MDA guys!

[Popeye0537]

I agree it is a bitter pill to swallow. Its notfun pulling gear for a guy who was in Jr high when I started making the "wrong" decisions. O well I guess. At least I enjoy what I do now...I drove trucks in between layoffs and I HATED it.

 

[DrewBlows]

OH, sorry...Do we?

Why did you need justification?

Rotten apples are everywhere. Even in the land of pay freezes and whatnot, (I keed, I keed) Surely you know this or will soon.

Good Luck Fellow WM Aviator.

SennaF1, don't take my comments personally (I don't think you did). I didn't, or at least didn't mean to imply that I dislike your pilot group, in fact quite the contrary, I have many friends who fly there and I like them all. And without exception, they will probably all be captains before me, which is why it may take a little more justificaiton as to why I didn't interview at Chautauqua. I understand that managers make decisions, not pilots, and I'm not a big fan of the way Republic runs it's business (my opinion), hence why I didn't interview there. I have never told anyone else not to interview there, but if you ask my opinion I will tell you why I didn't. That said, when someone comes on an internet message board and gloats about growth at the expense of a fellow airline pilot's job, it makes that person look bad (in my eyes), and it reflects bad upon your pilot group. I understand that there are bad apples everywhere, which is why I stopped routing for my company like a sports team a long time ago. Ultimately, this is a business and everyone has to make decisions that will affect their career. I certainly have not made the perfect career choices, but I'm comfortable with them. I guess the bottom line is that I shoudn't have lumped all chautauqua pilots with a few idoits who post on flightinfo. Sorry if I offended anyone (except Popeye0537).

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Drew said, "which is why I stopped routing for my company like a sports team a long time ago."

It's funny how we all do this, isn't it? I think we believe the hype. In 1998 at my IOE at AirTran a senior manager told us, "We hired you because you're the best of the best!"

... yeah right. They hired us because we were willing to show up.

The Comair guys have a sign outside their crewroom (trailer) door that says, "Through this door passes the world's finest airline pilots".

We all tend to buy the hype. We want to know that the decisions we made were the right ones. We want to believe that we had the wisdom to make the correct career decisions in a field where only a fraction are successful.

I'm just as guilty of "rooting for the home team". I buy company logo t-shirts, and company logo license plates (got a whole stack of those in my garage.)

Ultimately though, the success of our decisions are a matter of fate. We chart the course for our career and end up making deviations around buildups. More often then not we end up in sucker holes. A lucky few pop out into clear blue sky and have a nice smooth ride.

Anyway, i'm rambling. The point is that these guys never wanted to work for MidAtlantic. They are there because the former CEO promised a "soft landing" for furloughed pilots if the US Airways MEC would agree to (once again) lift the scope language and allow more and bigger airplanes to be flown off the property.

Now they face a furlough for the second time in 3 years and, for some of them, the 3rd time in a decade (from the same company!)

Was it their "choice" to hire on with a struggling airline? Were they victims of past mergers? Did they look at market conditions in 1999 and bet on a CEO with a stellar track record? Did they look at upgrade times at UAL and AMR vs. US Airways and bet on the promised growth?

Who knows. The point is, they never thought they'd be faced with this decision.

How many of you are senior Captains at Chautaua -- say those hired before 1998?

If Beford came up to you tomorrow and told you that he was spinning off the E145 fleet and that you would have to start over as first year F/Os at first year pay -- would you do it? Or would you look for a better opportunity.

Chautauqua is a fine airline. I dont think ANY of us in 1996 could have foreseen what it would become. Amazing. But, its fortunes could turn just as quickly. Try not to chastise the MDA pilots for not seeing your vision -- they've likely seen it before at airline after airline. Once you've been burned a few times you're much more cautious about the "opportunities" you're willing to subject your families to.

 

[Capt.PoopyPants]

How many of you are senior Captains at Chautaua -- say those hired before 1998?

If Beford came up to you tomorrow and told you that he was spinning off the E145 fleet and that you would have to start over as first year F/Os at first year pay -- would you do it? Or would you look for a better opportunity.

If Bedford spun off a division, I'm sure most guys would argue to stay with the aircraft. If he sold them most would probably realized that their screwed and
would look for a better oppurtunity.

It's already been argued numerous times on this board. Is it an asset sale or change of control? If the arbitrator believes that this is a change of control as per LOA 91, then the MDA guys will get what they want. If that happens it will most likely put an end to this sale altogether.