I agree.

While I honestly believe if he made a video about the actual pay and QOL compared to other regionals it would cause classes to start drying up pretty quickly. Realistically though, he probably won’t do that. At the least he needs to refrain until you guys get true meaningful gains.

Looking at one of his most recent videos just 3 comments down and I quote...

“As I stated in your other posts, you are an excellent SPOKESMAN for your airline. MANAGEMENT must know this. I can see you being an instructor in no time.”

CAPS are my doing, but that is a direct verbatim quote.

 

Milage may vary. I have no idea what your videos are about, or how well they convert on ad play and click through rates. His are very specific, and I estimate that his videos would have a high bid and conversion rates from flight schools and regional recruiters.

The product pitch is the bigger issue. I know a girl with about a quarter of his views that made well over $10k by doing product demos for about a minute in each of her videos. This guy is making 10 minute infomercials.

 

So let me get this straight. His videos are bad for pilots during contract negotiations. But they’re good when the contract is good, because it keeps people coming in the door?... Thus, the flow continues unimpeded.

Do any of you want the chance at flowing one day? Sounds like he’s helping you get there

 

Swayne’s videos are authorized by Envoy. He will never make anything that will hurt his ability to continue that relationship which tells where his allegiance is.

And I’m reasonably certain he has some sort of written agreement (contract) to do these videos. If he wants to stay in the graces of the pilot group, he should just keep those videos off the cyber until there is a new pay agreement. HIS agreement may say he has to do a certain number or frequency or may not.

But again, whether you think he has no impact, or a huge impact on numbers at Envoy, ANYTHING that does not HELP the pilot group is helping the company.

A friend of my enemy is my enemy and it is good to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

His videos need to stop.

 

Sounds like the company line on why they can pay us so little.

But there is flow...

The flow is not a guarantee beyond a certain point. Also there are no guarantees any of us will be able to continue to fly. The flow may or may not have a future value, but increased pay and QOL have a current value.

 

Personally I don’t mind his videos and see them as well produced and selectively informative for the purpose they serve. However I am clearly not the target audience these are heavily pandering towards others (ie..CFI with SJS and flight sim “pro pilots”.) These videos provide positive reinforcement to those who want their beliefs of the industry verified and not challenge. Like msnbc to liberals or Fox News to conservatives it is nothing more then an echo chamber giving the uninitiated a very one dimensional view. I try to listen to and understand both sides of an argument before forming any belief or opinion on the matter, and believe those coming into this field, need a unbiased and comprehensive overview on the reality of this industry, not the white washed, flight school narrative these candidates are bombarded by flight schools and reenforced throygh recruitment Depts.

In short Envoy pilots and all pro aviators should always desire there to be a shortage of prospects waiting in the pipe. It is one of the main forces that drives the current trend of salary and QOL improvements. Pilot shortages are great for pilots and bad for management. Low pay and bad contracts, the supply dwindles and flights cancel, pilots leave the field for more lucrative careers. Pool then dries up so management must now improve pilot salaries and benefits to attract qualified pilots. The smaller the pool of pilots the harder management must work to improve salaries and QOL to attract pilots away from their competitors. Conversely a large pool allows management to cut and wipesaw pilots against each other till they gut the elure of the profession causing many guys to leave and others not to pursue , the pool shrinks again, wash and repeat and thus the cycles of the airline industry the last 70 years. In my experience as long as pilots keep showing up for class (a large pool) management sees no reason to improve wages or conditions. Why would they? Cutting cost and doing more with less is in their job description. However, if tomorrow envoy stopped filling the training classes (small supply, large demand) it would make your head spin how fast management can find money to increase wages and QOL of their pilot group. One could make an argument that these videos only nominally help increase Envoys hiring pool (Large supply). That may be true but his channel is definitely not helping the MEC with the important negotiation leverage that empty classes provide. The regional business model is built in a way that empty training classes provides the greatest leverage to counter the management negotiation tactics of maintaining status quo. When the inability of the recruitment dept to fill it’s class sizes occurs, the exec’s perk their ears up and offer change. To management this loss of supply represents solid financial proof that current pilot wages are not insync with the present market factors influencing pilot supply and demand. As shown many times over then, and only then, will management submit to pay and QOL improvements. As long as Envoy can fill their seats, and they are thanks in part to glossy recruitment ads and Swayne’s videos, management will drag its feet on negotiations, thus saving money and pleasing investors. The day tangible evidence shows current contracts are below market indicators things will improve but not until this point. At its worse, and not necessarily my personal opinion, one could argue, these videos can be construed as misleading management propaganda that paints a inaccurate or incomplete picture of the career compared to what many have experienced. IE serving the interest of management over labor. That coupled with with the whole society stigma many over the age of 35 have against “social media influencers”, helps create a perfect storm drawing disdain, complaints and ire from his peers and other experience airline pilots. For years management salivates and utilize these types of videos to toe the company line and undermine its unions. In summary if you are not helping you are hurting and Swayne is definitely not helping.

 

I never said they were good. They might be good for young and future aviators. They’re also good for management, but they are certainly not good for the pilot group no matter if times are good or times are bad.

I’m guessing you’re relatively new in the 121 world. Your “25 million dollar” contract isn’t at the hands of Swayne Martin. It’s at the hands of how many people are showing up for class. It doesn’t matter if you have Jimmy Hoffa and Al Capone in the flesh negotiating for you. If you are still filling classes... you will get jack squat and like it. Swayne Martin is a major influence on how many people show up for class. A lot of people getting into the regionals don’t know that Envoy has some of lowest pay and worst QOL of the industry right now. Sure maybe things are just like they were 2-3 years ago, but the difference is a new hire will have a much better experience at almost any other airline right now. A lot of new hires don’t realize that. A lot of them only know what they hear from recruiters, see advertised on Envoy’s website, and what they see in Swayne’s videos. And I would guess more people see what they think life is like from Swayne than they do from recruiters. He’s a huge influence.

 

If Envoy cuts the flow for any reason recruitment would go from hero to zero in no time. Even Swayne couldn’t salvage that.

 

Yep, never underestimate the ignorance/stupidity of bug-eyed 23-24 year old CFI's looking to go for a regional. They will apply to the first regional they see and accept an offer from the first regional that extends said offer. When you type "regional airline pilot" into the search bar, two of the first five videos are Swayne's videos, and these CFI's will hear the words "Envoy" and then go apply at Envoy and get hired.

You can make all of the reasoned arguments about pay, QOL, long-term prospects, etc. but those arguments do not resonate with the vast majority of 23-24 year olds that are flying 172's for pennies and just want to get out of flight instructing. They will pick a regional that has substandard pay, substandard QOL, and in many cases has bases nowhere near where they live necessitating a two-leg commute just because they saw a video on youtube or one of their flight instructors went there. I know people that live in a place with 9 flights to DFW a day that went to Piedmont and commuted two legs to their crappy outstation base because their old flight instructor went there and kept in touch with them and blew smoke up their ass. It defies all logic.

 

At least one fo here is getting paid close to what they deserve.