Originally Posted by
Babbalito
"The pilots were sold out by their union..."
trade union
noun- an organized association of workers in a profession formed to protect and further their rights and interests.
Simple really but most pilots in the group are too dumb and/or selfish and/or weak to act collectively and effectively.
A REAL profession controls entry into it. For example the legal profession retsricts the number of solicitors/lawyers and barristers qualifying each year. The medical profession decides how many doctors are admitted. Pilots count themselves as a profession BUT entry into this market is controlled by the employers. So, by the law of diminishing returns, the more pilots you have the lower the unit cost ( salary ). Simple.
The demise of the airline pilot as a profession has been planned and orchestrated by both airlines and manufacturers. After WW2 to fly an aircraft across the pacific required the minimum of a captain, co-pilot, navigator, wireless operator and engineer .By the 1960's Airbus had designed the A320 to be pilot less but public opinion was not ready for that so the side stick was added. The Gemini and Apollo space programmes were initially designed to have passengers not pilots trained as astronauts. By the early 2000's drone technology was being applied to the military and today the RAF has announced the F35 will be the last manned fighter they use. Technology driven by airlines and manufacturers has been developed to eliminate the source of human error. The pilot. This has happened before. In 1920 The Flying Scotsman was THE cutting edge mode of rail transportation. The fastest and most technically advanced train in the world. It required a driver (who was held in high asteem in society) co-driver, engineer, two coal stokers and at least one guard. By 1960, the diesel train was operated by one man, holding a deadmans handle with no status in society save a union protected wage ( note I say wage. Professionals receive salaries. Workers a wage ). In 1945 if you asked any young boy what he wanted to be he might answer a pilot, astronaut, fireman, train driver. By 2018 the answer is celebrity TV presenter, twitter star or Xfactor winner. Times have changed. So airlines and manufacturers who still haven't convinced the travelling public that pilot less planes are the future and need bodies to occupy control seats are turning to other sources. The short term answer seems to be women pilots. Once left out of this profession by design they are now being welcomed and encouraged (AND RIGHTLY SO, LONG OVERDUE ) but this is only to fill a gap that cannot be filled from traditional sources until the first freighters become unmanned. Honeywell are flying a DC10 freighter around fully automated. Howe long before FedEx or UPS take the plunge and announce unmanned freighters flown like drones from bunkers in the desert ? I give it 10-20 years. Then it is only a matter of time before pilot less passengers planes take to the sky and within 50 years the pilot will be flightless, just like the DoDo.
Today CX is taking that first step. It needs bodies to sit in seats and press buttons. It doesn't need jet jockies, prima donas, or natural pilots. It doesn't need "the right stuff" it needs bums to fill seats and as cheaply as possible. Hence COS18 the beginning of the end. And every airline in the world is watching. If CX get away with it then why would UPS and Delta go the opposite way. They will watch and learn then attack. Make the most of it while you can. This profession is extinct.