Dog....
You are in luck sir....automatic trannys have been in vogue ever since the trucking companies started scrapping the barrell bottom and could not find folks that were coordinated enough to shift gears, steer the truck, and find their way around. Besides, most of the fairer sex have legs that aren't able to push that clutch thing in and hold it long enough to do any good.
A real Trucker....dear boy...learns to "float the box" and thus eliminate the use of the clutch except to start and stop the rig. Of course....drivers that do that also are getting up in years and like some of my helicopter buddies are getting out of the business.
I still tell stories of reaching down thru the steering wheel to grab the second lever when shifting a "Brownie".....ah but I digress.
The helicopter industry and the trucking industry are like mirrors....questionable management decisions....cuthroat competition....doing business for the short-term instead of using long-term strategical thinking. Ignoring the fact that people are assets as well.....explained to a Dispatcher one time that when I complained of a shortage of miles.....I was also telling him the company asset...the truck was being under-utilized.....he never grasped the concept.
At least ol' Wayne is talking publically about turnover rates, pay, and working conditions. That puts the trucking industry one step ahead of the helicopter industry.....what does that tell us?
The Acklie ariticle pointed to Union freight hauller contracts as being a model for the truckload carriers as being a place to start basing wages.....reckon we will see that in the Helicopter industry?
Oh, by the way....I did once own a Big Rig and earned more money than I did flying.....worked harder but faced fewer risks most times. Granted, setting at the top of some snow covered passes out West had its moments.....like Loveland Pass, west of Denver at almost 12,000 feet at night during a blizzard with two empty double trailers....or haulling triples in the snow (had to get those UPS packages to the sort yard for Christmas!)
I can draw up a list of guys that are not with us from helicopter accidents....know but one trucker that got killed....he fell asleep and ran off the road with a load of beer behind him. Alcohol will kill you!
The beauty of truck driving is being able to pullover and take a nap in yer bed if it suits you.
