Originally Posted by
Part135 Guy
Know what, UCLA does have a point... I have flown with many "double-dippers" who chat away the time about their 2-3 homes, toys in the garage/hangar, marriages that would only survive if they were gone half the time, 1.1 million lump from DAL, etc., etc., etc. These folks could easily retire... and don't give me the sob story about their funds taking a massive hit, because I don't have any sympathy. In fact, it's a BS excuse and you all know it. You can't tell me that if you were to retire today, even having taken a hit on your retirement funds that you wouldn't be able to recoupe most of it once the economy turns around (and it will). You are not going to deplete your entire retirement in the 12-18 months (my estimation) that it takes for things to get better and for you to gain your losses back. So what if it means that instead of living off of 12 grand per month you only get to draw 9G's until things recover. Most of us nowadays won't even know what that is like when we are ready to retire because the lucrative pay/retirement you folks earned doesn't exisit any more. There are guys out there that are likely to lose their homes over these furloughs, because, in case you haven't noticed (and you selfish pr!cks probably haven't) THERE ARE NO JOBS TO BE HAD IF WE LOSE THE ONE THAT WE HAVE! Your children are grown and gone, the home is mostly paid for (shame on you if it isn't), and all you have to worry about is the bill from the local country club. Younger guys are concerned with feeding their families..... I hope you can sleep well at night.
Unfortunately, it seems that we have our work cut out for us in reversing the it's all about me because the world owes me generation.
Hey part 135 guy, what's next? If you get hired on with a major are you going to bit*&ch about being on reserve, having to work holidays because you are junior? Are you going to demand that senior guys give up their hard earned privelages afforded by their seniority and work your thanksgiving or xmas for you because you are young, have a family?
your post is full of ludicrous assumptions that only delineate a hissy fit! Do you mean to shame anyone who's home isnt paid for or mostly paid for? That statement shows your incredible ignorance! Perhaps while you were still on the breast some of these guys lost it all or most of it with earlier bankruptcies? (Eastern, Pan Am, Braniff, TWA etc). Perhaps those were junior guys and are now senior guys at todays survivors. Perhaps there were refinances that had to take place to save a home, send kids to college, move for another job etc......
You see this isnt the first time that the industry is in the ****ter, nor will it be the last. The difference between then and now is that then it took alot of hard work and sacrifice (read many years) to get to the right seat of a jet, and so there was a sense of accomplishment and gratitude to have made it to that level. Today, when a kid gets his college paid for by his parents and then rides his "due" ab initio slot into the right seat of an RJ, he doesnt have the same sense of accomplishment that previous generations had because in essense all you had to do was do well in school and training and it was waiting for you. And now when you get into ther real world of possible furloughs you come to find that your seat is in real jeopardy due to economic conditions beyond any line pilots control. So I understand why you may feel shocked when the fast track doesnt guarantee that you keep your job over those who have been in your shoes before you and have suffered like you are now. Its a part of paying your dues.
Now there could be some guys out there who have had an easy and fortunate career and are making top dollar in the left seat of a heavy. He/she may have 2 houses, and many toys and want to ride it out to 65.
If your sense of accomplishment, success and ability for you to support your family depends on their leaving, then I feel sorry for you. Those should be things that you and only you control. Redirect your jealouse and resentful energies into discovering your own personal fire and drive within. One that says something like, no matter what happens in this industry I will perservere and succeed. My success is INDEPENDENT of what anyone else does. When you encounter a great stick inthe left seat, take notes and listening intently for what you could learn cannot and will never be taught in any classroom. Should you encounter a real jerk in the left seat who is very authoritative and boasts about his houses and toys....then also take that as a very good lesson on how NOT to do it, and how not to carry yourself. (I have several class A jerks who I am very grateful to to have shown me, how not to do it).
Point is, you had to have had "a real deep personal reslove" to have maded it through a checkride. It is that very same effort that will carry you to that left seat of a heavy or whatever it is that you yearn for. The challenge is that you have to have "it" and maintain it for your career, which forces you to examine why you got into this career in the frist place!
My hope is that you and anyone else that feels wronged will have that "looksy" within because there and only there will you find it. This may sound like a bunch of *&^%$# to you, but I will be willing to bet a months salary that anyone close to 60 would say that their personal resolve and or passion for flying is what made it possible for them to stick it out to enjoy that seniority or left seat. *****ing or sense of entitlement got them nothing.