EIA Guys,
I and many others have been right where you are now. Twice in my case. If your furloughed now, start calling anybody you know out in the industry. There are jobs out there. Some of those jobs may only be suitable for the short term but they will pay and keep you current.
The thing I really wanted to say is for those still flying. All of the above also applies for you but the biggest thing you guys have to do is keep your heads in the airplane. The constant what ifs, the loss of sleep, the stress on your families all makes your job now more dangerous than probably at any time in your career unless you have done actual combat. Before a trip, cut back on your time in the lobby of the Five Towns collecting the latest rumours. Better yet, for your own sanity stay away all together. You can only take so much of that talk before you get to depressed to think straight. When you get to cruise take out a book or a puzzle. If you fly a long haul flight and hash this stuff over for hours on end you will be so stressed when it comes time to fly the approach that you stand a serious chance of making a "one time" mistake. Supress the urge to make that one last point to your coworkers as you cross the marker. You guys have flown into severe turbulence in your economic lives but need to stay in the game profesionally. Please don't take this as preaching. I have a friend who was in the cockpit of an airline in trouble once as a jumpseater. He had to remind the guys to put the gear down because they were obsessing over the current status of their airline and its imminent demise. Keep your heads up. Nothing you can do now will change the ultimate outcome of EIA. It will live or die on the actions of others who don't sit in the pointy end of airplanes doing the sometimes dangerous work every day. The death of an airline is very much like the death of a close family member or friend. Much of how most of us think about ourselves has some corelation to what we do for a living. What is the first question usually asked at a party? "So, what do you do?" Flying is not all you are but it also is a large part of who you are. Keep in mind that you have a life outside of work.
Some of you may have been keeping much of what is happening at EIA from your wives or significant other. While I don't advocate telling them every little piece of news you should start to prepare them for the possiblity that you might become unemployed. I have know guys that have kept all of the bad news away from their wives and then been ask on the day of a shut down how it could have happend. It will be much easir for them to begin to recover if they have a little warning that a shut down is a possibility.
EIA's crews have nothing to be ashamed of. While it will be hard, and many will at least for awhile make less than they do now, you will find jobs.
Good Luck and Godspeed.
Jet