It's much harder to become a doctor or a lawyer. There is some degree of "good lawyer" and "good doctor" and "Bad lawyer" and "Bad doctor" and to a very real extent this allows for market based drivers in pay.
A pilot passes the check rides and medical or he/she does not. The pay is then tied to seniority, which allows a young (relatively) good pilot to make peanuts and an old (relatively) bad pilot to rake it in.
That, and there is a glut of pilots and not enough doctors or lawyers (although one might argue about the lawyers). Leads to lower pay.
Finally, ALPA has managed to shoot itself in the ### over the years with it's handling of scope and tossing the younglings under the bus. And the Rick Dubinsky-ish greed probably did not help, either.
I agree with what you are saying and I have never equated myself on the same level as a doctor nor do I even want to think my profession is any thing like a lawyers’. But a profession it is and I really feel it has been cheapened.
(Now for the “In My Day†speech), when I was bouncing around the western states in a 182 it was hard just to get an airline to look at you much less hire you. We use to say it took 2 lunar landings to get an interview. In today’s world, you can get a job flying a jet with around 300 hours and almost zero real world experience. Those insurance rates must be astronomical. Just don’t touch anything!!!
However, I felt that every flight planted a bit of knowledge within me and hopefully made me a better pilot. So it’s not just passing a check ride or a medical but it’s all of the “life’s lessons†you learn operating in the system to keep out of trouble. Whether it’s some grass strip in the middle of nowhere or one of the busiest airports in the country it’s all mentally noted. It’s this that you bring to the profession and it sickens me to see how quickly it has been compromised.
The RC4 had nothing to do with the situation we are all in but how members of the MEC had a far greater plan for themselves and used their position for personal gain at the expense of the line pilot. Wait and see where they land when all of this is has played out.
It’s such a commonplace thing to get people from point A to point B that they loose sight of every thing we do to complete their journey. It looks easy and most of the time it is but many times it isn’t and that’s why I want a guy or gal with a few gray hairs up front with some real aviation sense to get through the tough spots.
We aren’t doctors and we aren’t window attendants at McDonalds but we take pride it what we do and try to give the passengers a safe flight. We feel good when we get YOU were you want to go and feel bad when we don’t.
As far as ALPA's posterior wound, you don't have to go any further that Mid Atlantic to see just who got sacrificed.
Mtnman
