The last few accidents were caused by a blast of wind from Jonathan Ornstein's butthole.

How much would you give me to say that?:D

Big bother is always watching... ALPA should be the one's talking on our behalf. 2% of what they take from me every month should be put to good use.

J.O should take his 0.15cents stock and take a bloody long walk on a short pier.

Are we starting another Mesa thread here?

I'm all for ALPO doing what they are supposed to and "defending the profession," (uh, hello boys - you missed that train 20 years ago with scope, but I digress). The problem with that is many will perceive it simply as the union trying to get more money no matter what.

What needs to be pointed out (as has already been said here) is the very simple fact that top quality people are not entering this profession in the numbers they once did, and ultimately safety IS going to be affected by this. Point out that it is not ONLY pay, but QOL, working conditions, and a myriad of issues which are creating the problem.

Reference Sully - he pointed to the demise of the profession and the fact that few pilots would encourage their children to become pilots. It's an uphill battle and it's unlikely that much will change, but if a large number of individual pilots make the problem known, at the very least the next time such and accident occurs (and there will be another, just as there have been others. we can point back and say "I told you so." Maybe that's harsh, but our collective conscience will be clear.

Let's face it, most major changes in this business are a result of certain watershed accidents (even if not the direct cause of the accident) - we have radar almost everywhere because two aircraft attempted to occupy the same space at the same time over the Grand Canyon. I'm not saying this can be used to bring about that dramatic a change, but at least for a few minutes the news and congress ARE focused on how out of whack the system is at the moment. Use this narrow window of opportunity to get the real story out: The industry needs positive change, top shelf people need to be attracted to this career or safety is going to diminish. The RAA jerkoff can't argue very effectively against that.

Those in the regional industry should identify the problems and then offer solutions. Pilot and Cabin Crew both should do this. This would be a good forum to do that. Complaining without offering solution does nothing to help anyone.

Whale

ALPA is too busy grieving that they've lost the income of two dues payers. Sorry, I had to.