Originally Posted by
Lab Rat
Thedude,
You know what, after reading through this thread I can kind of feel sorry for some of you guys. But, after reading your post, it is easy not too. You make it sound like the commuters are the toughest job out there. I never flew for a commuter/regional so I cannot say for certain how difficult your job is and I defintely have no idea what your life is like on the "other side".
However, before you start patting yourself on the back just keep in mind that there are several paths to an airline and yours is not necessarily the toughest. I never flew in the military, but I did fly several years on the non-sked side where I wore a pager 24/7 and had NO schedule other than a few days off each month. I flew multiple legs, rarely had a chance to eat while on duty, and was lucky if the pager went off shortly after I woke up instead of shortly before bed. I was only looked down upon a couple of times, and it was by guys who were flying the RJ.
I think maybe you missed the jist of my post. I have first have experience with a couple of AA guys that were hired in the early 80's and have never flown anything larger than a CE-310 when hired on to the panel of the 727. They dont understand how the other half lives and how rough it can really be. The same exist with guys that went from the military staright to the majors, I know this also because I currently work with a few of those guys that are either furloughed or took the early out. They were/are in for a very large shock.
I could tell you tales of those kinda guys getting on my airplane to jumpseat and I had no clue they were on my airplane. If I was lucky they might pat me on the back as they walked down the ailse. Do you think that would fly if i did the same at their airline? I highly doubt it. Hell, I even had one ask me if we had enough gas to make it...WTF? No, I am taking just enough to crash short of the field.
I never had the opportunity to fly in the military either but I have done the commuter thing back when they were still 135, 135 freight, 135 on-demand charter (wearing the pager thing), corperate, 121 supplemental, and now ACMI on the 747. I think I might have more of clue than you think.
From the sounds of it you are confusing tough flying with a tough lifestyle. Yes, living on a pager is rough. I have done it too. But flying 8 legs + a day for 3-5 days a week, month in month out, get rough and wears you out. Ever shot 8 approaches in one day? I have on multipule occasions and it varied from heavily trafficed hubs to podunk airports all in one day. So, I do consider flying at the commuters (at least when they were all turboprops) rougher than 135 on demand from a flying aspect.
If any RJ guys look down on you, they are the ones with problem. I would be willing to bet its because they suffer from SJS and never really had to work to get were they are. Back when I was trying to get on at the commuters the min were fairly high as oppsed to today. Back then one need 2000TT and 135 time to even be looked at and today you need a commerical ticket and a pulse.
Being that I commute coast to coast monthly, I keep the j/s rather warm. I can usually size up a guy just by the way they handle a jumpseater.