Flying Cheap- A Special On PBS Feb. 9
01-30-2010 | 07:04 PM
#1
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From: Airbus
Flying Cheap- A Special On PBS Feb. 9
FRONTLINE: Coming Soon - Flying Cheap | PBS
The crash of Continental 3407 outside Buffalo last year, killing all on board, was big news, as any commercial crash is. But like many who were fortunate enough not to be touched personally by the tragedy, what most caught my attention was the news that followed. The co-pilot had been making less than $16,000.
While I knew the airline industry had been struggling through tough times since 9/11, I sure didn’t know that some of the folks that fly me around are working second jobs and overnighting on lounge room La-Z-Boys. And I didn’t know that regional airlines, once thought of as puddle-jumpers, had grown so fast that they now account for more than half the nation’s daily departures. We are on our way to becoming a regional airline nation.
It's nice to see anti-labor companies like Colgan gaining negative press.
Mainline pilots... thoughts?
The crash of Continental 3407 outside Buffalo last year, killing all on board, was big news, as any commercial crash is. But like many who were fortunate enough not to be touched personally by the tragedy, what most caught my attention was the news that followed. The co-pilot had been making less than $16,000.
While I knew the airline industry had been struggling through tough times since 9/11, I sure didn’t know that some of the folks that fly me around are working second jobs and overnighting on lounge room La-Z-Boys. And I didn’t know that regional airlines, once thought of as puddle-jumpers, had grown so fast that they now account for more than half the nation’s daily departures. We are on our way to becoming a regional airline nation.
It's nice to see anti-labor companies like Colgan gaining negative press.
Mainline pilots... thoughts?
01-30-2010 | 07:07 PM
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From: Furloughed
This entire section of the industry is corrosive to the airline pilot career, lacking in safety, and should be completely unacceptable to anyone.
The more press it gets, the better, people's eyes need to be opened.
The more press it gets, the better, people's eyes need to be opened.
01-30-2010 | 08:00 PM
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From: A-320
I went through Colgan's training and Expressjet's training program. The best way I can describe the two is comparing a community college to an Ivy league college. Everything was different from day one, XJT was light years ahead of Colgan when it came to training pilots.
01-30-2010 | 08:18 PM
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From: Recovering Airline Pilot
The two pilots you see interviewed on that video were members of the ALPA organizing committee at Colgan. Don't you think ALPA maybe had something to do with that? Hmm? I believe Captain Prater was also interviewed for this story. Politics is a long process, but ALPA is quite adept at it.
01-30-2010 | 08:50 PM
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From: Fero's
Sadly, the same person that spends a week on Consumers Digest, looking for the best HDTV, will choose the cheapest airfare. Only to seal their family into a pressurized aluminum tube going 500 miles an hour through the national airspace system.
I only hope this will open some of their eyes.
I only hope this will open some of their eyes.
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