Originally Posted by
Machaca
Management is concerned about attrition, they are merely unwilling to do what is necessary to stem the tide. They are like the idiots in Detroit in the 70's, they just assume their process will keep working. Random sampling from the bros figures when the stock price finally hits the 100-120 region, the board will really start to flip and force a settlement. Unfortunately, they will be looking in the wrong direction, a pilot contract isn't going to fix the constant bombardment from the press over maintenance issues. For instance, a recent story, abort for a wheel not turning light on the 80, one of the brakes is obviously indicating much hotter than the rest, the CA returns and writes it up...MX thinks they should MEL the indicating system, not fix the brake. The system is obviously working correctly, but they'll just defer it. Have heard them do the same with the windshear system.
It's a systemic failure, safety is only important if it doesn't cost money or delay a flight.
I'm well aware of G4's maintenance issues. It doesn't surprise me and neither does the low pilot pay and work rule abuse. All of that is in Maurice Gallagher's DNA - he's been a founder of both WestAir and ValuJet. He's seen this cycle in the airline industry before and successfully kept airlines flying in spite of losing a lot of pilots and having the FAA breathing down his neck on maintenance issues.
The unfortunate reality is that it's cheaper to train a bunch of new pilots than it is to give you guys a decent pay raise and honor work rules. If that weren't the case, management would fix the problems that are causing high attrition rates.
Have you read the Bios of G4's BoD? It looks like it's stacked with friends of Gallagher.
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