Originally Posted by
DryMotorBoatin
ok...now i guess is a good time to ask this. first lemme preface my question by saying im only a dumb sh-t regional pilot...but can someone smarter than me please clarify why i keep hearing and reading since 3407 how regionals and mainline operate on two different sets of rules...arent all flights conducted under FAR Part 121? arent all pilots trained and tested to ATP standards? what am i missing? which rules are different?
Whenever the regionals hire people with an ATP, then you can make your claim that all pilots are trained and tested to ATP standards.
-- break -- break --
OK, I'm admittedly anti-regional when it comes to outsourcing jobs and ruining this profession. That's not the same thing as saying that I think all regional pilots are inferior to us high and mighty mainline pilots. Here's what I believe to be "facts" of this industry:
1. The public will always search for the cheapest ticket, regardless of service, amenities, or safety.
2. Management will always strive to cut costs and provide the cheapest ticket, regardless of service, amenities, training, or safety.
3. Pilots are expected to act as cost shock absorbers whenever fuel price increases or demand decreases.
4. Pilots are their own worst enemies. Thousands of pilots entered this industry thinking that "they" would be the ones that would be able to upgrade to an RJ captain in a year or 2, then get hired by a major in another year or 2. By doing so for the past 10 years, they contributed towards a downward trend of pilot pay. No one single pilot can be blamed, yet the collective actions illustrate the age-old "tragedy of the commons."
5. ALPA can't represent both RJ and mainline groups, but stupid mainline pilots like me and stupid regional pilots like you haven't been willing or able to make ALPA do anything other than improve the lifestyle of ALPA employees.
OK, rant over, flame away.