how ironic would it be if he’s Skywest

 

How's life in that ivory tower? There are plenty of great pilots with accompanying resumes who can't get hired at the majors because they don't fit HR's points systems. It took me a decade of job fairs, volunteer work, leadership positions - and in the end I just got lucky to get hired by a smaller legacy due to a good friend pitching me to a chief pilot who was able to circumvent the points system. He convince HR to give me an interview.

So I am in agreement that "it was never supposed to be that way" - but different people have different life circumstances and it's wrong to judge those who choose to stay. I flew with many pilots who intended to stay for various reasons that made sense for them and their families.

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Whatever lol, like you know more than the rest of us. No way UA is giving up all their single class 50 seaters, and they never said they were going to. Skw is flying all over the place with their CRJ2s and ZWs flying is increasing into August. Can the same be said about the 145 right now?

 

Lay off the scab talk, nobody is on strike and nobody is advocated crossing a line. Scab has only one very specific meaning on APC.

 

This is the key difference. Some people realize they were lucky. Others really believe they are simply better than all other pilots.

Some pilots are very good and some are quite bad but most (not all) stuck at regionals are good enough they just weren't lucky.

 

With all due respect, not having 6 months worth of liquid savings in an industry that you and everyone else knows is subject to sudden instability, is just as foolhardy as landing at your destination with just 20 minutes of fuel when the wx there, and at your alternate, is right at minimums.

I thought we, as airmen, have had it beat into our heads to always have a plan B if something doesn't go as planned?? Does this somehow not apply to planning for the inevitable downturn?

 

no, that’s not true

Fuel exhaustion could kill dozens or hundreds of people

Personal bankruptcy, even stretching, would put you in a homeless shelter

 

6 months liquidity may not save you this time around. 2 years maybe. There are already 1000+ qualified 121 pilots from Compass and TSA looking for jobs. If XJET, And/or C5, ZW, Mesa etc go under, you’re looking at 2-3k total pilots looking for jobs, not counting furloughees from the survivor airlines. And that’s just our industry, not to mention the layoffs and business closures in other industries. It may be much longer than 6 months before finding any sort of viable work.

 

I have 6 months of liquid savings, probably a little bit more with extreme rationing. That doesn't mean I want to spend it (just like I strive not to burn my reserve fuel). It also isn't clear that 6 months is all the gap we need to cross to be back to the good times. I don't think a pilot who has his carrier suspend operations can have a reasonable expectation of being employed in this industry 6 months later. I think the competition for non-aviation jobs especially those that don't require specialized training is going to be fierce.

Most will find a way. We didn't make it this far by being quitters. But it is time to accept the fact that this isn't a flash in the pan and it could be rough for much longer than the typical downturn.

It appears we were typing the same thought at the same time. My original worst case projection was ~10,000 furloughed pilots. With the mitigation in place it is probably closer to 5,000 now. I agree with your 2 year projection to clear that backlog and even that will require quite a few things going right.

 

Even if that’s true, still not a valid excuse to vote in a concessionary contract.