Originally Posted by
CAPTAIN INSANO
At a particular US Express carrier, all the FOs on the line, many of which are picking up copious amounts of open time with nearly 100 of their fellow FOs, even some that were in the same class as the open time offenders, on furlough.
I'm just curious, when will you decide that your 2nd year FO pay, a $7/hour PAY INCREASE, to a measly $30ish/hr, which is a crime in itself... when is your 2nd year FO pay rate going to be enough? Enough to make you feel ashamed for picking up open-time while your fellow pilots are on the street, and you fly extra work that could be flown by a furloughed pilot.
Don't fool yourself, even 3-5 furloughed pilots coming back to cover open-time flying is better than none.
Selfish individuals always try to rationalize their negative decisions. The worst part is I guarantee you nobody that has ever been furloughed, who is a decent human being, would ever fly an hour of open time with fellow pilots on the street.
I don't want to hear any stories about starving children, or not being able to make a rent payment. You signed up for this job knowing what it pays, you have to accept the consequences. Stop living beyond your means, and you wouldn't be in a tight spot concerning cash.
So, from a pilot who would never pick up open time with my fellow pilots on street, on this beautiful Christmas day, when will you stop?
- When will you stop picking up open time?
- When will you stop answering your phone on your days off to get junior manned?
- When will you stop being an uneducated fool, and let scheduling abuse you?
- When will you stop bending the contract to help the company out beyond any reasonable exceptions?
- When will you stop trying to rationalize your destructive, negative behaviour, and help the pilot group as a whole?
- When will you stop lieing to yourself, and others when the subject of picking up open time comes up?
Merry Christmas to Everybody, and hopefully this small public service announcement reaches out to the hearts, and minds of all pilots.
Alright, this thread is going down a bad path here really quickly, but I guess as long as it's still open for discussion I'll throw my .02 in. Look I agree that picking up open time when there are pilots out on furlough is a bad gig. But honestly, it's not our fault that our managements choose to furlough guys and then still have open time left to pick up. Frankly if they have open time they furloughed too many people, definitely. But calling the pilots that pick up their phones on their days off bad people is a little uncalled for. If the pilots that don't pick up on their days off don't fly the open time, scheduling is simply going to extend someone that is already flying, and they're going to get the extra flight time and cash. We can't all refuse to fly open time, we'd start getting missed trips and end up getting fired. Don't get me wrong, I can't stand the fact that we have overqualified pilots on the streets right now, but I also don't want to join them voluntarily by getting fired for refusing a trip.
On a second note, why on earth did you bring the general aviation guys into this? You do realize that not everyone that flies a 152 is a private pilot with 50 hours right? You realize that there are people who own planes like that with 10000+ hours of flight time and 4000+PIC in a 747 right? That was a bit harsh and uncalled for. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion (hence why it's a PUBLIC forum). It may not be as educated as others' opinions may be, but it's still perfectly alright for it to be acknowledged.
I do agree with you though... naming out pilots on a public forum is grounds for disaster.