Gulfstream Academy Webcam

[de727ups]

The Russian:

I laughed my head off when you said Gulfstream's Captain program was wrong but the F/O program is okay. Your "airline" found a way to make yet another buck by selling the Capts seat. Gulfstream stoops to new low with that, but I'm not surprised....how can YOU really complain about it?

The Gulfstream programs are helping to lower the bar of the piloting profession....a profession which is taking a lot of hits, lately. Pilots paying for a chance to sit in a seat that would, anywhere else, be a paid entry level job, is bad for the career. You yourself stated they wouldn't even pay you $8 an hour unless they HAD to. What difference does it make that you only have the job for 250 hours? Your eliminating an entry level job with your service.

I'm just hoping that Gulfstream's methods don't catch on and become the norm in the industry. Nothing would surprise me anymore.

 

[stuart716]

if the program was no good or bad for your career then why are so many people signing up for it and why are they being hired by regional airlines? did we accumulate time the typical way; no, but we also didnt cross a picket line. they have a code share with at least one major airline and just basically do islande hopping.

 

[bobbysamd]

Job seeking prostration

im not knocking bobby for any career decisions he made. hell i decided to be a pilot for an airline and i think it sucks.

I appreciate that. I think I would have enjoyed it - but, once more, it was just a job, and I wasn't about to lower myself by paying for a job. At the time I was as qualified on paper as anyone. For that reason, I was not about to lower myself by paying for something that was available elsewhere for free. I continued to apply to several non-P-F-T regionals. I never felt desperate. There is plenty of work available, in aviation and elsewhere, that does not demand applicants to prostrate themselves to employers and be cornholed.

Speaking of such work, check out nursing. Read this link about the nursing shortage. This is not Kit Darby pilot shortage rear-end sunshine. It is backed up by government data. As I read it, RNs can just about write their own tickets these days. Can you say the same about aviation?

 

[de727ups]

Stuart:

I didn't say PFJ doesn't work. It seems to "work" for some people that do it. Does that make it right? Does that make it a good thing for the piloting profession? I think not. Being a scab is great for the scab, but it's bad for the group, overall. Same with PFJ.

I'm curious why you think you made a mistake with your career as a pilot?

I'm guessing you wouldn't do it over again if you had the chance.

 

[SDCFI]

if the program was no good or bad for your career then why are so many people signing up for it and why are they being hired by regional airlines? did we accumulate time the typical way; no, but we also didnt cross a picket line. they have a code share with at least one major airline and just basically do islande hopping.

First of all - if Gulfstream is so great how come everyone boasts about how many are hired by other regional airlines, isn't that considered a lateral move? What happened to moving up and not over? And second - of course other regionals are going to hire Gulfstream pilots, they know they're getting someone who won't complain about lousy pay and work rules, heck if they're willing to pay for a job why should they bother to pay them a decent wage? I make as much or more flying boxes in a beat up Beech 99 as most 2nd to 4th year regional F/O's flying state-of-the-art jet equipment. To me that just ain't right.

 

[flyifrvfr]

Did anyone else see the hot blonde on the right side of the room. She is in the front row.

 

[stlpilot]

I Love it.....1000 hours min to fly passengers....do you tell you students not to take their parents or friends flying?

As Bobby said it, many airlines are doing it, and doing it safely. Do I think 1000 hours of CFI time will make you a better pilot, yeah, I think it does, but that doesn't mean you can't be taught to safely operate a high performance jet aircraft at 200 hours.

Do you realize how often we rely on professional pilots with less than 1000 hours? How many hours does a F/A 18 driver have when they reach a squadron on a carrier? How many hours does that Herk Co-Pilot have when they're doing parachute drops over hostile territory?

Id be careful comparing civilian flight training and experience to the Air Force or Navy. There is a profound difference. In regards to training and $$. the military is spending 1-2 million of your taxes on a pilot and training them under MUCH MORE STRINGENT standards. In this civilian "buy a job" academy you can pay your way out of a bad flight, in the military you screw up a flight just a time or two (depending on the screw up) in UPT, and your out. That guy/gal in the F-18 or C-130 has gone through 2.5 years of tough training during which that individual has given their entire life to learn the military way of flying. Now of course I’m not saying a civilian pilot cant be a good stick or know there stuff as good if not better then a military counterpart, but lets face it the training process does not even remotely compare.


Yes Ill come out and say I’m not a fan of these training academy’s simply cause I did my time instructing and it’s an experience I feel every professional pilot should have. And I do realize on the counter point that some good pilots are just not cut out to be CFI’s kind of like some of the best athletes make horrible coaches. So maybe for them they need a place like this. I just know I worked a few times with these people who bought their way through and they were some of the worst so called pilots I ever flew with. So my opinion is biased, I admit that.

Oh and regarding the original message, the camera is pretty flaming --- (you know what). Good for a laugh.

 

[bobbysamd]

Gulfstream enrollees

if the program was no good or bad for your career then why are so many people signing up for it and why are they being hired by regional airlines?

On who's word are there "so many" people signing up for it? I would not doubt that a number of people opt to P-F-T at Gulfstream, but define what you mean by "so many."

did we accumulate time the typical way; no, but we also didnt cross a picket line.

What does crossing a line have to do with P-F-T?? That's a red herring. It has nothing to do at all with P-F-T. Is that a "let he without sin cast the first stone" or "two wrongs don't make a right" rebuttal? Welllll, on second thought, maybe it is. Scabs cross lines to take jobs; P-F-T takes away rightful jobs as well. The only way you can get a P-F-T job is if you can pay. Paying really isn't that hard, with the availability of loans and parents and all, but some people still cannot pay. And, if you cannot pay, you cannot play.

For the record, for such individual(s) who want to know, I could have paid and played, but for reasons set forth abdundantly above and elsewhere, I chose not to.