I would Give anything...Stop and smell the Jet fuel!

[rvsm410]

You know, I understand the problems you all write of..I only have one real question, as intelligent people, didn't you read the job description that comes with "all" airline work? When you were plodding along for hundreds of hours with all those students waiting for you're big chance at the airlines, to flying jets and all that good stuff...didn't any of you ask a current airline pilot and learn what it was going to be like (QOL) before you ever applied and begged, hung out in the "hiring pool" for months to get hired..

I just don't understand why you complain of the working conditions when you should have know long before what they were going to be like! That goes for the Pay and upgrades, all of it. It's not a mystery.

It would be like a doctor complaining about the hours, and working with blood and guts..

I don't know, I was never confused about the long hours and shift work I would be performing, the holidays I would be working away from my family..I knew they were coming...I would not dream of calling in to be away from the very job I worked so hard to earn...

I was just really happy to be doing something I "Loved" to do...all this other stuff was just part of it...aviation is NOT a normal job...its much better than the walking dead of the corporate 9 to 5 that hate there jobs every single day....seems you all are turning your passions into a "JOB"... JMHO...

I would do anything to return to work for Airtran...It was my ultimate dream, it only lasted a short time before medical conditions took it away from me forever....My hope for you all, is that you realize you have arrived at your goal, make the best of it and enjoy it eveyday, respect yourself for the accomplishment by honoring the work with the best performance you can give it...I would do anything for another chance.... Remember it can be snatched away from you anytime, any given day...

Good luck and look inside and ask you're self if you are doing your best, and remember how you got there...Be happy

 

[-9Capt]

I just don't understand why you complain of the working conditions when you should have know long before what they were going to be like! That goes for the Pay and upgrades, all of it. It's not a mystery.

Sorry that you're medically retired, I can't imagine how tough it must be to lose a job you really love.

I knew the pay rates and working conditions at my current airline before I took the job, but that never stopped me from seeking improvements (you may consider that complaining).

When enough of us felt this way, we got a contract that addressed these issues (complaints). Now I have a lot less to complain about.

 

[DX Jake]

I don't really think it's complaining. I think it's more of "shop talk". I'm sorry to hear about your retirement due medical reasons. Look at it as going to the bar with your buddies and BS'ing about something. I'm sure most of us, as I am, are very grateful to be where we are. I hope you end up where you want to be! Let the wind guide you...

LUV... jake

 

[rvsm410]

I really appreciate the sentiment, I was not really writing to garner sympathy, ( I do appreciate it), I do accept that this forum is used mostly to blow off steam, shop talk, bar talk....However I happen to believe that thoughts to the point of writing and talking about them becomes part of a persons reality and who we are as a person and how we are perceived by others....I know it sounds like a BS...I think its true.

But as a dispatcher, I remember many jumpseat conversations with DAL, Airtran, AA, NAtional, Comair and ASA pilots that all complained about the status of the industry, Scope, etc. as the main subject of the trips...too many times.. Not the fact that they had arrived in the position that worked so hard to get to, how cool this or that airplane is, the beauty outside the windscreen, St Elmo's fire at night etc...all the stuff that makes us love to fly...

I know alot of sentimental crap from a grounded pilot/dispatcher...I was just hoping to raise some of the old feelings in you all that we all have or HAD for this pure event of flying joy that few of us experience...and get paid for it too All of your complaints are valid concerns to the point where we can control them...but like all jobs with anyone we work for, there is a great deal we can't control..

I am very thankful to still be breathing, and at least able to look up at the contrails you guys make over me everyday, I can put my mind in the front office with you all everytime, sad but true....thanks for reading....God speed and stay safe...

 

[HulkHogan]

I live for it

yup thats for sure

 

[hoover]

I like what I do as well. But first and foremost, this is a job. A job with which I make my living in. Airline management takes advantage of people like us because they know there are people like RVSM who will "do anything" to be in aviation. I think this is wrong. This same job in another industry would pay a lot more. To put it into perspective, 11 years ago I had an entry level dispatcher job at a trucking company. I started at 26K a year. That is still more than what the average starting wage for airline dispatcher job today. And no I do not think the jobs are different. Different technical details perhaps, but basically the same job: controlling the movements of vehicles in accordance with regulations, safety and economics.

 

[CA1900]

You know, I understand the problems you all write of..I only have one real question, as intelligent people, didn't you read the job description that comes with "all" airline work?

Sure. The job description for the airline I'm working for included a successful US Airways codeshare, a dozen domiciles, reasonable salary (for 7 years ago), and a profit sharing plan that in some cases doubled a pilot's salary. (Yes, nearly $6500 a month for a Beech 1900 captain!)

Since I've been here, we changed codeshares to a much less profitable one, cut the fleet in half and furloughed half our pilot (before 9/11), shrank to just three domiciles, and haven't gotten a pay raise since the 20-cent one we got in 2000.

So don't tell me I didn't "read the job description" -- the job changed. It's as simple as that.

I don't know, I was never confused about the long hours and shift work I would be performing, the holidays I would be working away from my family..I knew they were coming...

And if they told you they were closing your dispatch office, and moving it to a location 500 miles away, and your choices were to move at your own expense or commute, wouldn't you be a little miffed? And oh, by the way, we're cutting your salary by 50% on top of it.


I like my job very much. But I liked it a lot better five years ago.

 

[rvsm410]

CA1900,

Like I said, I understand your concerns of today, so why are so many pilots still filling the schools...for guys like us that have been around a while, we can either accept the changes, or we can move on to other fields...

After 9-11, I choose to decline many regional dispatch jobs around the country due to their salary offers, I made no bones about why I was declining, not that it made any real difference, but if more did this think of the possibilities and how the offers would change...I never returned to dispatching because of it..I performed other jobs, sadly, they required no licensing, and I earned a much higher salary do so...

Of course my situation now changed everything, I have no earning power, am dependant on my own reserves and spousal income...so my life changed and it was no my fault either, so tell me, who should I be upset with, or mad at?

Jus make arrangements to do something else if you cant live with the changes affecting your life...all the stomping and complaining, unions, etc are not going to fix the problems this country is facing, let along the airlines..

good luck

 

[Buckeye]

I worked as a crew scheduler supervisor at one of the US Air Express airlines and wanted nothing to do with the regional/commuter lifestyle. I was fortunate to get to see it while I was flight instructing, I love flying cargo. I think too many people go into aviation blindly thinking "when I am an RJ FO, life will be great, or when I make CA life will be great", but the fact are that if you don't enjoy it now it could be gone, a memory. A memory that seems fonder now than what is was, soon followed by the "I wished that..., could have, should have, and would haved". You never know how long life is or how long health will last, in a flash it all could be gone. I know too many people that would give up nearly everything to do this aviation thing.