The most useful gen I was ever given in my early flying career (other than, keep some speed on the clock and altitude under my butt), was that as a career pilot I must never expect to be paid any more than what the present market thought I was worth or to be treated any better than that. And it has always held true throughout my 23 years of flying.
As a pilot with Emirates now approaching 10 years of service I have never expected anything different. I know that the present climate is depressing for those who were maybe expecting more, however the writing has been on the wall for many years now and I'm sure they knew it when they joined. I certainly briefed many of my colleagues before they joined and they were and still are happy to be part of the company even if not all their expectations have materialised, and some of them are extremely experienced pilots.
I am starting to get fed up with sitting next to people(not many) who continually tell you how experienced and wonderful they are, normally within the first 10min of having got into the crew transport, and then proceed to cock up the rest of the flight horribly and the worst part, they dont even seem to realise they are messing things up. All the good operators I fly with and some of them with enormous experience are only too happy to sit quietly while doing the job professionally, and wait their time after all it doesn't and won't take long in our company anyway.
The signs that the market is starting to turn in the favour of pilots are appearing, and I dont think we are far off being able to enjoy a "Pilots Market" once again, so let's be patient and everyone will I'm sure be reaping the benefits in the near future. Some of the pointless, frustrated comments and arguments appearing on this forum only serve to degrade our fine profession further which is just what the jam stealers love to see.
Last edited by 7550; 10th October 2003 at 19:34.