Professional Pilot News: ALPA Congressional Testimony on Regional Air Carriers and Pilot Workforce Issues

Alright, I am little late to the show in regards to this but..
Maybe it's me but in reading Capt Praters' testimony it sure seems like Capt. Prater has certainly drawn a line in the sand between his support of "Majors" vs "Regionals". I am not reading much in regards to support of anything the regional airlines do. How about some testimony from Capt Prater about all the emergencies handled on a daily basis that regional pilots handle with the utmost safety and professionalism. I am not a ALPA member any more but if I were there would be some serious questions on the table. This Colgan Capt has thrown us all into a heap of crap and Prater with pitch fork in hand continues to bury us (the regional pilot) in it. Nice work Prater, if I were ALPA my dues would stop today!

I for one, (as I am certain many of you are) am a Safe, Professional pilot who has done nothing wrong. Yet now a bunch of suits with political agendas who know nothing in regards to flying airliners are going to change my life at work. And Capt. Prater and ALPA are right there with them. If the current state of the US is any indication this is not going to be for the better. Hold on boys and girls, we're going in!

 

I agree. I'm getting sick of the Prater Advertisement every month. It really sickens me that the most important thing on his agenda is getting those who still have a job through security 3 minutes faster. I get fired up every time I see an update on CrewPass. Yeah, it'll be nice, but it'd be much nicer to have a job and a current contract.

That said, as much as I think ALPA national is a joke, I support my MEC fully. I think they are doing a great job.

 

The question is, would your MEC still be as good without the little support they do get from ALPA? I'd argue they would.

 

I agree 100% with that article. We need to make the barrier to entry into this industry much harder to improve things! 4 year degree plus testing to even qual for a comm ticket!

 

Where does CrewPass stand, I haven't heard anything in almost a year.

 

Amazing how there is always supposed to be only ONE thing a president focuses on at once...whether it be the president of the United States or president of ALPA. Come on. Our dues go to have our leaders work on many issues at once. I'd have a problem if they were doing only one thing at a time.

Couldn't tell if that was facetious or not, but CrewPass has basically gotten full TSA approval and the process is being discussed to implement it country-wide to include cabin crew.

 

I am starting to think that they are not going to stop there, but rather try to remove fully qualified, pilots from the cockpit, if they tighten the acceptance standard times. I still believe that Prater and the public believe if the Colgan crew crashed at 2500 and 4000+ total time respectively, than any of us with less than 4000+ hrs is a danger too. And I think Prater with his loyalties to the Legacies and Majors, which only hire at high minimums also are perpetuating this...Look out we are all in for a heck of a ride as regional pilots

 

Wow. ALPA has really thrown the little guys under the bus on this one. Can anyone prove to me that this is nothing more than a political stunt to do the bidding of the big boys at ALPA? The majors have been looking at ways to nail the regionals and this is it. I can't imagine what kind of strings their pulling up on the hill. What exactly does Prater want, for us to make extra stall recoveries??? Training is already painful enough, I've even heard former major pilots back at the regionals saying the training is a lot more involved at the regionals than at the majors. Go figure. How about you demand better working conditions to change the culture. The FO had 2500+ hours the CA had 3500+, this had nothing to do with wet commercial pilots. How about this, maybe we require a masters degree for the mins, you think they'd be able to get out of a stall better if they had that??

 

CrewPass is a waste of time and resources that whose benefit to pilots is minimal. It'd be different if we were all compensated like the professionals that we are and had some extra time and cash, but top to bottom, our profession has MUCH bigger issues.

 

I completely agree with except for the money we got for the SPC. However, I have no idea if a "TSAPA" would have been able to afford it if 100% of our dues went to ourselves...probably not. Even so, I think ALPA national has very few redeeming qualities.