vagabond

He sounds like some of my law students - knows just enough to be dangerous, but otherwise still has some self-esteem problems. Let's hope he grows up sooner than later.

Rama

Come on guys, he wears a Breitling so he must be an ace.

HeavyDriver

I love flying with guys like that...By the end of the first leg he'll know exactly how little he really does know...I think CRM lets this guy get away with too much and he needs to be brought down to his real level of ability...Just think of how this guy will be to his crew if you don't nip him in the bum while you still can.

CAPPY102

CargoBob, that boy needs to be put in his place. Better to get it out of the way earlier rather than later. Maybe you can give him directions to this message board.

Lab Rat

Probably a knock-off from overseas worth about $20.00.

Being very kind considering his college background.

Obvious low I.Q.

Did he do that to their face?

He's jealous.

Translated: "Don't ask, don't tell got in the way."

That is because he is a Riddle grad. They are used to people telling them that their skill level needs improvement.

Just the typical Riddle attitude.

Packer Backer

Hey Cargo Bob, what company do you work for? This is what you get when you let HR types get involved in the hiring process. Pilots need to retake the hiring process. It used to be a bunch of technical questions, now it's "tell me about a time when your pu$$y hurt. GMAFB.

TonyC

Actually, if you want to look at it statistically, most of us are either above average or below average.








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etops777

He's probably one of those guys that drops the p-bomb to impress girls within 5 minutes. of talking to them.

Browntail

Wall Street Journal

Why Some Passenger Pilots Take Huge Pay Cuts to Fly Cargo

By COREY DADE
June 2, 2006

Kevin Smith saw his pilot friends at Delta Air Lines rattled when it
filed for bankruptcy last September. So when the pilot union at Mr.
Smith's employer, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, started cost-cutting
talks several weeks later, he decided it was time to look for a new
job.

In December, the 42-year-old Mr. Smith landed in the cockpit at United
Parcel Service Inc., where he flies cargo planes packed with boxes --
and is paid 74% less than the $100,000 a year he made at American. Even
though it will take Mr. Smith four years to work his way back to his
old paycheck, he is willing to endure it in hopes of holding on to the
things that used to make being an airline pilot so alluring: job security,
advancement and steadily rising wages.

"Guys who flew commercially [once] looked down on guys who flew freight,"
Mr. Smith says. Now, though, "I've got my buddies at Delta, Northwest
and United calling me."

The turbulence that has led to $38 billion in combined losses since
the start of 2001 for the six largest hub-and-spoke passenger airlines
in the U.S. is causing their pilots to flood major cargo airlines with
job applications -- even as contract negotiations are heating up between
pilots and cargo airline management. FedEx Corp. had 14,000 applicants
for the 420 pilot slots it filled last year, while UPS picked the 233
new pilots it hired from 10,000 applications, including 8,000 from passenger
pilots.

FedEx and UPS did 28% of all pilot hiring at major U.S. airlines last
year, up from 8% in 2004, according to Air Inc., a pilot-placement firm
in Atlanta. Smaller cargo carriers also are expanding, including Kalitta
Air of Ypsilanti, Mich., which flies 14 planes, up from three in 2000.

Pay concessions at passenger carriers, including Northwest Airlines
last month, have pushed annual base pay for their pilots with five years
on the job down by 7.5% since 2000 to about $81,500. The most-experienced
senior captains have seen their pay shrink 12% to about $180,744 a year.
In contrast, five-year cargo pilots now make an average of $108,330
a year, while top captains are paid $194,566.

The reversal in the pilot pecking order reflects surging global freight
demand that is filling cargo planes with everything from computers to
toys to flowers. FedEx and UPS, which operate the world's two largest
cargo airlines, made about $22 billion in combined profit since the
start of 2001, and more growth is expected as they expand their delivery
networks in China.

But the diverging fortunes of the two pilot groups are fueling labor
strife at several unionized cargo carriers, where management insists
that pay levels should reflect the downturn in pilot wages and employment
at passenger airlines. Union leaders claim that FedEx, UPS and other
growing cargo carriers are trying to use the financial crisis at passenger
airlines to deprive cargo pilots of well-deserved increases in pay and
benefits.

Thriving cargo airlines such as FedEx's "not only have the ability to
pay, but the ability to pay very easily," says David Webb, a FedEx captain
who is chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association unit at the Memphis,
Tenn., company. FedEx and the union are in their eighth month of federally
mediated contract talks after 17 months of negotiations on their own
failed to yield an agreement.

So far, it looks like the cargo carriers have much more leverage than
their pilots. Last September, pilots at Atlas Worldwide Holdings Inc.,
which is merging the crews of subsidiaries Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo,
went on strike -- but returned to work two weeks later after agreeing
to a raise in line with the Purchase, N.Y., company's original offer.

Atlanta-based UPS and the union representing its 2,700 pilots started
contract talks four years ago. Efforts to reach a deal on a new contract
hit a snag again last month when union board members rejected a recommendation
from their own negotiating committee, causing an indefinite recess in
the talks. The union's board "is in a state of dysfunction," Tom Nicholson,
president of the Independent Pilots Association, told UPS pilots in
a recorded message. The split centers on a proposed pay scale as well
as retirement bonuses for pilots hired when UPS launched its airline
in 1988 and who now are approaching retirement age, according to people
familiar with the situation.


Mr. Nicholson told members last week that the union and UPS are "working
together in good faith" in informal discussions at the direction of
the mediator. However, UPS spokesman Mark Giuffre said this week that
"we've not been instructed or directed by the National Mediation Board
to conduct any formal or informal negotiations with the union at this
point."

UPS and union officials declined to comment on the specifics of the
talks, citing a media blackout imposed by the mediator. The pilot union
has said it wants pay raises that are consistent with recent revenue
growth rates at UPS, without disclosing specifics. In the first quarter,
UPS's revenue rose 17% to $11.52 billion.

UPS says its pilots make an average of more than $175,000 a year, while
the union says pilot pay is about $168,000 annually. The union has said
the two sides are about $40 million a year apart in their contract talks.

Meanwhile, four-year contract proposals by FedEx and its pilots differ
by about $100 million, according to union official Wes Reed, who is
coordinating pilot demonstrations outside Kinko's shops owned by FedEx.
FedEx spokesman Maury Lane says the company has offered more than $500
million in raises and signing bonuses that would boost average yearly
base pay 14% to $208,000 from $182,428. FedEx's current pilot pay is
among the highest of any U.S. airline.

Except for seats and flight attendants, cargo and passenger planes are
basically identical. But cargo pilots pass through different security
checkpoints than passenger pilots and board planes parked at out-of-the-way
hangars. Most freight moves at night, meaning cargo pilots can make
outbound and return flights on a shift entirely in the dark.

Flying at night is "not one of my favorite things to do," says Steve
Hunter, who started flying at Atlanta-based UPS last year after 20 years
at US Airways Group Inc. He recently bid for a seat on routes to Asia
and Europe with more daytime flying.

Mr. Hunter, 50, took a $104,000-a-year pay cut to join UPS. "We burned
through a tremendous amount of savings" before his annual pay was bumped
up to about $75,000 -- still less than half his peak earnings at US
Airways. He says the sacrifice was worth it because he isn't worried
anymore that his job could vanish before he reaches retirement age.
"Now we're plugging along," he says, "working my way back up."

Write to Corey Dade at [email protected]1

AndresUmana

Hey whats wrong with being a Embry-Riddle Grad?????