Kugelblitz
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2006
- Posts
- 287
I was having a conversation with my 10 year old son the other day which inadvertently illuminated the scope debate for me and thought I would pass my insights along. No I am no expert, I do have a life and don't refer to this website everyday, and I couldn't tell you the last time I picked up a magazine about flying. I am, as of today, a pilot for United Continental Holdings, Inc. Hoo-f*n- Rah. With this turn of events I am now with my 7th named air carrier, 2 of which I came into by way of merger or acquisition. I have around 4 1/2 years regional/commuter experience with the likes of Air Midwest, TranStates, and Comair.
My son, who is a gold select 10u baseball player was informing me that when Albert Pujols retires from the Cardinals in about 10 years he should be ready to take over for him. I thought that was just super, please don't forget dad when you sign the big contract. What caught my attention was how my son stated he was going to play for the Cardinals. Now we go see a local minor league team called the Rascals, whom he dearly loves, but that was not his goal, to play for an unaffiliated A ball team. I asked him about playing for the Rascals and he said he would only do that for a little while, but he needed to move up to the majors because that is what baseball players do (or try to do I thought).
Of course many of you by now see where I am going. I fear some of you feel a sense of derogatoriness to this idea. But bear with me and maintain an open mind, I am not trying to flame-bait nor insult. Only make a point, that one part of the problem that we are facing in the industry is dealing with reclaiming routes flown by major airlines for years that are recently (last 20 years or so) being flown at the regional level and the impact such reversions to the majors have on the livelihoods of career regional pilots.
The problem here, it seems to me, is that there is a population of pilots who have found a comfy place at what in baseball terms amounts to a AAA or AA team and doesn't want to move. However, unlike in the baseball world, one can linger at these levels and not worry about being pushed out by management because of an inability (in this case an unwillingness) to move up. The argument undoubtedly proffered by those who have made this decision would be the vicissitudes of major airline employment the last decade or so, the seniority perks they get with holidays and other such scheduling issues, and no need to fly big equipment for the sake of flying big equipment.
Alex Rodriguez could have made very similar arguments had he been happy at the triple A level of the Seattle Mariners system many years ago. Had he stubbornly insisted on staying put, he would have missed out on around $300 million dollars which he has estimated to make to date. Choosing to stay at a level below what is considered by most to be the top makes little sense in the long run, no matter what logic one uses.
Job security for the senior pilots at regionals is only a temporary phenomenon, relatively speaking, due to the impacts of 9-11 on the major airlines who bore the brunt of the effects of the attack on passenger air travel. Now that things are changed, the reality of regional airlines as 3rd party, completely dependent entities is coming to the fore very quickly. The lack of any route authority and equipment owned and alloted by the major partner illustrates that increased or even commensurate job security at the regionals is illusory. The inevitable whipsaw of multiple regional partners with the same major airline has had devestating effects on many of my former Comair colleagues who made very rational arguments for their insistence on 10, 15 and even 20+ year careers with that carrier. Those arguments are no consolation to the senior pilots there now.
Those pilots that have stagnated themselves, and I know this isn't always through one's own choosing (a.k.a 9-11), has created this difficult situation where reasonably senior regional pilots making okay money don't want to lose what they have. In other professions this isn't a problem, there is a weeding out process that keeps things moving in the what are normally nascent career stages that we don't have in place here. Not that weeding out has any bearing on competency, but either you move up when the opportunity avails or someone will move you. If the inability to move up is due to educational, legal, or medical reasons, time to move on and let someone else have a whack at it. We used to do that with age 60, remember?
There is no easy answer for those of you who insist on staying put at the regional level. As a mainline pilot I am not going to sit around and watch you fly larger and larger aircraft. Where you say I am unfair because I am trying to scope you out of a job by not letting you fly, say 70 seaters, I find no one on your side having ethics problems taking larger and larger airplanes. Nowadays you are essentially flying DC-9s, what is to stop you from flying 727 equivalents or greater down the road? You? I doubt it.
It would seem self-evident that bringing flying back to mainline creates mainline jobs. Yes, like all new-hires you must go to the bottom of the list and throw the gear for someone again. That is how the system works. Don't like it? Get out of the industry, because the industry hinges on people moving up, not sitting fat at some intermediate level. Sorry, but that is just the nature of the beast.
My son, who is a gold select 10u baseball player was informing me that when Albert Pujols retires from the Cardinals in about 10 years he should be ready to take over for him. I thought that was just super, please don't forget dad when you sign the big contract. What caught my attention was how my son stated he was going to play for the Cardinals. Now we go see a local minor league team called the Rascals, whom he dearly loves, but that was not his goal, to play for an unaffiliated A ball team. I asked him about playing for the Rascals and he said he would only do that for a little while, but he needed to move up to the majors because that is what baseball players do (or try to do I thought).
Of course many of you by now see where I am going. I fear some of you feel a sense of derogatoriness to this idea. But bear with me and maintain an open mind, I am not trying to flame-bait nor insult. Only make a point, that one part of the problem that we are facing in the industry is dealing with reclaiming routes flown by major airlines for years that are recently (last 20 years or so) being flown at the regional level and the impact such reversions to the majors have on the livelihoods of career regional pilots.
The problem here, it seems to me, is that there is a population of pilots who have found a comfy place at what in baseball terms amounts to a AAA or AA team and doesn't want to move. However, unlike in the baseball world, one can linger at these levels and not worry about being pushed out by management because of an inability (in this case an unwillingness) to move up. The argument undoubtedly proffered by those who have made this decision would be the vicissitudes of major airline employment the last decade or so, the seniority perks they get with holidays and other such scheduling issues, and no need to fly big equipment for the sake of flying big equipment.
Alex Rodriguez could have made very similar arguments had he been happy at the triple A level of the Seattle Mariners system many years ago. Had he stubbornly insisted on staying put, he would have missed out on around $300 million dollars which he has estimated to make to date. Choosing to stay at a level below what is considered by most to be the top makes little sense in the long run, no matter what logic one uses.
Job security for the senior pilots at regionals is only a temporary phenomenon, relatively speaking, due to the impacts of 9-11 on the major airlines who bore the brunt of the effects of the attack on passenger air travel. Now that things are changed, the reality of regional airlines as 3rd party, completely dependent entities is coming to the fore very quickly. The lack of any route authority and equipment owned and alloted by the major partner illustrates that increased or even commensurate job security at the regionals is illusory. The inevitable whipsaw of multiple regional partners with the same major airline has had devestating effects on many of my former Comair colleagues who made very rational arguments for their insistence on 10, 15 and even 20+ year careers with that carrier. Those arguments are no consolation to the senior pilots there now.
Those pilots that have stagnated themselves, and I know this isn't always through one's own choosing (a.k.a 9-11), has created this difficult situation where reasonably senior regional pilots making okay money don't want to lose what they have. In other professions this isn't a problem, there is a weeding out process that keeps things moving in the what are normally nascent career stages that we don't have in place here. Not that weeding out has any bearing on competency, but either you move up when the opportunity avails or someone will move you. If the inability to move up is due to educational, legal, or medical reasons, time to move on and let someone else have a whack at it. We used to do that with age 60, remember?
There is no easy answer for those of you who insist on staying put at the regional level. As a mainline pilot I am not going to sit around and watch you fly larger and larger aircraft. Where you say I am unfair because I am trying to scope you out of a job by not letting you fly, say 70 seaters, I find no one on your side having ethics problems taking larger and larger airplanes. Nowadays you are essentially flying DC-9s, what is to stop you from flying 727 equivalents or greater down the road? You? I doubt it.
It would seem self-evident that bringing flying back to mainline creates mainline jobs. Yes, like all new-hires you must go to the bottom of the list and throw the gear for someone again. That is how the system works. Don't like it? Get out of the industry, because the industry hinges on people moving up, not sitting fat at some intermediate level. Sorry, but that is just the nature of the beast.
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