Originally Posted by sailingfun

When you look at the pre chapter 11 seniority lists also look at the work rules and pilot utilization. Pre Chapter 11 the average Delta pilot flew 600 block hours a year. Post chapter 11 with the new contract the average pilot flies in excess of 800 block hours per year. That is better then a 25% improvement in productivity. We had just over 10,000 pilots. With a 25% improvement in productivity you are down to 7500 pilots. Want to know where the jobs went? WORK RULES!

Originally Posted by Dash8widget

I understand where you are coming from, your arguments just don't match what has happened in reality. That last big hiring cycle is a good example. After 9/11 the airlines were hit hard; lots of furloughs at the majors, big cuts in pay, etc. As a result, fewer people started perusing airline careers and enrollment in flight schools took a hit. Then things started to turn around. The airlines started hiring again and the regionals were growing and loosing pilots at the same time. So, the regionals had to start hiring in large numbers. But they found that the supply of well qualified pilots was much less than in years past. So what happened? The regionals began lowering their hiring requiments significantly.

Notice that they did not start parking rj's for lack of pilots - they just lowered the bar.

RJ's (at the regional level) are not the result of there being too many pilots out there - they are the result of agreements made by short sighted major airline pilot unions giving up scope for better pay. Job security and better pay will come from scope protection, NOT from cutting the number of commercial pilots coming from part 61 programs!

Originally Posted by vprMatrix

You may have better data than me but I would be shocked if the average Delta pilot flew 800 hours per year.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

Is it normal on the 88 to have a trio of attractive strippers come to the cockpit prior to push and put on the Captains hat and sit on the rudder trim and take photos?

Just curious. This has been the best mandatory displacement ever.

Sorry for the drift.

Originally Posted by Dash8widget

I understand where you are coming from, your arguments just don't match what has happened in reality. That last big hiring cycle is a good example. After 9/11 the airlines were hit hard; lots of furloughs at the majors, big cuts in pay, etc. As a result, fewer people started perusing airline careers and enrollment in flight schools took a hit. Then things started to turn around. The airlines started hiring again and the regionals were growing and loosing pilots at the same time. So, the regionals had to start hiring in large numbers. But they found that the supply of well qualified pilots was much less than in years past. So what happened? The regionals began lowering their hiring requiments significantly.

Notice that they did not start parking rj's for lack of pilots - they just lowered the bar.

RJ's (at the regional level) are not the result of there being too many pilots out there - they are the result of agreements made by short sighted major airline pilot unions giving up scope for better pay. Job security and better pay will come from scope protection, NOT from cutting the number of commercial pilots coming from part 61 programs!

Originally Posted by Justdoinmyjob

I guess that makes me better than average with just over 800 hours for the last two years. BOOTH!

For the math challenged, that comes out to an average of 67 hours a month. Still under guarantee @ 70.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

I honestly didn't think of that camera.. It was one at a time and one of the other two would take the picture. I thought they wanted all three in the cockpit at first but then they told me to stay because they wanted us in the picture. So we stayed and smiled for the camera. The flight wasn't full at all.

It was a crazy 5 minutes. The gate agent was not amused but we were already done with our stuff and were out in time.