Airline Pilot Central Forums - The glory days are over

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- - The glory days are over (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/4011-glory-days-over.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by captjns

captjns:

What! :eek:

We agree on something!!! Just kidding.;)

It was reported last night on the local news here in Collier County, FL (Naples) that county EMT workers are currently in negotiations for higher pay, improved working conditions, better working hours, retirement, etc. etc.

This phenom transcends all careers, vocations, and industries.

atp

Quote:

Originally Posted by atpwannabe

captjns:

What! :eek:

We agree on something!!! Just kidding.;)

My god... what is this world coming to?:) I can't stress enough to follow one's dreams, but don't have tunnel vision... leave yourself an out.

Happy aviating atp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by captjns

My god... what is this world coming to?:) How the flying coming?

Looking to start this summer @ Naples-Air for the PPL, while working full time (M-F;1500-0000), then on to ATP around the first of the year for the rest of my licenses & ratings.:D

Good for you! Stick with it, before you know it you will be drawing a paycheck doing something you really enjoy:D

It is good to be reallistic and have both feet on the ground. If flying prevents a pilot from supporting $$$$ the family, change directions.
BUT!!!!..... Remember we spend more time of our lives in our jobs than we do with our family. So, if we are not happy with the job we have, we are going to doom ourselves to be unhappy most of our lives. The key is trying to balance both (easier said than done)
Just a little food for thought

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyHigh

Many regionals are hiring pilots with less than 500 hours now. Just a decade ago it was common to have more than 3000 as a regional new hire. The cost of training can be financed. Back in the 90's the bank would laugh at you if you asked for a loan to fly. To me it seems shockingly easy to jump into flying now. One would think it to be difficult but yet they come.
SkyHigh

Granted there are those select few that have gotten jobs without the standard 1000 TT/100 MEL. Only a few went though flight training with me. But as for me and MOST of my colleagues we had to wait until we met the airline mins. I can't speak for my colleagues, but I've already had some good time and also been down right kicked in the teeth. But, I would never say it was easy, and my wife will atest to that.
Yes getting financing was relatively easy, that how I paid for my training. And now I am paying. Yes, I believe there are too many DRIVERS in the industry and it has been my displeasure to flying with some of them. But until we can get them weeded out and the pilot to take back their union. The industry will stay in its chaotic spiral. I also believe the good days will come back. The high salaries of the past won't or the times of passengers dressing up for their first jet ride. But modest pay, benefits and QOL will. Until then, I will stick it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by captjns

Not true. It seems hard times have found their way to the airline industry as it has in the automotive, clothing manufacturing, and high tech industries.

It’s not easy for any one, regardless the level of income, or industry which one is gainfully employed in, to go on strike. It’s a disruption of one’s life, life style, family and livelihood.

Today typically, individuals try to spend and save within their means. It’s common for a husband and or wife to maintain a part time job in addition to their full time job which results in two to three incomes per household. Then there are those who spend beyond their means and go into debt. Pilots as other professionals are not immune to this peril. Fixed expenses, such as mortgages, car leases, educations didn’t decline in the same proportion as salaries did. This is a catastrophic event in anyone’s family, again regardless of their professions.

Professions are never embarked upon with the prospect of declines of compensation, termination of benefits, and interference with their QOL. It’s a shame that pilots have been caught up in this whirlpool.

There is no union out there that’s going to fix that for many years to come.

As individuals we are in command of our own glory days… not the airlines, nor any other employer.

I have recommended, to up and coming aviators, even during the so called glory days to have a profession to fall back on in such cases as these.

Re-read my post. I said it is easier, not easy. Imagine this, if you can, a pilot earning 200k a year is spending much more than a pilot making 30k. How easy is it for a pilot to go from a job earning 30k to another job (outside of aviation) earning 30k? I would imagine that it is a lot easier than finding another 200k job. Only when we start acting like a true union and cracking some scab sculls and shutting down companies will we regain what we have lost.

enough awready sheesh

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyHigh

What if we all work to drive the pay and benefits even further into the ground until the weak are driven off and the new are discouraged? Then once the flood of pilots has subsided we can demand higher pay. SO what do you think?

Skyhigh

speak fur yurself i`m off to the exotic east:) --well maybe thats the weak/feeble/old :D being "driven off".

maybe if we all stopped all this gloom-n-doom blubbering, and concentrated on being topguns it would be better.

Here`s de plan---dump the wife, in some cases thats a plus anyhow lol.--leave the kids with granny, she looks after them most times anyhow lol.
proceed to the exotic east(belly dancing etc) work for 5 years return with a lot of dough, and 3 extra wives lol (you`ve become a muslim they can have 4 wives) :eek: pay off all debts live happily ever after.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randal

3 extra wives lol (you`ve become a muslim they can have 4 wives) :eek:

I love it!!! An old timer who flew with Orville and Wilber, related to me the theory of the ration of the number motors on an airplane to the number of wives.

1 wife you are a single engine flyer
2 wives you are on the DC-9 or B-737 – getting ready to transition to the B727… I know… I know… keep on reading… it has three engines… but they are small round motors… so you are getting ready for the big 3 motor jet.
3 wives you are on the DC-10 or L-1011
4 wives… you made it to the top… the whale B-747

Hope you are on the inside track to a 4 motor jet.:D

What is the current definition of good?

What are the good old days if they were not great pay, status and tons of time off? A few have mentioned that the good old days will come back or the the pendulum swings both ways but if it doesnt go back to the way it was in 1978 then they will never really come back.

Nothing lasts forever and every dog has his day. The pilot profession is on the glide never to return to the peak of the 1970's. I think it will plateau for a few years then keep sliding. There seems no other place for it to go.

SkyHigh