dosbo

Apparantly if there isn't a radical change in relality then I will have to pursue my previous avocation. Good luck to the rest of you who are willing to serve your masters at thier whim. Best of luck to you Pupleanga

blastoff

YES.

You have to be released by the National Mediation Board to Strike...which is a lengthy (years) process, hampering any future contract flying as stated above. The Spirit strike was years in the making, but at least they can't have their flying pulled before or after like the contract (Regional) airlines.

dh05z28

I'm confused. Why do the major airlines complain about not getting the regional flying when all they have to do is absorb their feeders? i.e. Eagle into AA. I understand the argument about scope and the regionals taking their mainline flying.....I also realize that eagle is not the only feeder to AA, but couldn't they still use them?

If AMR decided to put AA and Eagle together and make it one brand, wouldn't that make everyone happy. The pilots at "Eagle" could make more and have a chance to....oh wait, I just answered my own question.....Those greedy bastards dont want eagle. They want the cheap labor to fill the seats of their dying airline. It's pathetic. **** on the employees to get ahead! Thats what we'll do! That's what all the great airlines in the past have done! Screw Southwest and their happy go lucky attitude, and this nice to the employees stuff, we'll show them......

But with that said, its not all their faults. Sometimes we have to look in the mirror and see what we have become. We took the job. I do realize I didn't actually take the job, but I would have had there been no other option. Every "career pilot" I know (including myself) believes that just because we paid X amount of dollars for our educations and flight training, that we are owed something.

Not saying that you aren't deserving of the benefits of hard work and perseverance, in fact its just the opposite. But you can't blame the company all together. Again, you took the job. Its just now that we're seeing the numbers that regional pilots make on the news. Which is a GOOD THING! I remember when I was going through flight training I thought my instructor made 40K a year cause he got paid $20 an hour. I had NO IDEA. I was clueless, ignorant..... All I knew is that I wanted to be an airline pilot. Thats it. I probably would have still gone through with it though, knowing what I know now. Only because I can't sit at a desk for more than five minutes.

I do think though that people are wising up to what the job can become or not become, and are turning the other way. I don't blame them one bit. And don't anybody go giving me that line about the passion of flying and quote some stupid poem that has the worlds "tasted" and "surly" in it. The bottom line is that you guys don't get paid what you should and it sucks. Its not good for any of us.

dh05z28

Thats exactly where the problem lies. Stop taking the bad jobs...it sounds so simple. The only way to really stop it is to create barriers to entry. It was not THAT hard to get to the regional level when things were "good". Hell, you could go from dude on the street to dude in the front seat of a jet in 90 days as late as 08'. Sure you paid a lot of money and spent a lot of time at it, but you probably didn't have to go to college and you probably didn't have to have anything more than 500 hours to do it.

You don't start out practicing medicine after 90 at a trade school. Just sayin. This whole 1500 ATP rule should help, but more needs to be done.

Grumble

Dude, stop thinking. Or trying to apply logic. Your life will be much easier.

dosbo

Dude, what are you thinking or trying to say. Expand a little on your ideas so we can discuss.

Grumble

Just referring to the OP's posts, trying to find a one-stop-shop solution to the problems. Like watching a dog chase it's tail.

dosbo

Yeah, I have a dog too. It can be entertaining to watch her try to catch her tail. But in the end nothing really gets done.

FlyJSH

For 10 years I fought the good fight. I refused to take a pay cut to go to a regional. Guess what, the majors didn't recoup scope, and the regionals still paid less than I was making flying 135. Unfortunately, a few of the regionals offered better job security than my 135 gigs. Much as I would have liked to go straight to the majors, my 5000 hours (at that time) was not enough to overcome my lack of having YOU as my champion forwarding my resume and following up to see I got hired. D@mn it, I did the CFI, cargo, corporate, and charter thing to earn my wings. So don't blame us "old dogs" at the regionals for your hard times.

dosbo

I did my mil time, lots of years at a regional and several gorious months at a major, followed by a year and a half flying BS 135 after being furloughed. Now I am making more on an hour by hour basis on gurard time. So don't give me that regional old dog time, I probably have as much time or more at a regional than you. I just rolled the dice and moved on at the first opportunity because I never wanted to stay at a regional. Much of my luck was timing and contacts. You are right that having an inside recommendation doesn't hurt, but it can be a disadvantage when it puts you on the bottom of a seniority list at the wrong time. Be careful how you count your blessings.

Ultimately there is no job security at any regional, the sooner you figure that out the better. Unless scope can be regained by the major carriers this career is a lost cause as the regionals will never pay what the investment is worth.

Best of luck to us all

One Certificate, One paint job, One pilot group