Originally Posted by Carl Spackler

IMO, the "answer" is the line pilots getting back to basics. Specifically, that means everything good in life requires risk taking and the abandonment of fear. Remember wanting to date that beautiful girl that caught your eye in high school? You put fear of failure aside and asked her (unless your newK then she asked him). Remember all the risk you took in flight school? You abandoned fear, accepted the risk as part of the deal, and ended up flying fighters. Then ended up at a major airline. I could go on, but you get my point. What happened to our ability to take calculated risks? Is it a byproduct of achieving the top level in aviation? We're so afraid of losing the top level that we're manipulated by anyone who uses our life success as a weapon against us?

The biggest issue we face is unique to Delta and that is our fear campaigns are waged by our own union...not management. Management would be glad TO do it, they just don't need to. Until we line pilots can make votes based on what can be achieved as opposed to what might go wrong, our national union will continue achieving their goals...to our everlasting detriment. This will be true with a DPA or any representative entity.

None of us would be where we are without the fearless and selfless actions of those airline pilots that came before us. IMO, we're doing a p!ss poor job of continuing that legacy for the young people who will come after us. I'm very disheartened by that. We can change that. Every one of us has the proven ability to take a calculated risk. We just need to get back to that basic ideal.

Carl