Pilot tells passengers: this plane's a deathtrap

[ableone]

I have friends who were pretty hard-core, anti-union, republicans until they got out of the military and started working for airlines. I am talking about major carriers, where the issue of airplane carrying does not even come up.

I have never been asked to carry an airplane at a major, but I have had to do it at 135 and 129 operations and I am convinced that the only reason it does not often happen at the majors is because of the union.

That said, I did have to walk off of an airplane to cancel a flight once. The company's first reaction was to go pilot shopping. "Are you leaving the aircraft? Well we are just going to tag another captain to operate that flight." The only thing that kept that airplane grounded was me telling them that if it moved everyone involved was going to be doing the FAA dance.

If there had been no union I would have been fired. Then again, I have flown broken planes in the past and maybie I would have weighed my financial situation against flight legality and what I determined the real risks to be.

I have done it before and I know that it happens every single day.

 

[Whine Lover]

Going,

I didn't really "attack" you personally.( At least, that was not my intent.) I just pointed out that the statement you made lacked the reason and voice of experience.

Sorry that we got sidetracked here, I didn't mean to hijack the thread. I just couldn't let your statement stand unchallenged.

YKW

 

[se1776]

Go ALPA

 

[Snoopy Mendoza]

considering the fact that only 7.8% of non-government U.S. workers are union members, my opinion seems to be the majority opinion by a WIDE MARGIN.http://www.mises.org/story/2124

Sweet...

You are comparing self-employed real estate agents and the guy who gave me my receipt after I pumped my own gas, etc. to airline pilots.

:beer:

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

I'd be careful about throwing around percentages. The number of people who are "above average" is the same as the number of people who are "below average." Using your logic ("if nobody is doing it it must be a bad thing"), it's just as desireable to be "below average" as "above average."

Of course, only about 2-3% would be considered of "superior intellect" which corresponds roughly to the number of heads-of-households who earn more than $100,000 per year. Again, using your apparent logic, being smart or making good money is also a bad thing.

It's obvious to me that some people will never have to worry about being lumped into either of those equally undesireable categories...

 

[PCL_128]

I try to stay away from getting into discussions about unions

Apparently not. If that was really the case, then you would remove that asinine signature from your profile. Looks to me like you're just trying to start an argument.

 

[DrewBlows]

To say that "we need a union so we don't get fired for bringing up a safety issue" is just an @ssinine thought process, and compleely indicative of what's completely wrong with this industry.

Ahhhh... I bet the pilot at my company who was fired for refusing an airplane might not think that having a union "so we don't get fired" is an assinine thought process. The firing is still being grieved, but without a union it wouldn't even have been grieved.

 

[FlyingToIST]

I do not blame the Captain; he was probably some ex-pat pilot working for this Turkish scumbag airline that has a long list of maintenance issues and has been banned at times from various European countries.

I am not denying the shady history of Onur but this was a Turkish capt. who left the company and a week later joined another one. I think lawsuits will fly on this issue. If you thougth ALPA was bad try getting your case worked by TALPA.

 

[StripAlert]

I'd be careful about throwing around percentages. The number of people who are "above average" is the same as the number of people who are "below average."

Technically speaking, the number of people who are "above median" is equal to the number of people who are "below median"...

 

[seefive]

Hey Going, Come on over to FedEx. We'll take you. We'll still get your money through Agency Shop. Plus you won't have a vote which apparently works for me since you obviously don't know anything about the airlines and labor!