Originally Posted by
oldmako
Dude, you need to chill. There are PLENTY (there, I used all caps like you do....pretty childish don't ya think?) of reasons why we don't fly that crap, don't do runups etc etc. How bout we don't get paid and are putting our licenses / jobs on the line for starters. I don't work for free. Plus, if we do runups, they just lay off more mechanics right?? The current system is just fine. Why rock the boat? Have you ever read how restrictive the FOM is regarding exactly what we can and cannot do when flying other than a perfectly airworthy airplane on a standard 121 flight plan?? There are plenty of valid reasons for the way things are, and many of them were written in blood.
Let maint pilots do maint flights. That's their job, that's what they are trained to do. We are not. And I might add, we're barely even compensated for the training we currently do, so let's not add to that burden.
This is an idiotic thread. The fight is with management outsourcing revenue flying to other carriers, not with the test pilots.
Not going to waste any more time on this.
I agree!!
The original poster had No Idea what he was talking about. BUT!! it IS in the alpa contract to fly type2 ferries if there are no flight restrictions. We don't care either way who flies the flights as long as the plane goes where we want it and to do what we need to do. I KNOW there are plenty of pilots in ALPA who COULD fly test flights because I KNOW they flew them in the military. ALL this malarkey about contract is a bunch of BUNK!! To be honest?? We shouldn't NEED engineering crews at all, and wouldn't have them IF we had enough crews who knew what they were doing.. I do recognize the skill SHOULD demand some premium money. And ALPA needs to address that. All this BS about Maint? is just that BS! There are things We can'rt control like Lightning strikes! The damage in itself is minor but the number of placed that lightning hits might be all over the fuselage. the inspection repairs? try looking at every INCH of your living room floor looking for loose fibers in your carpet and you'll get the drift. I think that if the ALPA crews didn't want the ferry flights then they should refuse to fly them as part of the contract! Then we wouldn't be discussing this. The test flight manual is pretty specific about proceedures Tom Tilden and the Engineering pilot crews are just Pilots who fly Test flights. I Fail to see why any other line pilot can't fly them as well, and at ANY other Airline except UNITED? I'll make book they DO!! This shouldn't BE part of a diatribe when it comes to contract because we all KNOW that after the contract is settled? You guys will care LESS about who flies the ferry flights as LONG as it's not YOU!!