Originally Posted by
2StgTurbine
It's not just our lives that are at risk. It is our certificates and careers. While mechanics have their certificates on the line too, pilots are more affected by it. Very few plane crashes are blamed on an error made by mechanics. When a plane crashes, it is usually either mechanical failure or PILOT error. The media never publishes the name of the mechanic who last signed off the aircraft, but they will publish the names of the flight crew. When the NTSB does an investigation, they don't dig up training records from all the mechanics that touched the plane, but they will publish any blemish in the flight crew's history. Pilots are put under the microscope after an accident and no airline wants to take the liability of hiring a pilot with something in their past that would look bad after an accident.
On a similar note, our medicals are another risk we take. There are lots of ways for a pilot to lose their medical that would never impact the earning potential of an AMP.
A pilots education does not stop when they get their commercial. I have yet to meet a person who actually did the 90 day zero to hero program and started working at an airline. It takes most pilots years before they start getting paid more than an AMP.
That is correct. No one ever said compensation had to be fair or even make any sense. A good elementary school teacher does more good for society than a hedge fund manager, but that isn't reflected in their pay.
Agree with all said here although I will say that there are plenty of documented disasters that fall strictly on mechanics or poor maintenance practices. AA 191, AS 261, JAL 123 just as a few examples. While you are correct that the flight crew and names are public after a crash if a crash is caused by poor maintenance you can bet they will track down the maintenance records for years if need be so where your responsibility ends when your flight ends mine can come back to haunt me years later if a plane should crash from a poor repair I made when I was having a bad day months or years ago. Pilots have more invested in training and expense and deserve to make more that is not an issue for me. My issue is how the industrial unions used the A@P to prop up unskilled labor pay. I was IAM for many years and the ramp guy made more than I even did for the first 4 years I was employed then at year 5 I only made a dollar or 2 more than they did. The National Mediation Board has classified the A@P in such a way that other "related" groups are lumped in with them unlike the pilots or dispatchers or even flight attendants. Until that changes and the FAA makes better more stringent rules regarding A@P's you will not see much improvement. You probably won't because the industry will fight any changes made.