Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
Scambo, I gotta disagree with you on this one. Have you seen the hiring standards in recent years at some of these DCI carriers?? And when you factor in the massive devaluation of this profession that has taken place over the past decade, common sense and the basics of economics dictates that the people getting into this profession now (not all of them, but probably most) are not of the same caliber as what we have traditionally seen.
Also, I'm guessing from your avatar that you came from the military and have not flown for a regional carrier. Well, I did fly for one back in the day... and here's my personal experience with it. What I found was that the vast majority were really sharp, mostly young guys that were just building their time and paying their dues until they could get hired by a major airline. Back then, the career was worth about TWICE what it is now... so there was no shortage in supply of sharp people getting into this profession. However, there were that 10% or so who, shall we say, had reached "the pinnacle of their career." They either had some kind of problem with their record, or no college degree, or they just didn't fit the profile of an airline pilot (i.e. they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed). But what I found flying with them was that they generally had to be watched very closely and could get into trouble pretty easily. Some of the things I saw were truly appalling, and I would absolutely not want my family on an airplane with those guys as Captain.
Now, fast forward to today. Most of the guys currently flying for DCI have been in the industry for many years and are just stuck there right now. I've flown with many of the ones we've hired from DCI in the past several years and they are OUTSTANDING pilots who are most definitely qualified to fly for Delta.
But what about that 10%? Or maybe with the value of the career and the amount of hiring done by the regionals in the past few years, it's 20%? Would you want your family sitting in the back of a jet with one of the weak Captains like I described above and an F/O that has less than 500 hours of total flight time with the ink still barely dry on his commercial/multi? (And don't forget, there's a good chance this 500 hour F/O is not that sharp of an individual to start with.)
Still think they're all qualified to be flying Delta passengers and should just be integrated onto our seniority list?
Yes I was military and I commute often in the jumpseat. I have seen some questionable piloting skills, but very, very, very rarely...and none bad enough to bust a line check. Its easy to evaluate from the jumpseat tho, but all of this is beside the point...just dont put me in the DC-9 because my steam guage SA is not that high.
I cannot and will not disagree with the fact that most new hire regional pilots don't meet Delta's stated pilot hiring standards when they are hired at the regionals...again, beside the point.
My point is that these pilots are flying Delta passengers...in the case of Comair, they exclusively fly Delta pax. The decision points -as I see them are:
1. What guage of aircraft should be flying for the mainline?
2. How else can we reach out for unity except to realize that DCI pilots are (actually) Delta pilots except in name.
You fly the DC9. I think the DC9 guage is mainline. I also happen to think that anything with a first class seat is mainline. I also think that anything over a certain seat size (lets say 45 seat for an arbitrary figure) should be mainline (how many seats were on a DC3 when they were in pax service and how much did those mainline pilots get paid relative to pilots today?).
The arguement that DCI pilots dont meet Delta hiring standards is a fair arguement, but it is also the issue most easily dealt with - the standards are firm. Period. My understanding is that some recent hires have been let go due to non-performance...is this really a problem?