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FAA wants professionalism

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densoo

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 2, 2004
Posts
2,054
You know, if pilots were treated like professionals, maybe they'd act like it. Pilots will always be as safe as possible, but when you give us 8:45 block to block for "rest" (ha, who but the FAA would call that rest?), no meals, (what, hypoglycemia isn't a problem?) no pay protection, no rulemaking until after the accident has occurred (remember 9/11?--nutcases have been breaking into the cockpit since the 60s, morons), then maybe you'd get pilots acting a little more "professional." Hey, Babbitt, you're the one who allows 250-hour pilots to fly a 70-seat prop. You are responsible for the degradation of the profession. You're so much in the pocket of the ATA that Congress has to step in and make rules for you. Keep making self-righteous speeches right up until your take your money and run while those who bear the yoke of your outrageous "rules" keep plugging away.
WASHINGTON —The Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot Minneapolis are part of a larger problem — eroding professionalism among commercial airline pilots, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Randy Babbitt said today. Babbitt told an international aviation club that aviation is facing an “extreme need to refocus on professionalism.” He cited two examples: Northwest Flight 188, which overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles last month, and a regional airliner that crashed earlier this year near Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50 people.
The two Northwest pilots — Capt. Timothy Cheney, 53, of Gig Harbor, Wash., and First Officer, Richard Cole, 54, of Salem, Ore. — told the National Transportation Safety Board they lost track of time and place while working on crew scheduling on their laptops. Air traffic controllers and the airline's dispatchers were unable to communicate with the plane for 91 minutes, raising national security concerns.
In the Buffalo crash, testimony at an NTSB hearing in May indicated the pilots made a series of critical errors just before the plane experienced an aerodynamic stall and plunged to the ground.
A former airline pilot and pilots union president, Babbitt said that in both cases the pilots forgot their first job was to focus on flying the plane.
“I think that this is a sign of a much bigger problem,” Babbott said. “I can't regulate professionalism. With everything we know about human factors, there are still those who just ignore the common sense rules of safety.”
 
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How about telling TSA to treat us like such. Maybe that sets the tone each day about how we are truly viewed.
Not to mention the FAA who is always there to "help" us professionals...
 
How about telling TSA to treat us like such. Maybe that sets the tone each day about how we are truly viewed.
Not to mention the FAA who is always there to "help" us professionals...

Let's get rid then of all those FAA farts that have previous violations on their flying record. I bet that would open up quite a bit of vacancies ...
 
They should expect compliance with the certificates in which they administer. That is their job.
A company should expect professionalism.
 
And professionals should have a reasonable expectation of not having their pay cut by half and their pensions stolen by executives who, while doing so, gave themselves raises to help with "retention."
 
I am afraid to ask, can we expect a response from APLA outlining our decline (loss of pay, pension etc.)? Easy for the feds to point the finger at us. All they care about is 3 or 4 pm Mon - Fri.
 
I am afraid to ask, can we expect a response from APLA outlining our decline (loss of pay, pension etc.)? Easy for the feds to point the finger at us. All they care about is 3 or 4 pm Mon - Fri.


Exactly! What we need is a good PR blitz. ALPA needs to buy some ad time and get the word out. The general public has NO idea what our profession has devolved into. Sully had the floor for about five minutes, and while he made some good points, they were quickly swept under the rug.
 
Actually, the fact that we operate as safely as we do despite everything that has happened to this "career" IS a testament to our professionalism.

Maybe they should be looking at ways to improve our conditions so we can do even better, ie better pay, working conditions and time off . . . mandated by law.
 

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