propellere

Probably the same reason why all the major airline pilots tell their kids to never be pilots. Anywhere there is a union, there is this type of uncertain environment. If you need a union to protect yourself, it’s probably an industry that is going away eventually. Wait until the cars have full autopilot like tesla is claiming. Going to see a lot less people taking planes and just sleeping in their cars as they autopilot them 500miles. Automation is going to reduce pilots down to one with a “super dispatcher.” The end is coming in the next 20 years. Drones are already being shot off the boat to tank.

Trappy

121 Pilots are married to their company and have no job mobility. Majors sell their own tickets, while regionals are cost saving subcontractors. Which do you think is more stable?

propellere

Depends how you measure it. Few regionals have disappeared this year, so I’d say majors. Well I don’t want to speak too soon, because maybe one of the majors will tank this year.

on a side note, can we bring pretzels back to the regionals? I get hungry on my flights 😭 and making 68 credits at $36 doesn’t leave me with much money for food after rent, insurance and gas money. Oh, Mesa is pinching me hard.

123494

Really? It seems that every other guy I fly with has a parent or uncle who’s an airline pilot and the reason why they chose to fly. Maybe you’re thinking back after 9/11 and through the Great Recession after huge concessions, but things are a lot better nowadays, even with COVID.

firefighterplt

I’ll happily plug a drone. Ride in one? That’s another story...

rickair7777

You don't understand the technical and economic hurdles associated automating airliners. It can be done, but not safely or economically. Then you have politics and public perception, it's a lot further off than most people think. Plus add 20 years on top of all that for the natural life-span of the jets.

C17B74

Very true, but everyone forgets the middle step. Everything coming down to single pilot ops first. Don’t worry about full drone capability being pushed, it’s incremental and especially with public perception involved as you’ve all witnessed these past several months. Long haul 4 pilots down to 2, 2 down to one... Although delayed due to COVID19, next airliners were already designed to drop a seat up front. Bought some time, but it’s coming.

As far as a perfect choice destination airline, not possible until you have retired and look back to see if it met your needs, expectations and so called dreams whatever they may be. Nothing is under your control, you make the best guess and your lucky at best on your choice of airline that takes you to the finish line. Every choice if you were able to make is a best guess and really has nothing to do with you totally. Just a very lucky or fortunate person makes it through decades without a hitch or in this case unforeseen catastrophic impacts.

Mentioned before by several: “Lucky to be hired by FedEx or UPS”. It’s all cyclic and economy dependent. People weren’t even going to FedEx, UPS or Southwest a year ago when called by the others at times. People entering this past decade never really understood that it’s been along time if not the first many pilots had the opportunity to choose where they wanted to live and then the airline vs airline first, then just commute to name one huge difference. It’s back to whoever calls first once again. Now some high seniority folks are headed back into the coal mines they thought they had left years ago. It’s tough out there. Job loss as well, super tough.

Approach1260

Lol single pilot is a fatigue disaster just waiting to happen. Plus it would literally be throwing in the dumpster decades of proven effective CRM training that consistently prevents screw ups.

Plus it would literally cost billions upon billions to implement, and at the first indication that there's a screw up lack of public faith will tank the program.

Most jets still have crt screens instead of led, even though the led's are so much lighter and take so much less effort to cool. The reason is because to manufacturers and buyers it's not worth the money to retrofit them.

The biggest shake up I see is that it seems that the LCC's have a much more stable market with not really relying on business travelers in the first place. People want cheap tickets, so the airline that can profit off cheap tickets will be king.

Meep

Are you arguing the regionals are more stable? Pretty sure 3 regionals have bit the dust within the last 5 months.

rickair7777

Little problem there: pilot incapacitation. That does happen, 5-6 times each year in the US alone.

While you might be able to massage the numbers and make the entire SYSTEM achieve something approximating equivalent safety even with some incap events, what you can't overcome is the perception hurdle because there will be several flights each year which operate at far less than normal airline safety. Regulators and politicians will not be in love with that idea. It's going to be harder than it sounds.

The sectors of aviation which routinely operate single-pilot achieve safety levels which have a lot more in common with recreational motor-cycle riding than with 121 ops.

Again, it's not happening as soon as you think.

Still lucky. Any top-tier (even mid-tier) job affords you the opportunity to either retire rich (by middle-America standards) or GTFO while young if that's what you want. If you work for 15-20 years and are focused on saving you can build a pretty big war chest, and then bang out out and do something else if desired. It's a rare opportunity in historical context, which some younger folks don't fully appreciate.

Even better if you enjoy flying.