Frank is an airline CEO I think.
Well it didn't so much put the flying in the bad light I don't think, it just put pay scales in a bad light.... just highlights that you really have to enjoy flying for the flying to be in the regionals. Because you sure aren't going to do it to get rich.
You know what the big advantage is to fly for a regional passenger airline? You get to fly a LOT.
The guy really really doesn't like GoJets I think.
He has another video which I think is more amusing, but he um... really really doesn't like GoJets...
And here's an explanation why: (from
http://jtrain609.flyblog.com/2006/05/31/gojets/ )
GoJets
Why nobody should ever go and fly with GoJets…ever.
To understand why pilots are so pissed off about GoJets, you need to understand how the regional airline industry works. When you see an airplane flying around that says, “United Express” or “Delta Connection” on it, they’re not United or Delta airplanes. Those aircraft are operated by companies that are contracted out and paid to do the “feeder” flying for mainline companies. These are companies like Mesa, ExpressJet, Colgan, Trans States and GoJets.
The aircraft are operated by a separate company with a separate pilot group and a separate contract. The first officer is probably paid about $20,000 a year and the captain might be making $45,000 a year. At some places, the pilots will be away from home as many as 22 days a month. Long story short, it is anything but a dream job for most pilots. But it IS a step up from instructing, and even though the pay is low there is an opportunity to upgrade to captain after a handful of years and start building some PIC turbine time, which is needed to move up to that coveted job at the major airlines.
So why is GoJets such a problem? It’s the nature of the GoJets business model. You see GoJets was designed as a way to circumvent the union at Trans States Airlines. TSA Holdings owns by GoJets and TSA and has created GoJets because the TSA pilot group refused to fly 70 seat regional jets for sub industry standard wages. It is generally accepted that regional airline pay scales are already low and anything that makes them lower is bad. But what TSA Holdings did with GoJets goes beyond trying to simply pay pilots less. With this move, TSA Holdings has said to the world that unions don’t matter and any attempt to raise the quality of life for pilots will be stomped down by management creating a sister company that will operate outside the bounds of the original union.
Normally this is illegal, but TSA holdings has found a way around current labor laws. The problem now is that anybody that takes a job at GoJets fully knows that the job they are taking is there has no other purpose than to screw another pilot group. Imagine if you will that you worked at McDonnalds. McDonnalds decided they you were paid too much, and said that they wanted you take a paycut so that McDonnalds could continue to grow. When you refused, McDonnalds opened a McDons next door you, paying the employee’s there less than you do. After a year or two, McDonnalds would point to McDons and say “See? You have to take a pay cut now, McDons employee’s are willing to work for less than you do, so we don’t have any reason to keep you employed at your current pay rate.”
Moral of the story? If you want to fly airplanes, have at it! Just don't apply to GoJets....
