bobbysamd
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From the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Just one comment, though. Did the guy consider WIA to keep flying? Just the same, hope that his lot and those of others we know improve soon.
From air to ground
United pilot loses dream job, struggles as builder
By Heather Draper, Rocky Mountain News
July 19, 2003
About 16,500 people have lost their jobs, quit or retired since United Airlines filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 9. Locally, employee ranks have dropped from 9,500 to 7,000 since Sept. 11, 2001. From a young pilot on furlough to an aircraft cleaner who stockpiles food, workers share how United's descent has changed them and their families in a five-part series beginning today.
As a boy, Eric Lybarger dreamed of wearing a United Airlines pilot's uniform when he grew up.
When he and his family made a rare trip to Stapleton Airport, he would watch in awe when United flight crews walked by.
"I just knew what I wanted, and I wanted to fly planes," Lybarger said. "Growing up here, United, of course, was the big hometown airline."
After years of training, personal sacrifice and many hours flying for small regional carriers, Lybarger landed his dream job as a United Airlines Boeing 737 first officer in January 2000.
Today, he is struggling to launch a home-improvement business out of his modest Grant Ranch home. His dream of flying the friendly skies has faded into a reality of pinching pennies and searching for customers.
"I'm in a terrible situation where I'm trying to support a family and I'm starting a business in a bad economy," he said.
Lybarger, 33, along with many of his fellow junior United pilots, was furloughed after United's parent company, UAL Corp., filed for bankruptcy in December. Stories similar to his are repeated across Denver and the nation, with 1,555 United pilots furloughed since Sept. 11, 2001. Those pilots fortunate enough still to have jobs have taken 30 percent to 60 percent pay cuts and are working increased hours with fewer perks.
Chicago-based United filed for the largest bankruptcy in aviation history Dec. 9, 2002. Since then, the carrier has furloughed some 8,140 employees and won $2.56 billion in annual wage and benefit concessions from its six employee groups.
The union for United pilots said this week that UAL plans to furlough 600 to 800 more pilots by next July. Lybarger thinks he might get his job back at United in six or seven years, if he's lucky.
"It's really difficult," Lybarger said. "I have a hard time thinking of a way to analyze it. Imagine the PGA telling Tiger Woods, 'Even though you're very good at your game and you can do a lot for the golfing industry, we don't need you anymore. We'll give you a call when we need you.' "
Learning the ropes
Lybarger's road to United Airlines was long and circuitous. The Heritage High School graduate got a degree in communications at the University of Colorado. He said it wasn't really a strategic decision but was done mainly because "airlines are looking for bachelor's degrees."
He was flying while he was in school, logging about 1,500 hours before he got his first airline job, several years after he graduated from CU.
Lybarger wanted to earn his wings in the military, which would speed up the process to get on at United, but the military wasn't recruiting pilots when he wanted to join.
He went on to earn his master's degree in aeronautical science studies from the prestigious - and expensive - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1996. Lybarger landed his first airline job at Cheyenne-based Great Lakes Aviation shortly after that.
"I was trying to get into the military for the longest time, and a master's degree in aeroscience was highly desirable in the military," Lybarger says. "But then, of course, the military was never 'hiring' when I was applying."
Lybarger said his first years as a pilot were so unglamorous that he lived with his parents for several years after his first marriage ended. He made just enough at Appleton-based Air Wisconsin - his third airline job - to pay his student loans.
He tells of a pilot friend working at Skywest who makes $19 an hour.
"That's per flight hour, though, so basically the plane has to be moving for him to make any money," Lybarger said. "He's only paid for maybe 80 to 90 hours a month. If you do the math, he could be a shift leader at Burger King and be making a lot more money."
The sacrifices people make at regional carriers, especially as first officer, are phenomenal, he said. "You just have to get that experience to get on at United, unless you go through the military."
Planes, trucks, car (sales)
After learning in December that he would lose his United job at the beginning of March, Lybarger researched becoming an independent truck driver.
It wasn't so much going from the cockpit to truck stops that bothered him, but the money. "The profit margins are terrible," he says of his decision not to take to the open road.
He tried selling cars for a month. "I'm a really low-pressure person. My boss told me one day that I needed to be pushier," he says in explaining why he's not selling cars any more.
Painfully aware that his job prospects in the airline industry would be bleak for some time, Lybarger finally opted to go back to the skills he learned as a young boy, helping his father, Glenn Lybarger - a master carpenter and Littleton shop teacher - do home-improvement work.
Thus came Mighty Guppy Home Improvements Inc., named after United pilots' nickname for the Boeing 737 jet, which is smaller and squatter than its larger cousins, the 747 and 777.
His brother Aaron works with him, in addition to a job as a firefighter. Lybarger admits that while he is proud to be carrying on his father's tradition, he'd rather be flying.
"There is so much stimulation going on, mentally, emotionally and physically," he said. "It involves all of your senses, and at times, it's just very beautiful and serene.
"Ever seen the Earth's shadow in space? I have," he added. "And stars are much prettier at 37,000 feet."
He enjoyed his job so much that it never felt like work. Being on the ground feels like work, Lybarger says.
"If what you're doing is what you've always wanted to do, it's really hard to find something else that gets you just as excited," he says, trying to downplay how hard losing his job has been on him.
"I don't really show too many people how much it's bothering me. But I feel a lot of disappointment and loss. I am grieving."
Flipping burgers
Lybarger and his wife, Robin, 32, have a 1-year-old son named Kavi (loosely after former Bronco Kavika Pittman and the Hindi word for "poet").
Robin took some time off to be a full-time mom, but after her husband's furlough, she went back to work part time in June doing media relations and marketing work for Aiello Public Relations and Marketing.
"After a couple of months of no income, it was more imperative that I get a job to have a more steady stream of income coming in," Robin said. "I have more marketable skills than he does in the current marketplace."
And the couple just learned that Robin is pregnant with their second child.
"It was a surprise, but we had always planned on having two children," she said. "Just maybe not this soon."
Eric said wanting to support his family makes his furlough from United that much harder to take. The nicest, rather unexpected pleasure about working for United, he said, was that he could spend more time with his family. His pay was enough that he didn't have to log all the overtime hours he did at the regional carriers.
As a reserve pilot at United, he typically flew four 1 ½-hour flights in a day, which equated to 10- to 12-hour days with the "wait" time between flights added in.
In a good month, he might have 15 days off.
When his wife teased him about having so much time off, he would counter that people who work 40 hours a week typically are away from home about 160 hours a month.
"On average, I was away from home about 250 hours a month," he said. "I haven't celebrated Christmas since 1998."
Still, he was home more with his United job than with any of his previous airline jobs.
"It gave us a lot of freedom," he said, as he was nuzzled by his enthusiastic German short-haired pointer, Berkley. "Now that everything has changed, it's really unstable."
So far, any enthusiasm he has toward his new construction endeavor has outweighed his actual business. He said the home-improvement market, like most aspects of the economy, is tough right now.
"People have you come and do a bid, and you never hear from them again," he said. "I'm at the point where Robin and I are having some pretty serious talks about folding the business and seeing if I can find a job flipping hamburgers or something. It's pretty depressing."
Catch me if you can
Lingering stereotypes of affluent, globe-trotting pilots often make the public unsympathetic to the plight of Lybarger and other pilots, said an older Chicago- based United pilot, who asked that his name not be used.
"The job isn't glamorous today," the pilot said. "Look at Catch Me If You Can, which is so tongue-in-cheek, it just makes it that much more obvious that it's not that way anymore."
(continued)
From air to ground
United pilot loses dream job, struggles as builder
By Heather Draper, Rocky Mountain News
July 19, 2003
About 16,500 people have lost their jobs, quit or retired since United Airlines filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 9. Locally, employee ranks have dropped from 9,500 to 7,000 since Sept. 11, 2001. From a young pilot on furlough to an aircraft cleaner who stockpiles food, workers share how United's descent has changed them and their families in a five-part series beginning today.
As a boy, Eric Lybarger dreamed of wearing a United Airlines pilot's uniform when he grew up.
When he and his family made a rare trip to Stapleton Airport, he would watch in awe when United flight crews walked by.
"I just knew what I wanted, and I wanted to fly planes," Lybarger said. "Growing up here, United, of course, was the big hometown airline."
After years of training, personal sacrifice and many hours flying for small regional carriers, Lybarger landed his dream job as a United Airlines Boeing 737 first officer in January 2000.
Today, he is struggling to launch a home-improvement business out of his modest Grant Ranch home. His dream of flying the friendly skies has faded into a reality of pinching pennies and searching for customers.
"I'm in a terrible situation where I'm trying to support a family and I'm starting a business in a bad economy," he said.
Lybarger, 33, along with many of his fellow junior United pilots, was furloughed after United's parent company, UAL Corp., filed for bankruptcy in December. Stories similar to his are repeated across Denver and the nation, with 1,555 United pilots furloughed since Sept. 11, 2001. Those pilots fortunate enough still to have jobs have taken 30 percent to 60 percent pay cuts and are working increased hours with fewer perks.
Chicago-based United filed for the largest bankruptcy in aviation history Dec. 9, 2002. Since then, the carrier has furloughed some 8,140 employees and won $2.56 billion in annual wage and benefit concessions from its six employee groups.
The union for United pilots said this week that UAL plans to furlough 600 to 800 more pilots by next July. Lybarger thinks he might get his job back at United in six or seven years, if he's lucky.
"It's really difficult," Lybarger said. "I have a hard time thinking of a way to analyze it. Imagine the PGA telling Tiger Woods, 'Even though you're very good at your game and you can do a lot for the golfing industry, we don't need you anymore. We'll give you a call when we need you.' "
Learning the ropes
Lybarger's road to United Airlines was long and circuitous. The Heritage High School graduate got a degree in communications at the University of Colorado. He said it wasn't really a strategic decision but was done mainly because "airlines are looking for bachelor's degrees."
He was flying while he was in school, logging about 1,500 hours before he got his first airline job, several years after he graduated from CU.
Lybarger wanted to earn his wings in the military, which would speed up the process to get on at United, but the military wasn't recruiting pilots when he wanted to join.
He went on to earn his master's degree in aeronautical science studies from the prestigious - and expensive - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1996. Lybarger landed his first airline job at Cheyenne-based Great Lakes Aviation shortly after that.
"I was trying to get into the military for the longest time, and a master's degree in aeroscience was highly desirable in the military," Lybarger says. "But then, of course, the military was never 'hiring' when I was applying."
Lybarger said his first years as a pilot were so unglamorous that he lived with his parents for several years after his first marriage ended. He made just enough at Appleton-based Air Wisconsin - his third airline job - to pay his student loans.
He tells of a pilot friend working at Skywest who makes $19 an hour.
"That's per flight hour, though, so basically the plane has to be moving for him to make any money," Lybarger said. "He's only paid for maybe 80 to 90 hours a month. If you do the math, he could be a shift leader at Burger King and be making a lot more money."
The sacrifices people make at regional carriers, especially as first officer, are phenomenal, he said. "You just have to get that experience to get on at United, unless you go through the military."
Planes, trucks, car (sales)
After learning in December that he would lose his United job at the beginning of March, Lybarger researched becoming an independent truck driver.
It wasn't so much going from the cockpit to truck stops that bothered him, but the money. "The profit margins are terrible," he says of his decision not to take to the open road.
He tried selling cars for a month. "I'm a really low-pressure person. My boss told me one day that I needed to be pushier," he says in explaining why he's not selling cars any more.
Painfully aware that his job prospects in the airline industry would be bleak for some time, Lybarger finally opted to go back to the skills he learned as a young boy, helping his father, Glenn Lybarger - a master carpenter and Littleton shop teacher - do home-improvement work.
Thus came Mighty Guppy Home Improvements Inc., named after United pilots' nickname for the Boeing 737 jet, which is smaller and squatter than its larger cousins, the 747 and 777.
His brother Aaron works with him, in addition to a job as a firefighter. Lybarger admits that while he is proud to be carrying on his father's tradition, he'd rather be flying.
"There is so much stimulation going on, mentally, emotionally and physically," he said. "It involves all of your senses, and at times, it's just very beautiful and serene.
"Ever seen the Earth's shadow in space? I have," he added. "And stars are much prettier at 37,000 feet."
He enjoyed his job so much that it never felt like work. Being on the ground feels like work, Lybarger says.
"If what you're doing is what you've always wanted to do, it's really hard to find something else that gets you just as excited," he says, trying to downplay how hard losing his job has been on him.
"I don't really show too many people how much it's bothering me. But I feel a lot of disappointment and loss. I am grieving."
Flipping burgers
Lybarger and his wife, Robin, 32, have a 1-year-old son named Kavi (loosely after former Bronco Kavika Pittman and the Hindi word for "poet").
Robin took some time off to be a full-time mom, but after her husband's furlough, she went back to work part time in June doing media relations and marketing work for Aiello Public Relations and Marketing.
"After a couple of months of no income, it was more imperative that I get a job to have a more steady stream of income coming in," Robin said. "I have more marketable skills than he does in the current marketplace."
And the couple just learned that Robin is pregnant with their second child.
"It was a surprise, but we had always planned on having two children," she said. "Just maybe not this soon."
Eric said wanting to support his family makes his furlough from United that much harder to take. The nicest, rather unexpected pleasure about working for United, he said, was that he could spend more time with his family. His pay was enough that he didn't have to log all the overtime hours he did at the regional carriers.
As a reserve pilot at United, he typically flew four 1 ½-hour flights in a day, which equated to 10- to 12-hour days with the "wait" time between flights added in.
In a good month, he might have 15 days off.
When his wife teased him about having so much time off, he would counter that people who work 40 hours a week typically are away from home about 160 hours a month.
"On average, I was away from home about 250 hours a month," he said. "I haven't celebrated Christmas since 1998."
Still, he was home more with his United job than with any of his previous airline jobs.
"It gave us a lot of freedom," he said, as he was nuzzled by his enthusiastic German short-haired pointer, Berkley. "Now that everything has changed, it's really unstable."
So far, any enthusiasm he has toward his new construction endeavor has outweighed his actual business. He said the home-improvement market, like most aspects of the economy, is tough right now.
"People have you come and do a bid, and you never hear from them again," he said. "I'm at the point where Robin and I are having some pretty serious talks about folding the business and seeing if I can find a job flipping hamburgers or something. It's pretty depressing."
Catch me if you can
Lingering stereotypes of affluent, globe-trotting pilots often make the public unsympathetic to the plight of Lybarger and other pilots, said an older Chicago- based United pilot, who asked that his name not be used.
"The job isn't glamorous today," the pilot said. "Look at Catch Me If You Can, which is so tongue-in-cheek, it just makes it that much more obvious that it's not that way anymore."
(continued)