now they finally pay attention.

[Grinder10]

Not speaking about 3407 yet but this is why I've lost my sanity. For F#&K sake get rid of the G0damn hairgell and ipods. Quit plastering yourselves on overnights, iron that f*&ing garbage bag looking shirt, take off those ridiculous designer shades and read a f&*king manual from time to time! Above all wipe that MTV nurtured Ed Hardy wearing sense of entitlement of your front bumper and grill before I mop the floors of the lavatory with your test tube rejected a$$. I've had it...

Maybe it's just the hubs I usually pass through (DTW/MEM/MSP), but I have never seen the "Spiky hair, Ipod, backpack toting, sunglass wearing, walking stereotype guy". Maybe once every few months I will either see some outlandish hairdo or a backpack. Never seen a pilot walking with an Ipod. Nearly all of the backpacks I do see are carried by FedEx guys (unprofessional bastards bringing down the profession ). I'm starting to think this whole thing is made up.

And as for getting "plastering yourselves on overnights" I assume you're talking abour alcohol. Can someone give me the ratio of major pilots to regional pilots who have been arrested for trying to fly under the influence? I have a feeling the results won't be favorable for the "professionals".

 

[I.P. Freley]

Oh. I get it. If you're a legacy guy with a backpack it must be for a 'legitimate' (wink, wink) reason. But if it's a regional youngster they're just unprofessional, because we all know there's no way a regional puke could be carrying a backpack for a 'legitimate' (wink, wink) reason.

Indeed. This convenient blindness to the fact that the pilots flying for the Big Boys dress just as poorly is laughable. I just rode on a major to get to work the other day, and the captain arrived with a backpack, no hat and a sticker on the side of his bag that said something along the lines of "Sit Down, Shut Up and Hang On". The FO, however, was wearing his suit jacket, hat, and sticker-free bag.

Every time I walk through ORD I can't help but laugh inside when I think of the nitwits on FI who berate commuter drivers for how they dress or carry themselves. There are enough major airline pilots with iPods, no hats, rumpled shirts, backpacks, ridiculous glasses and unthinkable stickers on their bags to shut those people up permanently.

 

[mesaserf]

I think I read in the paper that the captain had multiple check ride failures. I wonder if they were talking about part 61 and 121 or just part 121? I've had a few pink slips from my part 61 days but (knock on wood) I have a clean record with part 121 stuff.
What should get us worried is that if the FAA mandates a "# strikes and you're out" for the ATP because this could be used as a weapon by management . It would be back to the bad old days when the company would use the check ride to weed out pro union pilots.

 

[Jet_Dreamer]

I can't believe that c*ck s*cking cockroach Ornstien hasn't been mentioned yet in any of these threads. Aholes like him have turned the "regional' industry into what it is today.

finally a jo/mesa reply, thats what was missing in this thread.uke:

 

[JimmyKool]

Who is this Ed Hardy dude anyways? Is he someone on MTV?

 

[30West]

Some fo you need to take a long look inside yourselves and be thoroughly ashamed of what you see.

ANY one of you could be next. Doesn't matter if you're regional or major, make $20 or $120, iron your shirt or sleep in it, carry a stickerless flight bag or Pokemon backpack, have flashy rollaboard wheels or plain black ones, you're military or civilian, union or non, etc.
To even presume to sit in judgement of and smear one of your own for something you could easily be on the news next for, or generalize an entire group of pilots is the real travesty.
True "professionals" would not let themselves get swept up in the media feeding frenzy like a pack of pre teenage girls trying to get a glimpse of the Jonas brothers out the backstage door.

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

I forget where I first heard this, but it seems especially appropriate to this discussion...

"The problem with the Parisian prostitutes is that over-enthusiastic newcomers to the trade have driven down both the price AND the quality"

Good pilots "are where you find them." Military or civilian, Regional or Legacy, passenger or freight...it doesn't matter. Good is good, no matter their background. But to get good pilots you have to start with good people, and I'm not convinced that most Regional airlines offer the pay and benefits necessary to attract those types of individuals. A newly-minted nurse in most big cities can start at 40K/yr, a graduate engineer about the same. But a regional airline pilot (carrying twice the student-debt) is lucky to make 20K his first year, and his 5 and 10 year projected income falls well behind either of those other disciplines. Where's the smart money going to go?

To the managers of Colgan, and unfortunately, to their passengers, I say, "You pay for Karaoke, you get Karaoke"

This accident alone will not change things. But this accident, combined with that of Comair few years ago and numerous other "senseless" accidents in the Regional Airline industry, may well be the beginning of the end for the bottom-feeders.

 

[Long Time Gone]

i fly for a regional, and yes there are TO many of the pilots above you described. i take my job serious. i act professional. maybe other captains can explain this to their fo's. i do preach professionalism to the fo's i fly with on occasion. maybe the rest of us should do the same. if this approach helps, time will tell.

You may act professional, yet your grammar is that of a child. There are TOO many people here with a college education and no clue.