I sent the following letter to my congressional representatives yesterday. I used the "Call to Action" link on the ALPA web site to send this. In writing this letter, I started out with the form letter under "Airline Safety - Training", changed the title to "Airline Safety", and then added another aspect to the letter talking about what has happened to our profession and why it is a safety issue.
Anyway, feel free to use my letter as a basis for your own letter to your representatives. I am also considering forwarding this letter to various news media outlets.
Here's the letter:
Airline Safety
I am a major airline Captain with 32 years of flying experience, a member of the Air Line Pilots Association, and your constituent. I am very concerned about the conditions which have been brought to light by the NTSB hearings following the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident near Buffalo, NY. While it is a terrible tragedy, I am hopeful that we can learn about the realities surrounding the accident and bring safety back as the true number one priority in the airline industry.
There are two chief factors that I believe are central to the root cause of this accident: The current state of the airline pilot profession, and airline pilot training. Excessive cost cutting throughout the airline industry is, in my opinion, responsible for both of these problems.
The current state of the airline pilot profession is such that it is now very difficult to attract quality entrants to the profession. Many people do not realize just how badly this profession has been decimated in the last few years. For example, the pilots at my airline took a 42% pay cut, lost our pension, and have had thousands of our jobs outsourced to regional carriers. Most other major airline pilots have experienced similar cuts and losses to their career outlook. When you combine that with the poverty wages being paid to new regional airline pilots, the ability to attract quality individuals to this profession gets even worse.
It used to be that airline pilots came from basically two categories: Military and civilian.
Pilots left the military for the airlines because the pay and benefits were better. Now, there is very little reason for a military pilot to leave the military and go to an airline. That is one very high quality source of pilots that is basically no longer available to the airlines.
The biggest source of civilian airline pilots has been the regional, or "commuter", airlines. This kind of flying is extremely challenging (in some cases more so than major airline flying) and is done using the same basic rules and regulations and in the same type of operating environment as the major airlines. This makes for excellent experience and background for a major airline candidate.
Making what amounts to poverty wages at a regional airline (after going into significant debt to obtain the necessary pilot ratings and qualifications) used to be considered part of "building experience" and/or "paying dues" for the career. The only reason we have had such high quality individuals willing to endure this is because the major airlines had excellent pay and benefits, and therefore the overall value of a pilot's career was high. Now, the overall value of a pilot's career is about HALF of what it used to be. It should be obvious to even the most casual observer that the old saying, "you get what you pay for", applies here. I do not believe that severely cutting pilot costs like this industry has, which ultimately has the effect of lowering ticket prices by only a few dollars each, is more important than even one person's life.
Airline pilot training is also a serious concern for all airline pilots. A well trained flight crew is the single most important safety asset in commercial aviation. Pilot training should be regarded as an investment in the safety of the flying public. It must take into account the various backgrounds and experience levels of new pilots. Pilot training needs to emphasize meaningful experiences in realistic situations rather than simply performing a list of tasks for a test. Airline pilot training should never be sacrificed for cost-saving measures.
Even though this excessive cost cutting is prevalent throughout the airline industry, regional airlines are especially sensitive to this pressure. They compete for contracts offered by major carriers. Downward pricing pressure is very intense. These contracts are usually short term and are renewed on a continuously revolving basis, so as to keep costs down to the lowest bidder. This is somewhat understandable from a business point of view but, in this case, it is ultimately short sighted.
There is a point where cost pressure is affecting airline safety. In an effort to lower costs, the time allowed for pilot training has been steadily shrinking. Airline training departments schedule the minimum possible time to meet only the minimum FAA requirements. Often, pilots are trained to perform a long list of tasks under a compressed timeframe. Extra time spent in the aircraft simulator is discouraged, and the emphasis can often be on passing the test rather than building meaningful experiences.
More realistic training should include responding to surprising or unplanned abnormal events that occur in normal, realistic situations. Much research has already been done to support the effectiveness of this type of training. It is called “Line Oriented Flight Training” and should be greatly expanded in pilot training curriculums.
Pilots learn best by doing and practicing. This requires the time and flexibility to tailor the training to the individual, accounting for differences in backgrounds and experience levels. Unfortunately, most regional airline training departments will not spend the resources on this type of training unless it is mandated by the FAA.
Please consider supporting legislation that would enhance pilot training requirements and mandate more experience based training in airline training departments. I also ask that, whenever you have the opportunity, you should hold the FAA and airline management accountable for once again making safety the number one priority in this industry.
I look forward to learning your views on this crucial issue. Thank you for your time and consideration.