don2m

Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut

Not to get into a Pis*ing contest with you at all but you are totally wrong and in addition your post is that of a newly hired copilot with about 750 hours who has determined that you have been hired to save the airplane and aviation in general.
Why do you suppose that for decades JAL hired only English speaking pilots. The reason is because Insurance companies would only insure their airplanes if they did. The reputation of Japanese pilots was not good. I am not taking away anything from them but for the longest time they were amomg the world's worst instrument pilots. I was TDY once to the JMSDF for purposes of ferrying a C-118 from Burbank to Tokoyo because they didn't have anyone they could trust to do the job.
The previous post by seaav8tor states it perfectly !


On Nov 02 11:50 PM Milano wrote:

> Unbelievable! Who is this guy and how does he equate experience with
> safety? These two things have only a minimal correlation. > no experience in the cockpit. Some of these "excellent" candidates
> have never even flown as a passenger inside of a commercial plane.
> Yet they go on to become some of the best pilots in the world. Really
> now, how can a Japanese pilot who is 32 years old land a 747 just
> as competently (if not more competently) than a a 55 year old U.S.
> pilot who is more experienced? No doubt that experience is an important
> criterion. However, I believe that diligence and work ethic are more
> relevant factors to being a safe pilot. Case in point is the very
> experienced Northwest pilots who recently overshot the MSP airport
> by 150 miles. They both had decades of experience and an excellent
> safety record yet apparently had no regard for the safety of their
> passengers. I would say that they were neither diligent employees
> nor did they hold a high degree of work ethic. This author needs
> to focus on the other factors that compromise safety. Experience
> is a way to scare people and ask employers for more money. The salary
> of large commercial jet pilots needs to decrease, while the salary
> of small jet and small prop pilots need to increase. The danger lies
> with these smaller regional operations where the lack of pay together
> with extreme fatigue causes unsafe conditions.

Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut

Robert,
Your article is extremely well done and has stimulated quite a response. It seems that most agree that something needs to be done and I agree that increasing the standards for the job is certainly a step in the right direction but it has to be done with resolve. Unions have to brought on board and allow the weak link to go when it is time. Some one mentioned that the USAF turns pilots loose after 250 hours to fly anything in their inventory. Sir: that ain't so !
In my opinion a copilot in the cockpit flying passengers for hire with 250 or so total hours is unsafe and regardless of how much time the Captain has.
There is no excuse for the Colgan crash given the after report that the crew had never been given stick push training and treated icing a "somewhat of a problem".
I learned many years ago not to second guess an accident because I wasn't there but that one was pretty flagrant.
We have lots of pilots sitting in the left seat of commuter airlines and some major airlines who have never been in more than 45 degrees of bank and "upset training" is minimum if at all.
This is indeed a serious problem facing the airlines in the future.
I am glad that I had 40 years {5 Navy and 35 with a major} and it was at the very best of time in both.

Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut

Then please tell us what are "market rates" relative to the job done by a professional pilot who usually spent as much time preparing for his job as a doctor. It sounds good to say "market rates".
Next time you fly on a "dark and stormy night" with lightning flashing all around you and the airplane in bouncing all over the sky, send a message up to the pilot and tell him you think he might be overpaid.


On Nov 01 06:09 PM hokieincanecountry wrote:

> To an even larger degree in the future, airline pilots are going
> to be paid at closer to market rates, even with the strenuous efforts
> of their unions to resist!

Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut

The pilot problem basically started in the early 60's when deregulation and expansion started. Like any other professional job, supply and demand created such a shortage that airlines were forced to go to Canada and almost depleted the RCAF of pilots because they hired everbody here with a pilots license. United even went into the universities and hired people who had never even been in an airplane and set up their own training school { which they later regretted.}
As in any other business pilots seized the opportunity to increase their pay because of demand. This got out of hand to some extent and caused a management backlash and whereas before management and the pilots enjoyed a very good relationship with the exception of Eastern which had problems within cockpits with union's, namely the ALPA and the FEIA and Eddie Rickenbacker the CEO. After he left things got even worse.
The question basically is how much is a pilot worth who is given a $300 million airplane and 450 people and told to "be careful" ?
Then came the growth of regional commuter airlines. Everyone with an airplane wanted to get in on the short haul market and commuters sprung up like weeds all over America. Plain economics dictates that you cannot afford to pay the pilot $250,000 a year and be able to survive with the seats available in the plane. So what do you do?
You compromise and attempt to hire a qualified pilot for a wage that makes economic sense. Is the life of a passenger on a commuter airplane worth any less than a passenger in first class on a 747. Of course not but now we have the problem that was so publicized on the Colgan crash in Buffalo. Both pilots hardly earned enough to subsist on.
At one time the military basically supplied the airline industry with highly qualified pilots and the airlines loved it and there was no shortage. Airline pay was extremely low until about 1964 when growth exploded. Prior to 1964 a good salary for a copilot was somewhere around $700 a month. Never mind telling me what $700 would buy in 1963.....I know. It was still low pay and most people who flew the airplanes did so because they loved "to fly airplanes"
Later when the military supply of pilots dried up money was the sole motivator for a new pilot applicant generally speaking because of the high pay rates.
The proficiency standards for a pilot need to be uniform and enforced.
This means that unions also need to adapt a standard and level of proficiency instead of shielding ever member because he pays dues.
This alone may have prevented the Colgan accident in Buffalo.
The FAA has done very little other than create an adversarial relationship with airline pilots. They bend with the political winds and always have. Case in point the DC-10 cargo door problem in the 70's. They knew it was unsafe but political pressure kept it quiet until several accidents made it impossible for them to overlook it any longer.
I don't know that I have proposed a solution but maybe I have helped you understand the problem a little better.

O Canada! (Part III): Black Gold, Natural Gas and Growing Dividends Too

Sorry, it's VGENX

O Canada! (Part III): Black Gold, Natural Gas and Growing Dividends Too

IMHO EEP has shown itself to be a winner and a great dividend stock.
I have owned it also for several years and the total return is fantastic.
It is the only stock in my portfolio that is currently a "buy and hold" except the VGNEX which I have held for 16 years. It has been my "fixed income " allocation and it has been like owning a slot machine rigged in my favor.

The Need for a New Security in Rare Metals New Production

Mr. Lifton, you could have used your article as a thesis for your PhD............or did you? It is so comprehensive that there is nothing left to research. Well done, Sir. I give you A+++ and you are exempt from the finals !

Shanghai: World Leader to World Laggard

If this chart was a GE or CAT or any other major US equity the report would have been directed at the fact that "it has gotten ahead of itself" and is taking a breather, i.e. correction.
From a trading standpoint it is doing exactly what is expected and the longer term still looks good.
1.3 billion people are not going away and most of them are looking up not down. China can very well replace the US as the leading economy of the world as the moves they have made to date seem to be positive towards that end. We will see. One thing is for sure,our economy is so fragile that it is almost in the toilet and getting more fragile by the minute. Bank failures have just begun and the FDIC is getting strapped. There is a whole world out there making financial adjustments none of which approach the absurdity
of what we are doing here.
I will bet on the rise of the China economy now before I'll bet on the successful outcome of what we are doing here.

Coming Soon: Banking Crisis of Historic Proportions

"On Sept 2008 i went to wash DC & tried to resign my rights as a citizen they wouldn't allow it."

Again showing the ineptness of a government employee. He should have immediately granted your request, confiscated your passport, and given you a ticket to N. Korea where you would be welcome and been able to criticize the United States even more loudly and frequently.
You think Australia is a utopia, think again, and while you are at it consider any other place on the face of the earth that would give you the same opportunity as you have here in America. There aren't any, my friend...........none. We have problems and potentially very serious problems but you can almost make book on the fact that we will solve them. Whatever assets you have were made possible by a system that in it's truest sense exists only here in America. Read into that as you will !

I realize this is off topic from Mr. Lounsbury's excellent article but I suggest you keep trying to give up your citizenship. Who needs you?

China's Medical Device Industry: Growing Market, New Regulations Fuel Competition

As an investor in CMED your article is timely and very comprehensive.
I too see some partnerships developing between US and Chinese companies. The future of this sector appears to be excellent.

Crude Oil: Bull or Bear?

"This is not a political decsion, it is an economic one."

Au contraire..........it is a political decision first then an economic one.

Where the Pros Are Putting Their ETF Money

George Soros is one of the most dangerous men alive but he probably is right on with his view of China.

Asia: The Mother of All Incumbent Advantages

Very well said, David. It is a sad day indeed that a large majority of our youth feel " the government is good because it is going to give me something".
I am shocked that the out cry from people with a sense of where we are headed is not louder leading me to believe that no one cares anymore.

MLPs for Tax Deferred Acounts

Just a quick note on EEP. I am invested in EEP in an IRA and they pay quarterly in cash and call it return of capital. They do not pay in shares. The last one was last month and they returned 99 cents per share in cash. The yield right now is over 10%.

China Warns U.S. About Debt Monetization (WSJ)

I had to read what you said 3 times to be sure I read it correctly. Yours is the perfect solution but about as possible as sending a man to the sun...........the government cut payroll and end subsidies................ you been drinking ??


On May 31 09:20 AM Ishortyou wrote:

> as per now the governmnet has little choice but to decrease government
> PAYROLLS and discretionary expenses to cover the crippling deficit,
> they will have no much of a choice, subsidies will have to come to
> an end, we all need to understand that the fall of Lehman was not
> an easy cooky.