No. But I do feel this site could tolerate a little more political expression. Those that don't want to read it can stay away from the political thread. Our industry is sensitive to political swings.

As far as the pay information, surely you are aware of the controversy you started when you first published the pay information. The genie is out of the bottle however. I suppose that point is now moot.

They probably think you make twice as much as you make if they multiply the hourly by 40 week. And just because you don't care if people know what you made doesn't mean everyone feels that way.

Well, now you know.

Mike, www.willflyforfood.cc published payscales long before APC came into being. You can find pilot pay data on Pprune.org and Flightinfo.com in individual posts, so our hourly rates are out there.

Thanks. I was unaware of this willflyforfood. I though Airlinepilotpay.com was the first. Remember the whole web site thing is relatively new. I am reluctantly in favor of sharing pay between pilot groups but my point was that there was considerable controversy in the beginning.

It may have been before my time, here, but I'm not aware of any controversy over pay scales being published. I think it's a good thing when we can compare individual contracts.

As far as politics, JC has the Lav. I don't see any reason why this site couldn't have a "politics" forum. Speaking for myself, I'm not the slight bit interested in political posts at an aviation site. I think it would be fair game to move threads that turn political in nature to a political forum, if we had one, and that would tick off those who weren't involved in the "political thread creep". I could see that as being a problem.

I would be for a political thread aswell, but it is a whole 'nother ballgame as far as policing it. I'm a member of a motorcycle forum that has a political section and it can get very hairy and heated in there, but as long as you follow the rules it should be alright. Thank you guys for providing a great website, like LAFF posted above, before I joined this site I was very lost and uneducated about the industry. I now have a very basic grasp and understanding of the system and regulations. Thanks!!
Leonard

I'm not sure of the controversy, NBAA has published corporate pay/salary info for well over a decade and FAPA/Air Inc. have published pay info airline pilots for at least as long. We aren't doing anything new with respect to publishing salary info for pilots - with exception of not charging for the information.

The web is great publishing tool that provides transparency over a wide range of subjects; bank loan interest rates, car prices, CEO stock options, and even airline pilot hourly pay rates. Sure the information was available before the web, but the web does make it easier to find.

I’ve said this before and I guess I’ll keep saying it until I’m FedEx purple in the face: the internet is a big place, with a great many fora (that’s plural for forum, in case you are interested) on topics that cater to every personal whim and desire, including religion, politics, sexual orientation and that all time favorite, porn. Possessed of a free will and some intelligence, I could have chosen to be a member of any of them out there, but I chose APC instead, largely because of my friendship with a certain Alaska fella, and also because of my own interest in aviation,15 hours in my logbook and all.

And having been a member since May 2006, rightly or wrongly, I have become rather protective of it and its owners. The last thing I want to see happen is for this forum to degenerate into less than meaningful “discussions” at best and cat fights at worst. Now I don’t have any statistical proof, but many attempts have been made right here to discuss religion and politics, and you could count on the thread getting closed and members getting censured.

I have to admit that giving this thread the “Free Beer” title was slick (yeah, HSLD! ), but I think it has generated some good dialogue regarding what APC is about. It is an aviation forum first and foremost, but it welcomes non-airline pilots as well. We’re here to share experiences and learn from each other. I am not interested in personal attacks (trust me, they are no fun if you are on the receiving end) or trash talk or prickly comments about another’s race, religion or gender. I resolved a long time ago to report these offensive posts.

So, boys and girls, here’s some free legal advice: just do as Da Man says. Keep your nose clean. Play nice. Take a deep breath before posting. Everything will be fine! Or you could always go away.

I've been a member of several other forums, most of which I've left because the political divisions became so defined that certain members shunned others who did not share their beliefs. The proponents of a political forum state that the hostilities will remain in said forum, but from my experiences, this has almost never been the case. Schisms carry over into the other forums and can permanently divide a forum.

That being said, I know that I have little say as to whether a "politics" forum is actually created, but I fear that it will be used primarily to vent. I'm interested in learning about aviation and developing good "forum" relationships with other aviators, and I don't want conflicting political views to come in the way of that. Needless to say, if a politics forum is established, I won't post in it.

I hope that you keep this web site just as it is. The "other" one can get real nasty. Seems that every thing posted there turns into a name calling episode. This one is "Airline Pilot Forums"...seems that should give a clue to its content...If you want to talk and argue politics, go somewhere else....

Interesting comment given your signature line...