a lib like Michael Moore should be pleased that highly trained professionals are at the mercy of socialist programs I know a guy in his mid 20's who is a regional jet pilot, and he b!tches all the time about the pay. It really is pretty bad.
The" highly paid" professional commuter pilots have been at the mercy of greedy companies for 25 years regardless of what party was in power. My son struggled to survive in the commuter airline joke and had to quit so that he could buy food and pay his rent. That whole commuter side of the industry is a disgrace.
what is the root cause (beyond greedy companies)? over supply of pilots? if so, where are they coming from...Air Force, too many flight schools, etc?
I don't know about everyone else, but seems there is an urban myth that all professional pilots make 6 digits, I even thought that until I started flying. I also think it's one of those professions that people want to do regardless of what they get paid, like teacher, EMT, policeman, or fireman.
Michael Moore's logic in that film doesn't make any sense. At the end of the film, he implies that commuter airlines are making huge profits off of super-low pilot salaries and the deaths of pilots and passengers. But that doesn't line up with reality, commuter airlines are always in the news about going broke and being bought out or shut down. And any fatal accident results in many multi-million-dollar lawsuits. No excess profits there for the airline, for sure. So what is the problem M.M. is trying to fix? Low pilot salaries? Air travel public safety? Get rid of capitalism altogether? The most interesting comment in the film is about how more travel routes have been awarded or contracted out to the commuter airlines to bust up the unions' control over the major airlines. Certainly the Regional Jets (RJ's) being flown by the commuter airlines have pretty much replaced the old DC-9's that were flown 20 years ago on the shorter routes by the major airlines. Wouldn't one of the fixes be to require commuter airline captains to be ATP's (with a minimum number of hours in type) and up the minimum experience for commuter airline First Officers to something higher than a commercial pilots license? In general, the airline industry is in a tough spot: heavily regulated, heavily unionized, highly competitive, and highly dependent on the swinging price of foreign oil. .
I think you're spot on. All of the people I know who are shooting for a commuter/regional slot know the grim reality of the situation but still want it. I'm amazed though, as it looks to me like the amount of time required to so much as break even after the inordinate sum of money it takes to go through a school or just build enough hours (especially multi) is huge. Definitely a slippery uphill battle against the wind, IMO.
I think that you are correct, Rob and the companies know that. The disparity between the knowledge / skill required and the pay is sad.
In the end, there are too many people who will do it for free (or even pay to do it). This is nothing new-- regional pay has always been lousy, and even first year major pay has typically been pretty low. This has been the case since World War I.
Must be a first Same is true in Australia. CA pay is barely at subsistence level for the regional airlines and the charter operators are even worse. Too many young pilots who are chasing their dream and will do any job at any (including nil) payrate just to get their hours up.
The lack of experience in the commuter ranks is a concern yes. 250 hour pilots should not be airline pilots IMO. There are plenty of excellent commuter pilots but as a whole the entry standards are too low and often reflect in their poor safety record. Captains are often giving BASIC dual instruction to their First Officers and are not getting compensated with Check Airmen pay. Michael Moore never gives the true story, only a distorted and convulated glimpse of reality. You dont wake up and become a jumbo jet Captain over nite. You have to pay your dues like anything else in life. There are plenty of jobs out there for those who have the desire to achieve their goals in life in the aviation community. The best way to start, assuming you have the aptitude and physical ability?, is through the military. I just flew a trip with a fine young man in the right seat of a 757. It can be done. He was hired with 3000 hours and over 1000 hours in Lear Jets and he is only 24 years old! He is still green but better than any 250 hour pilot that is for sure. Cheers
And dont forget the scabs who will stab their brethren in the back and cross the line to get a job or upgrade. "There are a lot of dirt bags in the industry; they have no other options and so they become their own worst enemies because they don't have the guts to go back and do something else...they would rather ***** and moan about how they should be paid more, how the company is screwing them, and how the industry sucks, yet they do nothing to better themselves and their situation. They would rather be bellyhogs at happy hour, bank their per diem and best of all, in the same breath that bellyaches about their situation and pay cuts, justify why they turn around and stab their fellow pilots in the back by picking up open time when other pilots are on furlough. I have very little regard for the industry as a whole; it is incestuous and malignant." From a former airline pilot who went to law school. I think he sums it up pretty well!
Frontline did a similar story about this portion of the aviation industry. You can watch the full episode at their website online. It is a well done documentary. Give it a watch http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/view/
Yes, but will you pay an extra $50 for your ticket to make that happen? And, even if you say you will, when it comes right down to it, will you actually do it? Many airlines have failed because customers SAID they wanted better service, more room, etc and yet when it came down to buying a ticket with their own money, they went for the cheapest ticket.
