Wow.. so there's been a little hiring at the regional level for the past year, and they are crying "pilot shortage".

Wonder how long before congress steps in if they are already blaming the shortage on 117. Not to mention when all the 50 seaters start disappearing in the next few years which will balance out the hiring at the majors.

The RAA is going to be taking every opportunity to lobby for a regulation change in regards to pilot hiring instead of raising pay to levels that would generate interest in these dirt bag airlines.

It's in the pilots best interest to speak of, and propagate the hiring going on at the regionals as little as possible.

 

Name one other industry that has an increase in labor demand and asks for concessions. Self induced problem caused by an obsolete business plan revolving around a saturation of pilots for decades. If the legacy carrier's plan is to cut regional flying instead of wage increases, then they are in for a rude awakening when Spirit, Southwest, and Jet Blue take over their routes and cut off their feed.

 

In the IT field myself. There's no way in hell I will ever entertain the regional airlines. Know too many regional pilots with the same story about how management treats them worse than pigs in a slaughter house. With all these concessions that management is trying to choke down the pilots' throats with the help of the union (sell outs), who wants to get involved with the abuse?

When they start improving pay and quality of life, this "shortage" won't be a problem.

 

Yep. The RAA is nothing but a leech sucking on the regional managements' ... well, we all know what RAA is sucking on, with Roger Cohen being on his knees all his life.

They would rather sell lies about the pilot career than to make the lies a truth.

 

Uh, aren't you the guy that paid over $100k to places like Jet U so that you could work for the regionals?

EDIT: Just did a quick search, I see it was the CAPT program. Same difference. But seems pretty disingenuous to make your statement above when you were willing to go into a crazy amount of debt just a few years ago just to attempt working at the regionals.

 

This is my curiosity, too.

 

There are higher paying IT jobs out there, however, I would caution in putting your eggs in that basket. The days of the IT professional are numbered. Nobody knows how long for sure, but with all the push toward cloud computing, the days of in-house infrastructure and administration will be phased out. Companies like Amazon, NetApp, Microsoft, EMC (the list goes on) are working very diligently to push computing toward a transparent utility based model, where all the real computing will take place on the server side, administered by the provider. Read "The Big Switch: rewiring the world from Edison to Google" for some insight. For even more proof, just take a look at how the "network administration" jobs have disappeared over the last 20 years. Novell network administrators and Microsoft MCE's were in HOT demand throughout the 90's, now those certifications have become almost irrelevant (but not completely yet, there are still legacy systems out there). If you want to stay safer in the world of technology, pursue a degree in computer science/engineering. I would advise against a degree in information systems. I have spent much time in the industry, and the grass isn't greener for everyone in the field.

Sorry for the thread drift, carry on!

 

WRXPilot,

Not going to recap what happened to me with CAPT as it is well documented.

My sentiments about the regional airlines have changed. Should I be stuck in the past mentality of SJS and not modify my position as a direct result of new information? Seems more disingenuous if I did that.

Face it, it was a different time 10 years ago. Are you telling me it is better now than it was then? Seems to me things have changed for the worst. Or do you disagree?

PS, still paying off that huge ass loan. I'm about 50% paid off now. And no, CAPT was not worth it. That position I will hold to my grave.

 

Most can't raise first year pay if they wanted to...ALPA will say nope...you must raise ALL our pay to raise first year. They can't afford to do that because the Airline they are lifting for will tell them to pound sand when they ask for more money just like United and Delta told Pinnacle to do.

They want the lift and they want it cheap or not at all. They have customers that want their round trip to Ft Myers for $69 and won't pay a penny more.

Someone needs to pay up and no one wants to so screw everyone. You want me to fly? PAY ME

 

Which is insane. Alpa should be all hands on deck to make the difference between first and second year pay a 3-5% increase, just like 2nd to 3rd year, just like 7th-8th year, etc.