You need to finish the sentence....

....it is our job to complete the mission, in accordance with company policy and FAA regulation in the safest manner possible.

I submitt that what you and others are describing, is not the mark of a professional airline pilot.

How may times does your company, the management, the mx dept, the flight dept, the training dept and every other dept... along with the FAA, the NTSB, the media, and even the pilots association have to tell you to write things up, before it will sink into your head.

Yes, your job is to go from point A to point B, but not with a broken airplane it isn't.

 

I think viewing commercial flights as "missions" is the root of the problem. This is some carry-over from military flying that should have been left there. The job, not mission, is to operate the way the above post just described. Too many times have I seen "the mission must be accomplished" attitude cause more cancellations, delays, and loss of our pay than if we had just operated the way we are employed to. An airline can, in fact, operate more profitably and safer without this mindset.

And here's an example not associated with mx write-ups. -- Hey I know. The next time I have the cold/flu I'm going to go to work anyway because the mission must be accomplished. Nevermind the fact I'm going to spread it to everyone else causing a chain-reaction and I won't be able to give 100% during an emergency. We're paid peanuts to go above and beyond, mindless as the our logic may be!

 

March 27, 2009



To All American Eagle Pilots,

By now you have probably read today’s Special Eaglewire from Peter Bowler, that addresses our current over-staffing and the necessary furlough of 75 American Eagle pilots – as well as the reduction of 45 management positions. A copy of this letter can be found on Jetnet.

These actions are truly regrettable, but – given the serious economic crisis we are facing and our current level of spending that exceeds our 2009 budget – we simply must reduce staffing levels in line with our reduced level of flying.

Those of you who are being furloughed have been an important part of American Eagle’s Flight Department. You have successfully completed the finest regional airline training program in the world, piloted a fleet of modern regional aircraft and transported thousands of passengers safely
to their destinations – and we thank you for that. It is unfortunate that we have to make these decisions, and hope to be able to welcome you back when the economy and our business recover.

We plan to furlough our first group of 35 pilots on May 1, followed by an additional 40 on June 1. We will have more details to share next week, including any subsequent displacements and vacancies.

What we ask each of you is to stay focused on the task at hand and continue to fly safe. Feel free to contact either of us or your Chief Pilot with any comments or questions.

Sincerely,



David Campbell
Senior Vice-President of Technical Operations

Captain Jim Winkley
Vice President of Flight Operations

We'll there it is...

I get real aggravated with some of the rumors that float around. I've been around airlines for a very long time and it has always never seemed to fail to have rumors floating and I just thought this was another one. I know there are a small few out there that enjoy seeing how far their rumor can go and some are very creative. Sorry AmericanEagleFO

 

No worries bgmann. Looks like this is going back to the 4/14/08 hires. Kfour, good luck buddy. Our prayers go out to all our furloughed friends.

 

hmmm....i wonder if this has any connection to the fact that Eagle will have all their TSA connection planes back

 

Isn't Chautauqua doing some flying? How can they furlough with them doing our flying?

 

the Connection contracts with AA have nothing to do with Eagle. The TSA planes owned by AMR did but that issue has been resolved. The connection flying is what is left over from TWExpress. As of all the current contracts, none of it is "our" flying, its theirs.

My two cents says that this is mgmt's solution to the displacement issues. They have about the right amount of pilots but they still can't figure out where they want them and its getting too costly to keep retraining the bottom of the list until they figure out whats going on. It really sucks for the bottom 75 but I do honestly believe that this is a temporary situation until the dust from the schedule shuffles settles. Good luck to everyone involved in this mess.

 

I think that if Eagle made prop pay the same as jet they wouldnt have a problem at all staffing the ATR! Prop's are harder to fly than a highly automated, heated wing, jet like the EMB.

I dont get it. Raise the pay rate AE

 

Agreed, if they did that I would do that in a heartbeat. Honestly though I would fly anything as long as I had a job at the end of the day. Good luck to everyone.

 

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