Originally Posted by
tzadik
Seeing as the last 4-5 fatal accidents in the US were regional’s…- Colgan – undetermined (potentially icing and lack of icing recognition/recovery training)
- Comair – fatigue, bad crm, checklist procedures
- Corporate Airways – fatigue, bad crm, checklist procedures
- Air Midwest - maintenance
(you could count Pinnacle even though it was a ferry)
It’s not gonna take long before some chucklehead at the associated press puts two and two together and figures out this common thread. Right or wrong the assumption is going to be made that experience/sully = miracle on Hudson. Not so much experience/regional bob = the above. If done right we could take advantage of the media firestorm.
I think 60 minutes might be interested in doing a little special about working conditions at our esteemed carriers. We all know the flying public thinks we're living high on the hog, hell my own best friends thought I was making $80,000 (well I do, every 3 years). A little a media attention and public outrage would go a long way in our fight against the man. Hit john q public with a little john stossel reporting about our lack of training (icing) lack of sleep (reduced rest) lack of pay (less than a bus driver) and all the associated conditions that directly affect performance.
When the flying public gets on a CRJ/ERJ that says United on it, they have little clue we aren’t United pilots and almost zero clue that they’re flying on Skywest, Mesa, GoJets, TSA, Shuttle America, etc... If they knew about the substandard training, maintenance, and potentially unsafe QOL of the pilots (that’s associated with regional carriers) there could be serious hell to pay. If it was only known how cheaply, substandard, and barely reaching FARs a good majority of these companies are run... oh man! And how jackass' like JO are livin the highlife while the foot soldiers that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives are palming first class boxes and bottles of water from the plane so they can eat. dude, chaos!!!
I truly believe organizations such as ALPA and RAA primarily exist just to feed themselves. Yeah, ALPA helps us but in the end do they really care about the regionals? Look no further than our awesome quality of life for that answer. What I see on these forums are more than just pilots. I see economic and business gurus, graphic designers, web designers, public relations personalities, and people with heart that truly care… absolutely everything that one needs to go grass roots.
When that waste of space marion blakey sabotaged the QOL and pay for the controllers they launched the Fair FAA and Fly US Safe campaigns and from what I’ve heard they have been quite successful. The total eradication of the BS two tiered pay scale system is on the horizon. Granted a lot of this was financed by NATCA, which in my humble opinion is a lot stronger union. Perhaps some pressure needs to be placed on ours as ALPA is wayyy outta touch with our regional reality.
I see websites, media attention, flight cases with Che Guevara’esk stickers (sub che for a dude in a pilot’s uniform). Maybe I’m crazy but if we even put half the attention that we give *****ing and blaming on these forums into fighting the man we could really make a change.
I even see it as a way to honor our brothers and sisters at Colgan, Comair, etc…
I'm naive, Blast away…
Not naive............just a bit misguided.
You've seemed to come to a conclusion first and then built your logic to support it. You make some valid points, but there are some carriers flying larger aircraft and cargo carriers that have inferior training and maintenance than some regionals, so banging that drum alone will be insufficient. You'll (we'll) need an entire percussion section to have any CHANCE at success.
You catagorically state (or imply) that all regional carriers have "substandard" training and maintenance simply because.........well they're rigional airlines or fly small jet and/or turboprops. Some carriers ARE pushing the limits and SHOULD be held more accountable in a system that IS dysfunctional, but your plan could (and would) be easily picked apart by big business and their sympathetic pals, the politicians, the courts and the FAA.............and yes, even in some ways ALPA national.
Years ago, ALPA jumped on their bandwagon with the concept of "One level of safety" which sounded good, but alas, the forces mentioned above required too much effort and MONEY on their part to REALLY make a difference, so it faded away.
Sadly, the only REAL chance for change will come from the one entity that can force it....................the travelling public (customers). Until enough body parts are produced to scare them away from perceived areas of unsafety, profit will rule and those that share in it will continue to benefit at others expense...................primarily ours.