Originally Posted by
MasterOfAnxiety
As a fellow nervous traveler, I try to find information on this topic too. I'm usually laughed at by pilots or at least reassured that flying is extremely safe. And like, yeah, I know that there's only been one fatality in commercial aviation in the US in the last 10 years. Nor have the E145 or E175 seen any fatal accidents. But as others have said, safety is more nuanced than the total number of fatalities. My main concern is poor maintenance, as mechanics seem to be criminally underpaid ($16 per hour?!) at most regionals, especially considering the complexity and importance of the job.
Consider the following Indeed.com review from a former Envoy mechanic:
Or perhaps this quote from a former Republic mechanic:
And of course, Envoy and Republic are *good* companies. I hate to imagine the standards at some of the more questionable regionals.
Honest question - what should passengers make of comments like this? Disgruntled employee? Problem with safety culture at Envoy? Bad management at this particular hangar? What happens when maintenance is lacking because management wants to save a few bucks? Does the FAA actually have the capacity to crack down on all this stuff, or do they only have time to go after the worst offenders?
To me, paying FO on avergae of 45k a year is not an acceptable practice. FO is SIC and in charge of lives of up to 75 peoples on board together with PIC. Our kids school teacher earn more than that (teachers shall get paid more too).
Given Boeing can cut corners like in 738 Max case, shouldnt we keep pay scale better in this reality?
Of course, all of these are from passenger perspective.