Guess what, fellas? There have been PILOTS who have screwed up in the KCM line, including carrying weapons. So lets not just point fingers at the F/As. If KCM gets screwed up the most likely perpetrator will be a pilot.

 

Married to one eh?

 

Almost 2 hours for the first knee-jerk response. Tsk, tsk.....you boys are slipping and frankly, disappoint me.

 

Captain I flew with today who said, "I just don't understand why guys continue to go to Spirit when places like United and AA are hiring. They are desperate for pilots. That's just stupid."

After ten minutes of discussion and bringing up many obvious points, he just said, "Whatever, I'm not in the job market, but those guys are stupid."

Yet another prime example of ignorance and this bewildering attidude that if legacies are hiring you can just waltz yourself right on in the front door...

 

PC - is he saying guys should stay regional FO's instead of going to Spirit?!?!?!

And only 8-9,000 regional FO's. How many are the Big 3 hiring this year? 2,500? How many years does he recomment they stay at the regional vs. going to Spirit???

 

I believe he was speaking more towards staying a regional captain. I don't work for a regional, so it wasn't specific to that segment.

I think 2,500 is a very generous number, especially considering how few OTS new hires will be at AA. I'd call the number closer to 1,800-2,000 depending on whether or not DAL cleans up it's pool.

He went on to say that his buddy at AA told him "they can't get enough qualified guys." I could only laugh. The average age of a "new hire" at AA is currently about 51 due to flow throughs... at an average of about 15,000 hours+. Yeah, hard to find qualified guys. When I explained that 70%+ of DAL and 90% of FDX new hires were military, he only scoffed and said, "There aren't that many military pilots!"

At that point I knew he was just an idiot and a lost cause so I discontinued the conversation.

 

USAF losing about 1000 pilots in 2016. With USN/USA it's maybe 1,500. With some prior military guys not hired in previous years there's enough guys for some carriers to be hiring high percentage of prior military guys.

AA avg new hire was about 42 in 2014 and 48 this year. Reduction in OTS and increase in F/T's the reason for the change.

AA F/T TT 10,5xx. Company letter on pilot website.

 

Well, there ya go, I wasn't far off the mark making a guess.

And don't forget about the USMC!! Plenty of pilots among their ranks, more FW guys than the army by far.

 

Sadly, this is the case. Ever wonder why it took so long to get KCM at Regan? Not because it's at the nations capital but because a pilot from the big D forgot he had a loaded weapon. Luckily, TSA got over it but that took a few years.

 

The tools of the day, the Army DI's that were wandering Terminal A at STL harassing and intimidating the Army recruits going on Christmas leave. Also how did they get into the concourse without a ticket, the smokey hats are not that cool.