Originally Posted by
Window_Seat
Skybus and Virgin America pilot's are just trying to further their careers right? I bet that a320 time looks pretty sweet i a logbook jk. These guys are lowering their standards and accepting substandard pay to further their careers. Granted they may make more than an RJ captain but not much. Now when it comes to bargaining for the next contract it will weekend United's, Continental's, Southwest's etc position.
Now think about this. A 250 hour commercial pilot wants to further their career. Mesa comes knocking on the door. Sure it beats flight instructing, you get to fly a jet and maybe even make a little more, also looks great in the logbook i suppose. BUT these companies are not paying you fairly for your services and taking advantage of the fact that you would rather fly a jet instead of gaining valuable experience as a flight instructor or 135 pilot and applying elsewhere to a regional where you can make more money and better quality of life.
With a competent captain, a LTP's are safe, good pilot's. I'm not arguing on that point. What I am saying is don't lower your standards, it will benefit everyone eventually.
I'm not lowering my standards here. When I said I was concerned about Skybus and Virgin America, I didn't mean in a good way. I just think they should be a little more of concern than places like Mesa. Places like Skybus can really hurt the future contracts at the majors, you're right and it's impossible to argue with that. I don't have any current intention of flying for a legacy so naturally I shouldn't be concerned right? But I am because I care about my fellow pilots. I want aviation to be successful and get better. Look, I have seen your point from the start of this thread, but I just can't justify blaming a pilot for the faults of the airline management.
And common, now!
Enough about the low time pilots not being able to conduct a safe flight. I can't begin to list the amount of accidents that high timers have had in GA aircraft but I'm not going to sit here and bash them, implying that they need to be baby sat by a private pilot who flys the C152 everyday. I could come on here and ask "How are the high timers making GA better?" That just doesn't and wouldn't make any sense. The captain was once in the right seat, learning the exact same stuff as the low timer. You don't need a CFI to learn to fly a jet well. It certainly doesn't hurt to get the CFI but it isn't the means to the end to become good RJ pilot. If the captain has a problem with a low timer sitting in the right seat of an RJ, he's going to stress himself out because there's a lot of them on the way.