Sorry but this is not an "event" to me. It serves as confirmation of opinions about a particular carrier and the yutes they have that decided to play airline pilot.

Take the Colgan crash, the Pinnacle "FL410 Club" and some other amazingly stupid things that have happened in the regionals. The puppy mills have produced some really bad pilots.

Many of the pilots working in the industry don't have any sense of what being an airline pilot is about. I have ridden in the back of RJ's that guys taxi and fly like they have stolen them. There is no airmanship or deft touch. I have sat on the jumpseat in a CRJ on a commute to work and watched a F/O fly right through the middle of an easily avoidable cumulus cloud that rocked the crap out the airplane. He turned and smiled and said; "that was fun, I want to find another one". With the quick upgrades and minimal experience they don't have anyone with any longevity in the Capt seat to lead by example.

Again, I am sorry if the truth hurts but the evidence supports the argument. Airline pilots did not lose respect in the eyes of the public. We have given it away with pilots using poor judgment. Be it showing up drunk to fly or going bat crazy when your told "she's just not that into you". It is time for pilots as a group to police our own. No more group hugs or coddling for the weak. Time to make the difficult choices to thin the herd. We need to lead by example and bring the fringe back to the fold. If they choose not to then get them to the PSC and reclaim what was surrendered.

L