Everybody who flies IFR knows that the airlines already get the right of way and have been getting it for a long time. In certain circumstances I totally understand. It costs a lot of money to keep these things in a holding pattern while a C-172 tries it's first training-IFR approach and I wouldn't want to be behind one of those either. But they want more and more and are affecting other GA traffic that can easily keep up with them like light twins and private jets and I don't think that's right.
Every time I take off out of Las Vegas (as a passenger with South West) in the mornings I can't help but notice that about 30 flights leave between 7am and 8am which makes for a HUGE line at security and a traffic jam on the way to the ruway. The last time the captain told us we're number 12 (!) in line for take-off and it took us 40min to get there. And since I live next to the airport I can often see them all bunched up on the taxiway.
Now, you also have to look at their view as well. If I am Delta for example and my research shows that everybody wants to go to Boise at 8am in the morning, I would schedule a flight there for this time I guess. My reasoning would be that if I schedule the flight to leave at 9am because 8am is already crammed full with Southwest flights to avoid the traffic, I would lose my customers because they would look for whichever flight leaves at 8am. See what I am getting at? (even though the flight won't be off the ground by 9am anyways....
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And Cruiser is right, I do sometimes see the airline pilots being a little "disconnected" from their roots in GA. A lot of us forget sometimes where they came from. I am guilty of that as well every now and them. But I got all of you and Chuck to keep me in check!
It's just a little different if you do this for a living day in and day out and it's easier for airline pilots to forget because they don't interact with their groundcrews as much as helo pilots do. With out my support and my mechanics, and especially my fueltruck, . . . I'd fly for about 2hrs and/or 280 miles and I am done. Plus we seldom operate out of big airports with our "choppers"....
So please keep in mind, we are not trying to target airline pilots with this thing, but the attitude of big airline corporations which someof them might get caught up in.
AND!!
as always, keep this in mind:
"It's a cartoon with chickens flying airplanes!!"
