Not so funny indeed... it's downright scary!
And yet, the airlines in the US and Europe continue to refuse to address the core issue: Salary.
Aviation pay has miserably failed to keep pace with the pay in other professions that require so much training, dedication and hard work. The traditional Doctor or Lawyer can expect to see a much higher standard of living than an airline pilot. Worse, the high tech world offers doctor or lawyer pay as starting salaries in some cases right after graduation! Hardly makes sense for younger folks to look to a career in aviation from a financial standpoint. I've said it here and elsewhere, you have to love aviation to make it your career, cause you are going to spend most of your working lifetime trying to pay off your student loans given the salaries paid to most airline pilots in the US.
So what do the airlines propose to do to address this looming disaster? Hike payscales that they aggressively shoved down the throats of their unions 6 years ago in the wake of the 9-11 induced bankruptcies? Are you kidding me??? Hell no! This is what they do:
Pilot-union leaders say some U.S. carriers are using special programs allowing co-pilots to fly with as few as 50 hours of cockpit time in big planes -- far below the hundreds of hours usually required -- because of intense demand. Filling the gap won't be easy because educating pilots takes years.
The airlines in China and India are being smart and are offering the kinds of salaries that will actually attract and retain good experienced pilots. This is even happening in the GA businesses there. Heck, a few months ago I was offered $10K per month TAX FREE to fly a PC-12 over yonder! I turned it down again because of my family, but the temptation is sure there. An old friend of mine is currently a captain on a 737NG in India making
$22,000 per month tax free. That's right - $22K per month tax free. That is not a typo.
So the airlines in the US and Europe are lowering standards, rather than hike the pay. The net result? Our airlines are becoming the training centers for the rest of the world, and our most experienced pilots are going elsewhere to earn their keep. Those of us who remain behind do so for our own reasons, but we shake our heads from the sidelines and wait for the next disaster to happen. It is inevitable.
A good friend of mine is a Capt on a CRJ700 for a large regional, and he has told me the difficulties of flying with newbies that have only 500hrs total time. Some are good, but he has told me of times where he had to take over from them when they'd get too slow on an ILS approach... to the point that the stick shaker activated! I for one would not let it get that far, but that is why I am not flying for an airline nowadays.
I will be curious to hear Baradium's stories from Memphis as he begins to fly the line for his regional. I hope he will have good experiences with good captains. His airline has already had one bad crash due to a "Cowboy" captain and a very low time FO. The only saving grace on that flight was that it was a deadhead and there was no one else aboard so they only killed themselves. I'm not insinuating anything by this, but the facts of that case should serve as a warning to airline management. I fear the warning has gone unheeded.
