Originally Posted by
OhSnapAF
Well I’ll tell you from experience, having to tell the guy with 4 bars not to takeoff on a taxiway 4 times before he even understood what was going on, sucks. Being paid less than half of what those dinosaurs make, and having to be responsible over them without them even knowing, was not sustainable for the 15 years it would take to upgrade. Certainly flew with amazing people but the concentration of oddballs and pilots who should have their wings clipped was higher at NJA than I’ve ever seen. Although I suppose that’s 135...
I have yet, in 2 years at my airline, to fly with somebody that shouldn’t be in that seat. Where at NJA probably 2 out of 10 captains shouldn’t have been captains.
Few things in the airline world are arbitrary. 117 is a great example of that. 65 didn’t come out of thin air, and 67 is certainly something I expect to see in my future.
NJA is a large holdout of guys who were in financial ruin and some wont ever recover. It’s not surprising that they are fighting the hardest for no retirement, their only option is to work until they die because they didn’t plan.
Good point, hoping the 135 rest rules and possible retirement age working its way across capitol hill can address some of this stuff. I was pretty shocked to see three 65 year old retired American pilots in my interview class, only one got hired.