Exactly the kind of response I was thinking I’d get. Thank you.

Oh and by the way my Dad passed away - so ya... thank you again - bro!

 

I don’t see the need to rip on the guy, I’m sure his oven training thing was just a joke. Truth is, I’m GLAD he quit.

I hope more new hires come here, do 6 months of our junior domestic flying, and say “F this, UAL DAL AA SWA called” and bail. It might encourage the company to actually do something about the quality of our flying. I haven’t met one person who’s said “man these pairings are so much better now than they we’re in 2005!!”

Or maybe we’ll end up like Frontier and have training bonds.

 

My condolences for your loss. I'm sure he's smiling down on you.






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I don't know if it was ripping on him as much as teasing him about not being able to figure out an oven with a timer and a temperature selector. For a guy hand-picked to be in an MD-11 class, that seems like a silly complaint, and silly complaints tend to obscure legitimate ones.

But, you're right. If more people quit, maybe The Company will get a message.






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I think his oven comment was him tying to insert a little humor into a glum post and it just didnt come out right in print-form

RF was recently in CGN for a pilot meeting and made the comment ‘we recognize there is a problem with the hiring process. Most of the new guys leaving didn’t have the endorsement. It helps to know something about the company before coming here’

While I’ll not disagree with him, I believe he’s missing an important aspect. Your sponsor can send you all the bid packs you want but no amount of looking at them is going to give you an indication of how you’ll feel after 6 months of flying them. Then maybe you decide “lemme update that UAL DAL etc app with FDX as my current employer and see what happens, just to see.” Maybe the phone rings.

I am genuinely curious. If we go back to the pre 9/11 rate at which guys bailed for the Big 3 (which are still the same Big 3!), will the company actually recognize that this time, it’s not just about money?

Put a new guy in the bottom of the Airbus bid pack, and 6-9 months after flying that stuff, it doesn’t matter if he’d lose money wise by punching.

If he’s got options, which he probably does since we hired him in the first place, and he’s got “spare age”....Bailing suddening isn’t a monumental decision anymore.

 

It was less being able to turn two knobs, but more about how this particular captain wanted his tuna steak cooked.., “sorry boss, I only have 8 months on the job - how long does this take???”

But in full disclosure... my “Daddy” never wanted me to be a pilot, it just kind of worked out that way . He always wanted me to live my dream and become a pro baseball player...but there comes a point in ones life where you have to face reality!

Not sure how one is “hand picked “? I think it was more about timing and no one else wanted the fleet (as I heard in training, a person or two asked to be removed and put in the 757 program after the 3rd sim)

No worries, I’m as thick skinned as the next ex Air Force dude (enlisted albeit) - paid for my college, flight training and first two houses!

Like I said, we’ll never know what was the right move until we retire...and then if we actually make it 5 years past our retirement?

 

Got to wonder which carrier will weather the coming trade wars better....

 

It would be hilarious if mainland nationalized the sort facility at CAN. But otherwise I dont think a new pilot at either airline will notice.

 

I'm seeing a lot of newhires on the bus flying relatively senior trips. Either they have moved up so quickly they can hold the lines, or decent trips on a VTO, or they are savvy enough to trade for them. The guys/gals I fly with, even the new ones, seem pretty happy and can trip trade faster than I do. If you don't figure out the system and just work your schedule, you may be unhappy no matter how senior you are.

It makes me wonder if BAe3100FO was junior and didn't figure out how to trip trade. I never purposefully flew an ugly trip, because if I didn't like it, I dropped/traded it. Sometimes even the best of trips can get delayed or revised into something unpleasant, however, if one is repetitively flying crappy trips, then I suspect they are not taking action to change that. In over 20 years at FedEx, I have averaged less than 20 block hours a month. It would take effort to make that as miserable as described.

 

Again, busdriver12, you just reminded the OP of the point many here "trade to avoid...." certain types of trips. I'm not sure everyone wants to spend all the time working their calendar, especially if they have another (ANG) job competing for their time. I don't hear as much "bid to avoid" talk at the other carriers. Then again--they don't have 72 hour Paris layovers as much either....

Me...I flew about 5% of my line and 95% of what I traded into for years. I also (statute of limitations passed?) in the control tower as SOF peeking at open time and seeing what I could finagle. But--that was me, and it certainly isn't for everyone.

We got a lot folks here who DO NOT want to deal with airline terminals. We got a lot of pilots here who DO NOT like flight attendants, gate agents, or the traveling public. Their points are all valid. At the same time, I got a picture of my daughter with two young girls in a terminal after she gave them a set of wings each, and all three have beaming smiles. Some people--including my own girl--take some energy from the interaction with the public. While I don't think anyone picks a legacy instead of FedEx to strut through the airport, I also don't think walking tall and being proud of our profession and being an ambassador for our community is a bad thing either. If someone enjoys that--more power to them. I'm an airline pilot partially because of the encouragement and kindness of a few I met along my own journey.

As for 3100FO, food is a funny thing. Food is a big morale lifter when you are a long trip and tired. It shouldn't matter, but yet a few of my most "WTF?" moments have come from captains or FOs when I was an RFO doing weird stuff, and I still remember those. I once offered a captain his choice of mini-snacks on a day (uncatered) trip to SJU. "Just open 'em both, and I'll take what I can eat out of both--I can't eat most of this *&(*..." Gotcha. I'll take your peanut butter sandwich and leave you my apple slices from grade school all over again. I just laughed--because THEN I realized why such a nice trip was in open time, and I planned on a nice (solo) seafood dinner when I got there anyway. Or the FO on a Campinas trip who wanted me to OPEN and inspect under the foil to make sure he got the dish he ordered. "You want me to break the seal on your food, and INSPECT to make sure you got your (whatever the dish was)?" "Yes--DO it." Just chalking up another to the weirdness that permeates a small percentage of our crew force...

I chase money, and I'm happy here. That said, I had 3 consecutive day legs this week....ICN-PVG-INC and INC-KIX. I forgot how much I really enjoy flying--when I'm not doing at 4 am. If a person can find a way to make the money they need, without facing 20 years of 3-7 am ops, and enjoy the interactions with the public along the way, then I hope they go do so. I love long international layovers, long blocks of days off, and the incredible financial benefits of working here. But 17 years in, I'm feeling the toll a bit. My reasonably senior pax associates spend a lot of time in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii on some good layovers, and they seem pretty happy with their jobs too. Having choices is a good thing.