VA has hired several fired pilots from F9. Yeah, lots of talent going there.

 

Before you launch on your crusade against Skybus, VA, et al, you should take a look deep inside at how much respect you show your predecessors when you fly an aircraft comparable to the DC-9-10s, F-28s, and BAC111s they once flew for a fraction of their former pay and QOL.

When Skywest offered you a job with a disgustingly low starting wage to fly former mainline routes in 70 seat jet aircraft did you worry about your predecessors who were seeing their jobs farmed out to regionals or did you gladly show up for class telling yourself that your pay would get better as the years went by, that it was good career experience, and that it was the natural evolution of the industry that the regionals get 70 and 86 seat aircraft?

Nobody likes to see the level of compensation being offered at places like Skybus, but before you go to war with the pilots who take those jobs you should accept that by going to work for Skywest instead of telling them where to stick their $19 an hour, you too have played your own small part in the degredation of the piloting career.

 

The FAA already publishes pilots names (some their addresses, which I think is a security issue), type and rating. It is public knowledge. However, they do not post employment infomation.

It is all a matter of public infomation. Most pilots are employeed as a public service employee unless you fly for a private company, in any case, your information is still public. www.dot.gov


FWIW

 

I’m doing my part trying to get skywest unionized.

Relaxing scope has a large part to do with the degradation of our industry; I had no say in that. We can point fingers all day at how we each in our own small way has lowered the bar, or we can look for solutions and not stand Blatant Large problems that kill our profession. You and I both know taking a job at a regional compared to flying a 150 seat aircraft for 1/3 the going rate is apples to oranges.

 

"When Skywest offered you a job with a disgustingly low starting wage to fly former mainline routes in 70 seat jet aircraft did you worry about your predecessors who were seeing their jobs farmed out to regionals or did you gladly show up for class telling yourself that your pay would get better as the years went by, that it was good career experience, and that it was the natural evolution of the industry that the regionals get 70 and 86 seat aircraft?

Nobody likes to see the level of compensation being offered at places like Skybus, but before you go to war with the pilots who take those jobs you should accept that by going to work for Skywest instead of telling them where to stick their $19 an hour, you too have played your own small part in the degredation of the piloting career."

Can I get an Amen......

This should be a sticky.

 

It's not the few large blatant problems that ruin the industry, it's the multitude of small ones.

As for 1/3 the going rate...if we use Skybus as an example ($30k and $65k), where are they paying newhire A319 FOs $90k and Captains $195k? Skybus is paying more like half the going rate for Captains, and so far the 1st year FO pay is not too far off the mark. How will it change over the next few years? Who knows...perhaps some of the pilots you want on your "list" will be trying to unionize their startups just as you are at Skywest so that things will get better at those carriers.

You can rationalize and justify all you want, and as I've said before, NONE of us like the trend in airline pay and QOL, but for an RJ700/900 guy to be lambasting someone for taking a job flying a narrowbody for less than standard....well just remember that the "standard" would be much higher if not for the pilots willing to fly 70+ seat "Regional" jets for less than turboprop drivers made a decade ago.

Again, I dont disagree that the pay at places like Skybus needs to move up significantly for Captains, and some sort of idea of 2nd year pay for FOs would be nice to see. Just remember before you go casting stones that somewhere out there right now there is a 20 year Delta/USAirways/UAL/NWA pilot looking at his paycheck and thinking that a list of pilots who took jobs flying 70-seat jets for $19/hour might be a "great tool".

 

When I was hired at skyw we had no 900s and few 700s. Looks to me like those who relaxed the scope created the problem.

So if I understand you correctly, you say that everyone who has taken a job at a regional is on par with skybuss or va or gojets?

Give me a break. Again apples to oranges.

 

I would take Go out of this discussion, because it is an alter-ego airline, not an LCC startup. The pilots who took jobs at Go will have to deal with that on their own terms, and I'm sure most will regret the decision. The folks going to the startups though...maybe they are 'lowering the bar', maybe they will all end up in pilot hell for it, but maybe they will organize and end up with long careers at successful airlines with decent wages. Have you been in the industy long enough to remember that Airtran was once ValueJet? Do you know what those guys started out at? Did you know that they had to PFT? Would you go to Airtran now if they called you?

you seem awfully quick to blame those who relaxed scope for Skywest operating 700/900s, but still you gladly fly them for wages far below mainline levels. Why did you not resign in protest when they arrived on property?? That act would at least give your complaints against the $30k Skybus FO some credibility.

Did you stay in the hopes that someday you would be able to get paid mainline wages for that equipment? Did you stay because you need the job? Or was it because you think the experience will get you to a major? Perhaps those same thoughts are going through the heads of the people at Skybus.

There are no apples and oranges in this fight. We all have a bowl of fruit salad that is getting smaller and smaller and starting to rot. Part of the blame for that lays at the feet of the pilots at Skybus...part of it lays at the feet of the pilots at Skywest, Mesa, and Republic. Does this mean I think all RJ pilots are to blame? No. We all need to feed and shelter ourselves and our families. We each make our decisions for our own reasons, even those poor bastards at GoJet. All I'm saying is dont blame the guy selling the fruit salad for $1 when you started selling it for $0.99 years ago.
Give you a break? Not when you start a thread about establishing what amounts to your own personal scab list of pilots who did the same thing you did; took a job for less than they should.

 

"Give you a break? Not when you start a thread about establishing what amounts to your own personal scab list of pilots"

That's absurd, and enough of a reason to totally ignore this poster.

 

How is this absurd? It is exactly what he is proposing when he started this thread.