Originally Posted by
Sink r8
And when they act like crap, and they actually let themselves become crap, then the loop is completed, and they get what they diserve. If I understand correctly, you're advocating a rationale that will help make sure we're not worth more in the future because we're not paid enough in the present... brilliant!
What we're getting paid now is an anomaly, based on a professional pilot group enduring the perfect storm: 9/11, oil-men in the White House, anti-labor people writing laws and enforcing them, and this so-called "Great Recession". If we lower our standards to where we're being paid now, then all we're doing is adapting our performance to match the new lows.
BTW, management has no problem with us being crap, as long as they get to pay us like crap:
1) They have insurance for (a certain number of) crashes, and they can always count on your survival instinct to limit those to a manageable number;
2) They have you to blame if anything happens anyway. If you screw up, assuming you didn't die, you can always be fired;
3) They can always remove you further and further from the equation. They don't mind a future with 100% autolands. For that matter, if a manufacturer will provide it, they have absolutely every incentive to see a future with 0 % of you. It won't happen right away, but it'll happen faster if the public can be convinced that you're crap. The more you are like crap, the faster you help replace yourself. Less you and me only equates to more profits, after all.
At the regional level at least, with the working conditions, pay, and attitudes, the last few years has produced a significant group of pilots who have never... in their adult lives... known what it is to be professional. People who should absolutely never be accepted into this industry (based on their maturity, attitudes, and professional ability) were offered positions. Why? Because the pay and quality of life is so low that professional aviators wouldn't be caught dead accepting these positions.
Management at airlines has created a subset of airline pilot positions that should have never existed. They're entry level jobs requiring minimal skill, minimal resume, and offer minimal pay and benefits. This didn't happen because mainline pilots don't wear their hats or sleep past their destination, our responsibility as mainline pilots for this is the fact that we let a lot of factors get it in our minds that it is ok to sell out everyone below us.
Yes, pilots as a whole need to sharpen themselves up. I, on a daily basis, see pilots in terminals, hear pilots on the radio, etc that embarrass me. But we also need to recognize that through scope erosion, pay concessions, we have created an entire subset of pilots that are not professionals and may never be. Instead of trying to fix it, we need to bring those jobs back up to the pay and qol standards where they command a professional aviator to fill the seat.