This is not to bash everyone at AT&T. Once asked why pilots were leaving, info came out as to some reasons. This is from people working in this flight department, tired of the conditions, and also looking for new positions. It is a fairly simple question, and it is being answered.
The Management team by all accounts is inept. A Director that is more interested in padding his bonus through "selective" hiring. A Chief Pilot that has turned over the day to day ops to an egotistical assistant chief pilot, who in turn is terrified of being shown up, by everyone, including the janitor. So GD rules the department through fear, and by holding onto every menial task, only to ignore the very checklists he designs. The other two assistant chief pilots appear to be inconsequential, as they do shots together at the local watering "hole", in complete defiance of the rules they are supposed to enforce. Otherwise, one is perpetually retiring, the other just nods yes to whatever GD says.
An atmosphere has been created in which being a pilot is secondary to secondary jobs which have become primary. These secondary or is it primary jobs, are so important as it pits everyone in the department against each other, in competition of coveted bonuses. Why coveted? Because the pay is incredibly low.
The acrobatic pilot, fed up with the shear stupidity of it all, performed perhaps his greatest maneuver, and Immelmanned out of GD's Three Ring Circus.
Lastly, the rules under which this department works, are simply unsafe and dangerous. This is how it was explained to me. The only rest given to a crew is the 10 hours immediately after a flight. If the crew sits for three days, no other rest is given. They are on call, 24/7 for the next 3 days. There are a couple of criteria about the exact time it starts, but it was confusing, and seems to be essentially ignored. No defined rest, no drinking, and lots of phone calls and emails at all times of the day and night. Most crews seem to ignore the rules or more aptly just don't know them.
