Originally Posted by RB211

For the love of ones self, if you get a bachelors, make sure it's a B.S. In engineering, pre-med, chemistry, biology, or another math and science intensive degree! Do not get an aviation degree, you need a backup plan for when you unexpectedly lose your medical!

Originally Posted by ClearRight

Enzi's bill | The Ranger, Riverton and Lander, Wyoming Daily Newspaper

Give U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming a set of golden pilot's wings for recognizing the potentially catastrophic problem facing Wyoming's small airports and trying to do something about it.
Enzi has introduced a bill in Congress which would keep automatic federal funding cuts from kicking in at airports for failing to reach the 10,000-passenger mark last year.

Riverton Regional Airport, the only airport in Fremont County with airline service, is one such field. Just a couple of years ago, Riverton Regional Airport boarded more than 13,000 passengers. Then a new federal regulation changed the experience requirements for co-pilots on all airline flights with 10 passengers or more. It cut the Great Lakes Airlines pilot force by at least one third, and the small airline that counts on maximum efficiency to make ends meet suddenly could not staff its full flight schedule in compliance with federal regulations. Service was abandoned at some airports (Sheridan), other airports "fired" Great Lakes Airlines (Rock Springs), and the airports continuing to be served by the carrier saw a demoralizing erosion of service.
Last year, Riverton Regional Airport only boarded about half as many passengers as it had the year before, virtually all because of the pilot shortage created by the Federal Aviation Administration's ruling.
Enzi's bill is a sensible one. It permits the 2013 boarding figures for airports to be used as the qualification basis for the $1 million annual federal grant for small airports. This is important money for airports that often rely on it to make basic infrastructure improvements that benefit the air traveling public.

The bill also would permit the 2013 boarding figures to remain the qualifying standard for several years to come, buying time for the airports to work out new service solutions while, hoping against hope, that the FAA regulation which is causing this calamity might be re-examined and modified, or even repealed.

As Enzi and others familiar with the situation have pointed out, the rule change has nothing to do with Great Lakes Airlines, Wyoming, or, as a matter fact, the cockpit experience of co-pilots. It came about as a knee-jerk response to a plane crash in the state of New York some years ago. Both pilots in that crash were experienced at or beyond the level now required of small airlines everywhere.

Had a junior pilot with little seat time actually been to blame for the crash, then the justification for the new rule would be easier to swallow. As it is, however, Wyoming residents frustrated in the extreme by the service decline have more reason to dislike non-elected bureaucrats from federal agencies who hand out regulations with little thought to the real-life consequences.

It is unclear whether or when Enzi's bill might pass Congress. Legislators from big states with big airports don't care much about the problems of Riverton or Sheridan, or similar airports in other sparsely populated states out west. There simply aren't enough voters affected for them to worry about. But Enzi is an experienced and respected legislator, a committee chairman recognized universally as a pragmatic and sensible guy who doesn't sponsor legislation on a whim. With Republicans now in the majority in the Senate, this bill should be taken seriously.

If it could be passed, it would be a good stopgap while Wyoming figures out a longer-term solution. Riverton Regional Airport is hard at work on that, and having the million dollars in federal money still available will make it easier for us to attract a different airline for service here, or, possibly, to create a situation under which Great Lakes Airlines could continue to serve -- but more reliably.

All Fremont County ought to thank Sen. Mike Enzi for his recognition of and responsiveness to this problem. He has flown into too many Wyoming airports not to recognize the importance of air service to small cities where the nearest metro airport is six hours away. With effort now being made locally and nationally, we might stand a chance.

Originally Posted by PerpetualFlyer

Welcome to the modern Republican Party. Against handouts unless they're the ones getting the money..

Originally Posted by GogglesPisano

So, they're anti-regulation. But ... pro-subsidy.

Originally Posted by jetn67

Knee jerk my butt...That's what
happens when people are killed
in a plane crash .No way the
Feds will give on that ..too much
liability..What happens if they
relax the rule and another crash
happens in NYC?..

Originally Posted by NineGturn

there is in fact a shortage of pilots willing to work for $20K per year.

Originally Posted by NineGturn

Pretty well sums it up.

All this other talk is just to try and get people off the topic.

Leave the law alone and let the Regionals falter. Let the big jets go back to the majors who will hire all the pilots they need without difficulty. We all know there is no actual shortage of available pilots.

Or... The Regionals could revise their entire business model and scrap the seniority system hiring the pilots they need at competitive pay into the positions they need. The money they would save on training costs alone would be amazing. Again....there is no pilot shortage.

There really are only two choices. After all, we all know that scrapping the 1500hr rule would only delay the problem a year or two because there is in fact a shortage of pilots willing to work for $20K per year.

Originally Posted by RB211

The regionals are never going away, there will always be a B pay scale, and half of us will never make it to the majors. And by some luck, we all do make it to the Majors, we will be on a "B" pay scale flying RJ's.
I knew before it happened what what was going to happen to Envoy. They were very pre-mature thinking they couldn't be replaced.
You all need to know the enemy, the enemy views us as a cost on a spreadsheet. That is all we are. Investors, stock holders, they are the only ones that matter, not even the customers.
We are highly trained individuals, but we are not doctors. We don't need 12 years of school. Our theory is simple compared to most professions. We have a performance based job, with a skill that is honed with on the job training. Yes, most kids can be trained to do our job quite well. We are not special other than the fact we were able to afford to get as far as we did in this industry. We are special in the fact that we like what we do, and wouldn't want to do anything else.
Most people hate their job. I think most regional pilots would come crawling back to their regional job if they left for an entry level job on the outside world. I am not *****ing about my job, just every other pilot who *****es about their job. Accept where your at, be grateful for what you have, and always work towards improving your own quality of life. It could be a hell of a lot worse, I know from experience.

Originally Posted by bedrock

If all you can do is an entry level job on the outside, then you need to up the skill set. The FEAR of losing a regional job is the enemy's best weapon. However, I don't consider mgmt. an "enemy", that is totally counter-productive. The douche bags at F&H and on Wall Street, yes, they are the real enemy.