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I've been making deposits in the bank of experience: education & training- CA Sully

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Rez O. Lewshun

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I've been making deposits in the bank of experience: education & training- CA Sully

I've been making small regular deposits in this bank of experience: education and training," said US Airways Capt. "Sully".
We all know there are too many pilots out there that put no deposits in the bank of experience. In fact we see the attitudes that the last 8 years have contributed...

"I'll work harder when they pay me more"

"I only do the minimum to get by"

"I never think about flying when I am off"


The 150 pax were lucky it was Sully and Skiles and not Joe Pilot or Mr Bad Attitude... (yeah you and I have both flown with them....)

In addition what of that experience? In fact one could say that if Sully and Skiles could easily have found employment equal to flying they would have dumped USAIR a long time ago. One could even say they are indentured.....

However, what is this career coming to when a doctor, lawyer or vacuum cleaner sales man can go from zero time to right seat in a CRJ in six months? Tired of rectal exams? Be a pilot!

We must get wages up. How do we do that? Hope management and gov't are in a good mood?








Capt. Sully Worried About Airline Industry

Feb. 10, 2009 (CBS) The amazing story of US Airways Flight 1549 might have frequent fliers thinking more about something often taken for granted: the experience of the pilot. The captain of Flight 1549 told CBS News anchor Katie Couric that he's concerned the industry will soon have trouble attracting experienced pilots. The reason? Money.


"One way of looking at this might be that, for 42 years, I've been making small regular deposits in this bank of experience: education and training," said US Airways Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. "And on January 15, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal."

Sullenberger is uncharacteristically worried. He's worried that when it comes to the bank of experience for airline pilots, there may someday be a significant shortage.

"I don't know a single professional pilot who would recommend that their children follow in their footsteps," he said.

There was a time when airline pilot was a coveted job - glamorous, respected, with plenty of benefits.

But now: "The airline employees have been hit by an economic tsunami. Pay cuts, loss of pensions, increased hours every day, days per week, days per month," Sullenberger said. "It's a heavy burden."

Last year alone, more than 6,000 commercial pilots were either furloughed or permanently laid off.

Couric said: "What effect do you think that is having on the industry itself and on the people's it's attracting?"

"I know some of our pilots, who have been laid off, have chosen not to return," Sullenberger said. "I can speak personally, for me and my family, that my decision to remain in this profession that I love has come at a cost to me and my family."

Sully says five years ago he and the rest of his fellow pilots at US Airways gave back almost $6.8 billion in pension, wages and other concessions, to keep the airline flying.

And while annual salaries can average anywhere from $37,000 for a first officer and well into the six figures for a captain, the shrinking workforce means pilots are often spread very thin.

As Capt. James Ray of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association said: "Twenty years ago, the average airline pilot would maybe work, oh, 70 to 80 hours, about three times a month. Now, that pilot's working 70 to 80 hours every week," he said.

"It started with deregulation in 1978. The onset of low-cost carriers really started to put stress on the system," said Peter Goelz, the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. "Then you couple that with 9/11, the spike in fuel costs, you've really got the prescription for a very challenged industry."

The majority of pilots hired today are civilians coming out of flight school, who began their career at smaller airlines. And few have the military background Sullenberger had flying for the Air Force.

In 1992, roughly 90 percent of those hired by major carriers had flown for the military. By last year, fewer than 30 percent had.

"I think that there will always be people who want to do this," Sullenberger said. "It just may not be the same people who are doing it now."

"Are you concerned that that means if another situation like this one comes up in the future, you won't have as qualified a pilot flying the plane?" Couric asked.

"That just follows doesn't it?" Sullenberger said.

But despite the harsh economic realities, for the first time in jet aviation history, U.S. commercial carriers have gone two consecutive years without a crash fatality.

When contracted about Sullenberger's concerns, the Air Transport Association, which represents the principle U.S. carriers, had no comment.

The story of Flight 1549 has been a boost to the country. But it's also given those who work in the struggling industry a shot in the arm.

"Probably the most important words I've heard have been from my peers. That I have made them proud," Sullenberger said. "That they feel pride in themselves - a pride in their profession they hadn't felt for years. Sometimes decades. And they also tell me, especially ones at my airline who know me, that they were glad that I was the one flying that flight that day."

"Why does that make you feel so good?" Couric said.

"Their praise isn't given easily or readily," Sullenberger said.

But this pilot hopes his moment in the spotlight will remind the airlines - and those who fly - that attracting those with the right stuff may make all the difference.
 
Sully doesn't need the flight director. Sully IS the FLIGHT DIRECTOR.
 
Sadly there seems to be an overtone in this transcript that lack of military experience is a bad thing, and represents a deficient airman.

That may have been the writer's addition, at least from my read of it.

The problem here is that the public could read into statements like this that the air transportation system has an inherent safety issue due to the small number of ex-military pilots flying for the airlines.

I don't want to restart the Civ vs. Mil debate here, but I wish we could once and for all dispense with the idea that military pilots have some sort of secret ingredient that makes them a universally superior choice for civilian 121 operations.

The public, of course, is eager to be an expert on everything, so they are very happy to embrace such ideas without much reflection.
 
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Sadly there seems to be an overtone in this transcript that lack of military experience is a bad thing, and represents a deficient airman.

That may have been the writer's addition, at least from my read of it.

The problem here is that the public could read into statements like this that the air transportation system has an inherent safety issue due to the small number of ex-military pilots flying for the airlines.

I don't want to restart the Civ vs. Mil debate here, but I wish we could once and for all dispense with the idea that military pilots have some sort of secret ingredient that makes them a universally superior choice for civilian 121 operations.

The public, of course, is eager to be an expert on everything, so they are very happy to embrace such ideas without much reflection.

Yup...
 
Now Sully better hope he doesn't dick something up, seeing as the whole world has now made him out to be fighter jock superman. I don't mean that as a slur against Sully, far from it, he's a good man and aviator, its directed more at the population at large. He's human, just like we all are.
 
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Now Sully better hope he doesn't dick something up, seeing as the whole world has now made him out to be fighter jock superman. I don't mean that as a slur against Sully, far from it, he's a good man and aviator, its directed more at the population at large. He's human, just like we all are.


Yeah I second the notion... it's almost become a joke. I get the gate agents to laugh when we're running behind schedule... "yeah yeah, I know Sully would have gotten it out on time."
 
Unfortunately, if you just target the pay, you will continue to lose. It is about quality of life, work rules, benefits, schedule, advancement, fulfillment, personal satisfaction...

Why does a Doc or lawyer wanna fly..because it is fun. Six months later, they realize it is not nearly as glamorous as everybody says it is and then they leave.

Crappy contracts, poor management, crap schedules, stale growth, closed bases, continual threats or actual furloughs, poor representation..all add up to lackluster performance and a sharp increase in I-could-give-a-rats-arse. I reached my limit and decided it was time to become a happy pilot again, so I left it all behind and have never been happier.

I know very few happy airline pilots. In fact, when I was walking through Salt Lake the other day, the only smiles I saw on uniformed faces was on the regional pilots and crews. The rest of the crews looked like someone just shot their dog and screwed their spouses...and I had a four hour layover.

Like someone once told me...it is a great profession but a crappy career.

Doctors may get tired of looking at rectums, but it sure beats getting a shaft stuck up yours every time you turn around by everyone around you..including those who are supposed to protect you.
 
Sadly there seems to be an overtone in this transcript that lack of military experience is a bad thing, and represents a deficient airman.

That may have been the writer's addition, at least from my read of it.

The problem here is that the public could read into statements like this that the air transportation system has an inherent safety issue due to the small number of ex-military pilots flying for the airlines.

I don't want to restart the Civ vs. Mil debate here, but I wish we could once and for all dispense with the idea that military pilots have some sort of secret ingredient that makes them a universally superior choice for civilian 121 operations.

The public, of course, is eager to be an expert on everything, so they are very happy to embrace such ideas without much reflection.

The military has standards. Anyone cannot be a military pilot. ANYONE and I mean ANYONE can go to a pilot factory like Gulfstream or Delta Connection Academy and get all their ratings. A few years ago, that same person could get hired at the regional of his/her choice with just 250 hours of total flight time. If he/she failed a checkride, he/she would just take it again until he/she got it right. I do not even know why the FAA gives written exams since we just memorize the test. Hell, there are some well known places where you are given the answers while taking the test. I would rather have the average military pilot flying me over the average non-military pilot. The newer pilots have horrible judgement. Who in their right mind would go 100k in debt to get a job that starts at $18,000/year and tops out at about $70,000/year (I do not count per diem or anything more than 1,000 hours a year since that is all you're allowed to fly)? Pilots are a pathetic group.
 
The military has standards. Anyone cannot be a military pilot. ANYONE and I mean ANYONE can go to a pilot factory like Gulfstream or Delta Connection Academy and get all their ratings. A few years ago, that same person could get hired at the regional of his/her choice with just 250 hours of total flight time. If he/she failed a checkride, he/she would just take it again until he/she got it right. I do not even know why the FAA gives written exams since we just memorize the test. Hell, there are some well known places where you are given the answers while taking the test. I would rather have the average military pilot flying me over the average non-military pilot. The newer pilots have horrible judgement. Who in their right mind would go 100k in debt to get a job that starts at $18,000/year and tops out at about $70,000/year (I do not count per diem or anything more than 1,000 hours a year since that is all you're allowed to fly)? Pilots are a pathetic group.


Most of the pilots who have been in this business long enough to have flown with a lot of different crewmembers come to realize that a good pilot is a good pilot. It has little to do with his background, and everything to do with his attitude. Every once in awhile you come across a military pilot that thinks "military pilots are better" or a civilian pilot that thinks "civilian pilots are better". Invariably those individuals are actually weaker than most of their counterparts. Their lack of perspective seems to lend itself to poor multi crew cockpit skills.
 

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