Originally Posted by
LuvJockey
Dude, seriously? You chose this post to break your silence?? That could have been written by a Republic pilot.
Can you point to something I wrote that you disagree with on a factual basis?
I'm just trying to make the point that we need to police our own profession. The company or the ATA sure aren't going to. Examining management's arguments might provide instruction as to weaknesses in our own.
In my opinion, it has been far too easy to become an airline pilot in the last ten years. That fact does not improve our leverage at the negotiating table. As such, it's something we need to examine and improve. Getting those flight time requirements passed and enforced should be a top priority at ALPA national, in my opinion.
Relatedly, what is the current turbine PIC requirement to be considered qualified at SWA? It think it fluctuates between 1300-1500. That requirement makes sense. If you're hiring people as Captains, how have they demonstrated that ability if they have not served in said capacity?
Originally Posted by
Elvis90
I was hired a year and a half ago with thousands of hours of PIC and instructor time in Air Force aircraft. I believe one person out of 28 in our new hire class had zero PIC time.
You're off by a few.
Originally Posted by
Elvis90
had 5,500 qualified applicants when I applied......Our group was pretty highly selective.
Exactly. Getting into that 5500 has become way too easy, and a huge percentage of that 5500 is out there right now flying half of Delta's daily flights.
Originally Posted by
Elvis90
average age of our new hire class was about 33 years old. I wouldn't call it youth entitlement...I was 43 when I was hired. My last W-2 from the USAF was about $125,000. That first year of Delta pay was quite a transition.
I was referring to T's comments about pilots who showed up after C2k talking about what they had lost. I wasn't here during 2000 or the bankruptcy either. While I think it's criminal what was done to the pilot group, I cannot state that I was directly effected by that loss.
If I got on at a major airline in my mid twenties never having commanded a high performance aircraft, or with the ability to count on one hand how many times I'd flown a jet aircraft from takeoff to land without an autopilot (and under the supervision of someone else at that), I wouldn't be loudly proclaiming that I deserve the same career prestige and compensation as our Captain ranks, many of whom are more likely to have pounded around thunderstorms hauling night freight, or been over Baghdad in 1991.
Further, I wouldn't be making that argument if I spent my first several years in the industry doing the same job for less and undercutting the pilots who made this career a profession.
In my opinion, ALPA representation of of many of these pilots serves to water down a the professional standard. The fact that so many pilots who have not been subjected to a meaningful standard of selection upon entering the profession are represented by ALPA also handcuffs our union with respect to arguments that they can make that would support (mainline) Delta pilots.
Originally Posted by
Elvis90
the company wants the highest qualified candidates applying, then they'll have to compensate them accordingly. These pilots have a high expectation for C2012...if it fails to deliver, then they may look elsewhere for employment.
Delta is not attracting the cream of the crop right now. The guys in the active component where I drill that are even interested in the airlines have Delta as a plan C or D. You said Delta pay was a transition. With your resume, you are literally making half of what you could elsewhere.
Two of your classmates have left for Southwest, and I bet a bottle of Macallan 18 against that Air Force neckerchief of yours that at least one, maybe two will be hauling boxes very soon. My goal is for this contract to reverse that trend.