not the only interesting article around.... you're famous. hang in there...
Delta Furlough Limits Career Of Young Pilot
The Wall Street Journal 11-1-04
Pilot Troy Kane is a long way from the dream job he thought he would be enjoying by now.
Last weekend, he flew 19-seat turboprop planes from Milwaukee to the Wisconsin cities of La Crosse and Green Bay, both hourlong trips, for Skyway Airlines. The planes have no lavatory, no autopilot and no flight attendants, meaning Mr. Kane has to do the fasten-your-seatbelt demonstration before taking his seat in the cockpit.
The job pays just $16,000 a year, but the 33-year-old pilot is happy to have it. Skyway, a unit of Midwest Air Group Inc., was the only airline to even offer Mr. Kane an interview after he was furloughed from Delta Air Lines shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Mr. Kane had just taken his "check ride," a training flight that was supposed to be the last step before getting to pilot big Delta jets, with a starting salary of $50,000. He would be making $119,000 this year under Delta's current pay scale.
"I never actually got to wear the uniform," he says. "I went from the top of cloud nine to the pits of despair."
Thousands of pilots' careers have had rough landings because of the financial crisis gripping U.S. airlines. The carriers have piled up losses of about $23 billion in the past three years. Sky-high fuel costs and sinking fares are expected to lead to $6 billion in additional losses this year, according to the Air Transport Association of America, the industry's trade group. As a result, life in the cockpit isn't nearly as highflying as it used to be.
About 8,700 of the pilots at major U.S. passenger and freight carriers, or nearly 15% of the total, are on furlough, says AIR Inc., an Atlanta career-consulting firm for pilots. Many of the pilot jobs that are being created are at second-tier airlines that seem a world away from the glamorous action portrayed in Hollywood films like Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can." And as the largest airlines move to reduce pilot pay, the two types of carriers are getting closer to each other.
Other airline-industry workers are dealing with similar sacrifices.
"I wouldn't say there's anything glamorous these days" about flying, says Brandy Humphrey, a Delta flight attendant whose pay is being cut 10% as part of the Atlanta carrier's financial-rescue plan.
This week, as Delta pilots vote on a proposed five-year contract that would slash their pay by 32.5% while increasing the number of hours they fly, they also are deciding the fate of Mr. Kane and other furloughed pilots forced to downsize their careers. Mr. Kane holds the particularly unfortunate distinction of being the last pilot hired at Delta and first to be furloughed, putting him last on the list to come back as other pilots leave or the airline expands.
Delta, the third-largest U.S. airline, has had losses of more than $6 billion since 2001, and is scrambling to lower its costs and line up new financing that it insists are needed for it to survive. The union contract, including $1 billion in pay and benefits cuts for about 7,000 Delta pilots, is expected to be approved in voting that ends Nov. 11, even though Delta pilots know it could give management at other airlines leverage in scaling back pay and benefits for their pilots.
John Malone, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's leadership council at Delta, acknowledged in a letter to pilots that they will be angry and disappointed when they realize what they've lost. But hammering out a contract with Delta should it end up in bankruptcy would be worse, he added.
The proposed contract calls for freezing the current pilot pension plan at Delta and switching future retirees to a "defined contribution" plan that offers reduced benefits, less vacation pay and higher health-care premiums. Delta also would be able to double the number of 70-seat regional jets flown by its affiliates and subsidiaries. In return, the pilots would get options for as many as 30 million shares, or a 15% stake in Delta, plus a piece of any future profits.
While the union lost its fight for a voting seat on Delta's board, management agreed to give the nonvoting pilot representative greater access to boardroom activities. And the carrier agreed not to support any effort by creditors to terminate the pension plan for five years if it files for bankruptcy, unless under extreme economic conditions.
But the new contract is likely to bring more bad news for pilots like Mr. Kane. Delta would be able to eliminate the existing pilot-recall schedule under which the airline is required to recall 30 to 50 pilots a month. Delta agreed only to bring back furloughed pilots by 2008. Mr. Kane was expecting to be back by roughly August 2006 under the current schedule. Furloughed pilots would get priority on jobs Delta outsources to its regional carriers, but "the longer I stay on the sidelines, the less attractive I would be to getting hired somewhere," he worries.
In the meantime, being stuck at No. 809 on the Delta furlough list limits Mr. Kane's chances of getting another job at an airline other than Delta. Many airlines won't hire furloughed pilots, since they could leave on short notice if the job they've been waiting for opens up.
"I was very fortunate that at least Skyway would give me a chance," he says.
Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Kane and his wife were planning a new life. They hoped to buy a home in Peachtree City, Ga., a well-to-do city south of Atlanta that is known as Delta company housing because so many former and current Delta workers live there. Now, though, Mr. Kane is getting a divorce.
"From all the job changes and moves, and my mood changes, we just grew apart," says Mr. Kane, who works part time as a mortgage salesman from his Milwaukee apartment.
Despite being so far away from his dream job, Mr. Kane says he can't imagine doing anything else for a living.
"I love to fly more than anything," he says. He began flying in college, deciding to become an airline pilot after three years as an accountant, which left him miserable. The most he ever made was $41,000, in his last year at Delta.
"Would I do it for a lot less?" asks Mr. Kane. "Obviously, because I am."
The CRJ program seems to be a lot better than before. 
