Well I was actually at PSA. No hope of recall here anytime soon either. JM calls have been through the roof lately. When I was a noobie I tried to figure out what they were thinking, but that lasted about 48 hours and I gave up. No use in wasting brain cells when I can kill them with beer.

At eighth year pay I have to strongly consider it. Couple that to the retirement...

Well, perhaps...but we'll get ALPA into court...

X

I don't much care for this line of thinking. It comes from guys who have never been furloughed or displaced. They will tell you it is simply part of the progression. I say that if you are young enough to do something else then RUN!!! Run as fast as you can! Go to medical school. Hell, sell used cars. You will do better then you will here. The glory days are over for ever.

I hate to be so negative but I am afraid this is true. Those of you still young enough to start over should get moving.

Do you have any idea of the number of pilots there are at the regional, you have United and US Airways trying to give all their flying to regional. There is no reason for anyone that is laid off for any amount of time to try and stay in this industry, its going to only get worst. More trains will be built taking more passengers away from the airlines.

I had a few senior RJ captains tell me that. Total bull.

Has anyone else notice that all the people posting the "NO's" and negative "no hiring for 30 billion years" are those that are still FLYING THE LINE???!! And those that are hoping for the best and looking at the positive side are those that have been furloughed??!!! I have been furloughed since April of 2007 and have gone back to instructing, yet I have had the dream of flying for an airline since I was 5 years old and took my first flight on a United 737-200!! I am not giving up hope of eventually becoming a captain of a 777 flying internationally! That is and will continue to be the goal that I will reach! But I would like to ask all the negative nellies.....why are you being so negative? Don't you think that being positive would not only encourage those with the true dream of flying to continue to strive for that goal, but also make things in the industry a little better? I mean think about what could happen if you continue to be negative to all those with high goals and hopes, and they DO leave the industry? Then who would come up behind you in line and boost up YOUR seniority????? Then when more furloughs do come around YOU would be the ones furloughed and not the lower pilots....because YOU would then be the lower pilots?

I honestly feel that things could change drastically in this industry if we ALL came together to make the changes. Doing away with seniority, raising wages, better living conditions, better benefits. We ALL are letting the rich CEO's win. The just pit us against one another to pad their pockets. Do you realize that if we forced the airlines to raise ticket prices by just $2 a ticket and keep them there we could all start out at a salary of $40,000 and retire with wages close to or possibly higher than
pre-9-11??? Then if we forced the CEO's to take a pay cut to a VERY livable $200,000 - $300,000 a year the rest of the money could be put back into the airline to make eveything 1000 times better???? Look at Southwest, they invest back into the company and they have been one of the most successful airlines to date. Now imagine if all airlines did that!!! Sure there would be less airlines but the strong ones would succeed and we all could have our cake and eat it too!!! Just think about it before all the negativity flows from the keyboard. There rant over....and to all those furloughed like me, I say keep you head up and STRIVE for that goal! I don't care what all those negative people say...I'm GOING to reach my goals and you can too. Sure it may take a few more years but they WILL start hiring again and with all the furture retirements, I truely believe that the ranks will quickly move up to the majors again allowing us to reach the goals that we have set for ourselves. And as we have all heard before....."If you put your mind to it.......You CAN accomplish ANYTHING!!"

These "dreams" are why people still are still enrolling in flight schools without using common sense, a little research, and doing the math.

There are more than 9000 pilots on furlough, and airlines plain and simple will not hire 9000 over the next several years. What part of this math equation is so difficult to understand?

After you wait in line and flight instruct for 5 years, which is slowly becoming 8 years.... then 10+ years, you will get hired by a regional making pennies for 5 years, but by then you will probably be near your 40's. Most people would say the expense you put into this career is not worth the return FINANCIALLY.

However, it is those kids who have fallen in love so head over heals for flying big airplanes that have lost the common sense to do the proper research, and add up the numbers correctly.

You asked what is up with all the negativity, well your fellow pilots are just being realistic and telling you how it is. If you want to live in a fantasy world thats fine with us.

Flying is not dead and there is a 100% chance you can come back and fly... Only you'll need to do it at a percentage of what you were getting paid before.. and yes you can go fly 777s, if you're willing to give up any quality of life as you know it, just to climb the seat ladder..
If you don't mind giving up Christmas and Thanksgiving with your family for a long time to come so you can keep jumping seats, just to wait until you're in your mid 50s to command a 777, you can do it..
You may have a better quality of life if you just lose the big jet concept and enjoying flying somewhere, where you can just build a life and some seniority. It's a personal choice... the big iron jobs are still there, but the chances of doing it with a legacy US carrier have become VERY rare.. The guys who will fly the big iron here for the US carriers in our lifetime, are already there working now. The change of the business model over to the regional jet, has made flying for a high paying major an exception, not the norm..
Those jobs will be there in the form of World Air, Kalitta, Atlas..etc.. You'll just have to do it at single isle/narrow body pay scales, because that's what we as a pilot group have come to accept and some else will always take the job.. so we hurt ourselves.

there will be some movement in the next 2-3 years... small numbers but some.. enough to keep the dream alive for some. the one cold hard fact is that pilots get older every day... some will be forced to retire. ( 121 ) some will retire because they have had enough.... and many will lose their medical as they get older....

So yes... there will be some movement... but I think it will be years before we see the days of 8,000 to 10,000 pilots being hired across the industry every year.

You should never try to squash someones dreams. He is correct...the numbers suck, but, still 1 in 100 will realize and fufill their dream....who knows you maybe the one.