Hey everyone, figured I would give everyone an update on whats been going on before I get really busy with training. I haven't made any posts in a really long time because frankly I haven't been doing much of anything. Ever since my last day on the ATR in Dallas I have been at home until the company decided to send me to training for my new aircraft the CRJ-700. This ended up being nearly 5 weeks. I started class on March 5th but then they sent us home for another 2 weeks to complete the computer based training portion of the curriculum. I will return to Dallas tomorrow to start 3 weeks of ground school followed by 2 weeks of simulator training. If everything goes according to the current schedule I should be out flying the real plane sometime in early May.
I have enjoyed my time off from the job and gotten to do a few fun trips but i've discovered, or should probably say reaffirmed, just how much I love flying. To date this year I have only logged about 15 hours of flight time and I really miss it. I really cant wait to at least get into the simulator and get my hands on the controls again. Im glad to know I still have a passion for flying despite all of the negatives that come with being in the airline industry.
On that note today our management has been meeting with our unions to present what they think the pilots as well as the other labor groups at my company need to give up in order to be “competitive”. Details are still cloudy and most information is still speculation at this point so i'll wait to make any comments on the outcome of today at a later point. I would like to bring up my disgust with the CEO of another regional airline in our business. Details came out last night on how Sean Menke the CEO of Pinnacle Airlines (a regional carrier for Delta) gave himself a 59% raise while for the last couple of months has been demanding a 7% pay cut by all pilots at the airline to help the company avoid filling for CH11 bankruptcy. I just don't know how people can feel good about themselves doing something like that. Your asking a person who can barely put food on the table for their family to take a pay cut of their all ready rock bottom salaries, then decide to give yourself another 369K a year. That pay raise alone would pay for nearly 17 new hire first officers yearly salary. It amazed me how corrupt and disgusting Corporate America is.
I'll try to remember to post a few updates as I go through ground school these next 3 weeks. However i'll have many more things to post about again once I start simulator training and when im back flying the line in the new jet.
