do you trust your pilot?

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rockermike

Trad climber
Berkeley
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 26, 2010 - 10:01am PT
bonus feature for the ST neo-cons; narrated by your favorite and mine, Michael Moore. lol

But scary story all the same. I have a friend who dropped $100k to get commercial air license. After three years on the job (making $20k plus a year)he was recently laid off and is now driving a limo. It would be funny if it weren't so damn sad. Career implosion. Been through that myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQJx3L_CDQ&feature=player_embedded
Reilly

Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
Feb 26, 2010 - 11:03am PT
This is old history but the problem is worsening. As Sully said flying
isn't what it used to be. That said the accident rate continues to
decline although I strenuously avoid flying on regionals. Do you want
your children flying with a pilot who has 750 hours (prolly half of which
are in Cessnas or Pipers) has been up for the last 20 hours, is
talking with her crewmate while on approach (despite strict dictums of
maintaining a 'sterile cockpit below 10K), and has no clue what to do
when confronted with ice build-up and worse barely suspects it?
I'm speaking of last winter's crash in Buffalo.
Or would you prefer that the folks up front had over $1 million worth of training
courtesy of Uncle Sam and have 3000 hours in F-16's, C-5's, or C-17's?

There are many very competent pilots who came up through the General
Aviation route but sadly there are many who are not competent but have
the minimum requirements on paper and are willing to fly for food stamps.
There is a wide disparity of ability out there and the problem is
exacerbated by the ridiculous work rules and long commutes many pilots
make.

Sully's full testimony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRvy2o-hV-Y&NR=1
blahblah

Gym climber
Boulder
Feb 26, 2010 - 12:40pm PT
Hmmm, reminds me of what's happened to the legal profession:
used to be a good job, high pay, all that.
Now--huge oversupply leads to surprisingly low salaries for many, law school is just an expensive credential that will never work out for many/most graduates, house-of-cards came tumbling down.

Lots of complicated economics is bunk but old law of supply and demand rears its ugly head from time to time.
nature

climber
Tucson, AZ
Feb 26, 2010 - 01:37pm PT
Doesn't Coiler have his commercial license?


Jus' Sayin'.....
Karen

Trad climber
So Cal urban sprawl Hell
Feb 26, 2010 - 02:25pm PT
My son is a captain on a regional airline but he's doing just fine, however, he says many of his co-pilots are well over 100,000 dollars in debt because they went to one of those schools where you earn all the ratings (private-instructor, as well as, a four year degree), big bucks!!!
There are cheaper ways to gets all those ratings but that's not the point of the thread....

I trust my son, he tells me some of the situations he encounters out there (weather), I would fly with him anywhere.


My ex was an airline pilot and yeah, starting out in an airline was always tough, he was paid poor mans' wages back in the day. When we met he had some grunt flying job that was hellish, his next was a little improvement, but janitors made more than him, and when he finally got hired by United airlines the first few years the pay was only a little better (the 80's sucked badly for the airlines) it took almost five years before he finally made the big bucks! But now, his pension is basically shot and he did take some pay concessions, but I can't feel too sorry for him, he's a captain on a 747....
Gary

climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
Feb 26, 2010 - 02:35pm PT
It's all about the capitalistic race to the bottom. Every penny they squeeze out of us is a penny in their pocket.
Majid_S

Mountain climber
Bay Area , California
Feb 26, 2010 - 02:52pm PT
As an Aircraft mechanic, I will trust my pilots but I am more worried about cheap, bad components that goes in to an airplane than anything else.I remember how in my time, I let small plane take off cause my managers did not want to replace parts etc due to financial reasons.

So repeat after me when you fly an airplane

LORD

PLEASE SAVE MY HEAD IN ONE PIECE

SO MY MOTHER COULD RECOGNIZE ME IN THE COOLER
Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Mar 3, 2010 - 10:18am PT
What's really scary is flying commercial as a private pilot. I recently took a trip that involved 8 separate flights on 2 airlines, and in a variety of aircraft. I think I didn't relax for one second, as I was flying the airplanes mentally the whole time. Flying is one of my 3 great loves in life. Climbing is another, and my family is first.

I'm renewing my FAA medical next week, trying this time for a class 2, so I can begin my commercial training. I'll never make a dime flying--just getting the additional training to make me a better and safer pilot.
Reilly

Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
Mar 3, 2010 - 12:52pm PT
How timely!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100303/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_pilot_arrested
kunlun_shan

Mountain climber
SF, CA
Apr 18, 2018 - 08:51am PT
Was just listening to an air traffic recording of Southwest 1380, which lost an engine yesterday. Most impressive how calm the pilot was:

https://soundcloud.com/themorningcall/swa1380-left-engine-failure-april-14th
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Apr 18, 2018 - 09:01am PT
Yes, and that is a big part of the problem as so many pilots now can not fly their airplane manually. That was the gist of the 2009 Air France crash as well as the 2013 Asiana crash at SFO.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Apr 18, 2018 - 09:04am PT
ATC doesn't sound like they get it at first.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Apr 18, 2018 - 09:06am PT
But what has been lost in all the noise is that this was the first death in the US in 9 YEARS!
I don’t know how many billion seat miles that translates into but more people have died slipping in their bathtubs in the last week.
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Apr 18, 2018 - 06:34pm PT
...as well as the 2013 Asiana crash at SFO.

Yeah, both brothers are retired FedEx pilots and their comments on that accident were exactly that - that by and large Asian-trained pilots suck at manual landings.
GuapoVino

climber
Apr 18, 2018 - 08:34pm PT
Did anyone catch when the ATC asked how many souls are on board? That's sobering.
Lituya

Mountain climber
Apr 18, 2018 - 09:58pm PT
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Apr 18, 2018 - 10:13pm PT
Guapo, that’s SOP.
7SacredPools

Trad climber
Ontario, Canada
Apr 19, 2018 - 10:47am PT
Your pic reminded me of the time I flew to Saba on a Twin Otter Xcon. The pilot didn't even need half the runway!
Concerned citizen

Big Wall climber
Apr 19, 2018 - 06:21pm PT
My son, Dan Oppenheim, is a commercial helicopter pilot. Yes, I totally trust him with my life. For those of you who know him, he is as calm and in-control when flying as he is when in the lead.

Ksolem

Trad climber
Monrovia, California
Apr 19, 2018 - 07:02pm PT
About five years ago Barbara and I were flying Southwest from Sacramento to Burbank. It was raining hard and after dark. We rolled out to the end of the runway and the pilot hit the jets. You know the feeling when the plane is just about to leave the ground? Right then he hit the thrust reversers and the brakes. Full emergency stop. I was waiting to run into whatever had got in front of us, but we didn’t hit anything and there was enough runway left. Of course, we couldn’t tell how much.

He came on the intercom and said something like “Ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn’t notice I had to abort the takeoff. We got an indicator here in the cockpit that the front door wasn’t sealed. We have to pull around onto the taxiway to solve the problem and reset the computers, we should be underway in about 45 minutes. Indeed, we were.

About a year later I was chatting with a friend who used to fly for Southwest, he was about two years retired. I recounted this incident, and he said there is no way in the world that pilot aborted the takeoff under those circumstances for that reason. Pressurization wasn’t an issue. He would have taken off, flown around, and landed. So we’ll never know what came down. Oh, my friend said the guy had to be a good pilot, it’s no picnic wrestling one of those jets to a hard stop in a strait line from takeoff speed in the rain.
Messages 1 - 20 of total 36 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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