Originally Posted by
ratsnrip
Had the momma ask me how bad this was going to be for her son, an Auburn grad from their aviation program. Supposedly he got a certified letter from the FAA saying some part of the program at Auburn in '08 was no longer valid. She thinks he will have to retake that part or he was offered the opportunity to "test out of it" with some kind of FAA test.
I had no idea what to tell her, I suggested he ask Auburn for a refund and then changed the subject. The only other information I have is that he is trying to get on with a regional as a pilot. Anybody here know what this Auburn thing is about?
The Chief Pilot wasn't signed off by the FAA and therefore every checkride he did is invalid. The Auburn program has been without a rudder for years (actually decades) and nobody there had the comptence to know to catch it and the FAA shows you their ageless incompetence as well. The issues surrounding the Auburn program is probably not worth discussing on the DAL L&G thread. I'm tempted but I won't. Maybe there is a better thread on apc somewhere, I'll go look. fwiw, I would never put Auburn at the top of my list if I wanted to strictly go to school for an aviation degree. I would however put it at the top of the list if you wanted to go to a good school and maybe also major in aviation.
Originally Posted by
Superpilot92
BINGO!! We cant be the nations #1 carrier with the best product when we have the most regional jets in the industry. MGMT needs to come forward with a plan to replace our regional jet domestic feed with a mainline jet of choice. They need to realize that people hate regional jets and with the recent scrutiny of of the regional providers now would be the perfect time to adjust the business plan.
Its all about money. And frankly I think the CASM, liabilities and other costs associated with outsourced flying in small jets will push flying back to mainline. I still think regoinal operators are missing the boat by not trying to grab the tuboprop market again.
Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
The show painted with a very broad brush. Some regionals are a lot better than others. ASA, IMHO had an outstanding training department. Their record has been outstanding too. The only losses of life the airline has ever sustained was the result of massive mechanical failures which rendered the airplane incapable of remaining airborne. Even then, by all accounts the crew performed admirably.
Also, the mainline operations are not the model of perfection which would make much of a contrast with the regional world. Southwest's corner cutting is legendary and it sounds like American in about to get a lot of press they do not want.
Hey, everyone can't be Delta
( I keed, I keed, but it is pretty good here compared to other places I've flown )
Good post.
Expressjets only fatal accident was a Brasilia where the horizontal stabilizer wasn't finished being installed and it was accidently put back on the line. The ERJ-145 has had 0 fatal accidents to date and partly because it was designed to be operated by subpar operators around the world not to mention pilots who'd been flying for 16 hours. I heard the Dash 8 (prior to the Colgan crash) had the best record of any aircraft ever built but I'm not sure.
Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
I agree for the most part Bar;
ASA, OH, SKW, Mesaba, Pinnacle, Piedmont, etc are established regionals with very good training programs. Heck I would even submit that Freedom, and Mesa have good training as I know a few of their APD's. Training is very important, but what IMHO is more important is the quality of the candidate coming to the interview.
We have a major problem in this industry,that no one wants to see. Majors have cut pay and bennies to the point that a smart kid will look at and say, "Heck for 150K a year in 20 years I can go be a dentist, a Anesthesiologist Tech, a Doctor, Lawyer, business man, government servant etc." Why would anyone in their right mind sign up for 15K a year for three to five years, then 50-70K a year for another five, then 30K at a major to get to senior FO when they are 40 making 100K and if they are lucky by the time they are 45-50 make 140K + ?
With all of the pitfalls and risks in this industry bight ppl are bright enough to avoid it. Add to it the banks do not want to lend money to students that want to join aviation. They are a bad debt risk.
The problem really is top down and bottom up. Give a bigger bone to shoot for you may be able to snooker some qualified pilots in to the pipe line. Up regional pay, everywhere and you will not see crazy stupid cross country commutes, horrible crash pads etc. Give pilots decent money so that they have a little expendable cash.
Problem is we are making a market wage in an industry that is not truly open to competition, and not regulated to the point that profits can be made across the board. The LGA slot swap is a great example. Airlines are trying to find new ways to make money. Not necessarily to pay pilot better, but to quit losing their shirts. If we can start to make money the QOL of the employees better come back as well.
The government is as much or more to blame than the airlines. Airline managers are ruthless and will pay exactly what gets ppl to arrive at the doorstep, but the government needs to either open it up completely( no slots etc) or regulate the entrants and everything else so that what they deem a national asset can perform as such. Not a half working broken system that by the grace of god does not kill more people that it does.
IMO without a major change the next generation will not be of the caliber of pilot that I want driving my family around. We have about four years to turn the ship.
Rant over!
Fantastic post.
There are a lot of smart good people who are going to look at this industry and walk away and you cannot blame them. And the ATP requirement is not going to solve the problem. If anything it'll make it worse in the years to come when hiring picks up. Probably wrong threat again but if mainline pilots are worried today about putting their famliies on a regional jet just wait a couple of years, it'll get a lot worse if progression to a personal ROI for good people doesn't dramatically improve.
I still find it ironic that pilots have a problem putting their families on RJs but nobody has a problem putting their family on a SWA jet? Nice hole. Where did you get that? Inflight?
FTB... tossing grenades while changing diapers.