Indeed...and exactly my point. My dad was AF too, and I have all the respect in the world for the guys who have been there. But after having been through the wringer on my own dime...as have many others; flown and flown with guys who operated low level IFR in crap that no military guy would have dreamed of, it get's a bit old hearing how nobody else can do it as well as a mil driver. Hell, it would have been a dream to have two functioning ILS's...and a fantasy if they were the same manufacturer...and decade!
Ask a Connie DC-8 driver. 26 DC-8's. 26 different cockpit configurations. PDI's. Going into South America. Or an old Henson BE-99 driver who flew a bird with a sticky ILS by the F/O's right knee. The old guys knew. The young one's didn't always catch on. 17 people died in a CFIT crash because of it. The company response? "That's what we pay insurance for." "Magic" was a VOR and an ADF...no autopilot and maybe working radar.
I don't worry about magic going poof. I hand fly to and from altitude and hand fly approaches unless we have to use the magic. Then again maybe it's easier since I don't fly ultralight 73's or light twin 76's...
I fly a 74-400.
(relax...a little humor...)
And Rhino...as far as running off to the cockpit to fly in a strike? Careful junior...I have an Eastern Battle Star on my lapel. And 28 years.
Not one Eastern pilot got hired by your fine organization back then. Your guys just took our airplanes and routes...didn't see any DAL guys demanding that DAL hire Eastern pilots. You're welcome for the job we made available for you by providing the extra front seats.
Remember, this got cranked up over guys who felt an entitlement to their job and insinuated that others in the regional arena were lesser beings. Funny how you got your panties in a wad when someone dared to speak up. So Rhino...what were you doing in 1989?
The lesson? The only reason anyone is where they are is luck on the day HR decided who to hire and seniority. Other than that, we're all equal...blue collar working stiffs.
So if you don't want stones tossed at you, don't toss them yourself.