enuffalready
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2005
- Posts
- 607
As regional pilot I am in no way implying that pay/qualification is the reason for the crash but is does stir an interesting debate about pilot pay and the free market.
My fear is that as pilot pay and work rules continue to decline, more and more qualifed people will look eslewhere for employment. Military guys with distinquished careers and top of the line training are opting more and more to either stay active duty, fly reserves or just plain get out of aviation. Civilian guys with great training and many many years of 121 flying who have any other options are getting out of flying. Senior guys with the most experince are retiring earlier and getting out of flying. I think you would be kidding yourself if you didn't think that we are currently experiencing and over the next 10 years will experience a huge drain on QUALIFIED pilots. Of course the free market will supply us plenty of pilots, but in just my 6 short years in this industry I have seen a sharp decline in capability. Let's face it, whether you are DELTA, mesa, jetblue or whoever, most guys with any capabilities to earn a good income are going to either leave the industry or not get in to begin with. What does that leave us? A ton of underqualified people responsibile for a lot of lives.
Who is to blame? Manament? I don;t think so... I think the blame is primarily the passengers themselves. They drive the market, they drive the price and they are going to ultimately get what they pay for. Managment simply reacts to market conditions.. Could someone start an airline and say all oru guys have 10,000 hours of experince and charge more? Sure, for about 6 months and then people woldl get right back on hotwire, priceline, etc and get that $69 one way to LA from DC and ExperinceAIr would be out of business.
Fortunatly for me, I have outside income and am getting out of aviation. The rewards of flying no longer outweigh the costs and it is my time to leave. My neighbor, a NW captain has gone from 300k to 160k and is doing everything he can to get out. Those that I know that are still in that have other options are pursuing them with vigor....
The media is making a big deal out of this controller having only 2 hours sleep. If the public only knew how many 23yo kids are flying them in and out of uncontrolled fields with that kind of sleep on a regular basis they would go nuts... if alpa was smart they would magnify this... but they won't
Where will we be in 5-10 years. More planes, less pay, less experienced pilots flying...
My fear is that as pilot pay and work rules continue to decline, more and more qualifed people will look eslewhere for employment. Military guys with distinquished careers and top of the line training are opting more and more to either stay active duty, fly reserves or just plain get out of aviation. Civilian guys with great training and many many years of 121 flying who have any other options are getting out of flying. Senior guys with the most experince are retiring earlier and getting out of flying. I think you would be kidding yourself if you didn't think that we are currently experiencing and over the next 10 years will experience a huge drain on QUALIFIED pilots. Of course the free market will supply us plenty of pilots, but in just my 6 short years in this industry I have seen a sharp decline in capability. Let's face it, whether you are DELTA, mesa, jetblue or whoever, most guys with any capabilities to earn a good income are going to either leave the industry or not get in to begin with. What does that leave us? A ton of underqualified people responsibile for a lot of lives.
Who is to blame? Manament? I don;t think so... I think the blame is primarily the passengers themselves. They drive the market, they drive the price and they are going to ultimately get what they pay for. Managment simply reacts to market conditions.. Could someone start an airline and say all oru guys have 10,000 hours of experince and charge more? Sure, for about 6 months and then people woldl get right back on hotwire, priceline, etc and get that $69 one way to LA from DC and ExperinceAIr would be out of business.
Fortunatly for me, I have outside income and am getting out of aviation. The rewards of flying no longer outweigh the costs and it is my time to leave. My neighbor, a NW captain has gone from 300k to 160k and is doing everything he can to get out. Those that I know that are still in that have other options are pursuing them with vigor....
The media is making a big deal out of this controller having only 2 hours sleep. If the public only knew how many 23yo kids are flying them in and out of uncontrolled fields with that kind of sleep on a regular basis they would go nuts... if alpa was smart they would magnify this... but they won't
Where will we be in 5-10 years. More planes, less pay, less experienced pilots flying...
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