You know, I really wish that I could make sense of what is happening. The COO came into a check airman meeting a while back asking them what management needed to do to "win the pilots back." The question was met with astonished looks and he was basically told that he couldn't. The last captain vacancy doesn't doesn't even have a Republic 170 opening on it...it's all Shuttle and Republic Q.

The unproductive contract negotiations are proof that management has treated it's employees so poorly for so long resulting in a complete lack of trust, which in turn makes the more company paranoid causing them to tighten the screws even further to prevent things like acts of operational sabotage or abuse of leave, which angers the pilots even more, causing more of what management is trying to prevent. It's a vicious cycle that will not be stopped with a new contract alone.

RAH is in serious need of a change of leadership and corporate culture. I personally think that, at a minimum, RAH needs a change at the COO position or higher. There have been so many failures as the result of decisions made at that level that most of us are amazed that those guys have managed to hold on to their jobs.

Observing the aviation industry for the next two years will be very fascinating. If nothing else, watching RAH alone will be entertaining, but hitching your wagon to the RAH star might not be the best thing for one's career.