. It seems to me, however, that the same "pull up the ladder now that I've got mine" mentality that led to 65 exists here. Don't get me wrong, I'd gladly support this if it were actually about making the entire pilot profession stronger, but it's not, as evidenced by the "F the regional pilots" statements here. More than anything else, I wish your managements at AA, Delta, CAL, USAir, and United could figure out a way to actually MAKE MONEY so that they didn't have to outsource, but supply and demand, low barriers to entry in the marketplace, the ability to grease palms at the FAA and cut corners with MX (Southwest) and training (Colgan) and your own overall bloated cost structures, starting at the top with the (mis)management have made it difficult or near impossible over the last, oh, THIRTY YEARS since de-regulation. I feel like nobody else out there took basic economics. What is saddest is that CAL ALPA feel like they can now make the argument that their pay is so low that they can compete with regionals in terms of crew costs... BUT it's not just about the pilot pay. And in a perfect world, there would be no ValueJets, RyanAirs, Southwests, Skybuses, and we could all be protected professionals in a guild and our companies could all charge what it actually costs to provide the level of service we offer. But it's not a perfect world, and wishing won't make it so. So please stop acting like 50 seat scope and bringing the RJ's to mainline will be your panacea.
