I also think that the low pay IS related to safety. For one thing, isn’t a pilot who is worried about his financial dire straits and not resting easy at night and stressing over financial matters going to be more prone to fatigue?
Besides, if the company is not paying the award wages or otherwise operating without regards to the working conditions of the pilots, it shows me that they do not have regards to the rules, morals and ethics. What is the very root of safety? To me, it’s ethics – the ethical obligation towards everyone involved to provide a safety environment, whether that is the workplace, mode of transport, or whatever. If the operators are not generally behaving in an ethical manner, we cannot expect them to be behaving in an ethical manner towards safety issues either. Of course, it’s terribly simplified, but I think you get the gist.
Another aspect is the financial viability. If an operation is so financially tight as to be unable to pay their staff award wages, then it is quite likely that they are cutting out other aspects of their operation, such as maintaining their aircraft properly. Should they even be operating if they are so financially tight? I do not think so – it gives them too much motivation to cut costs to the extent that it may compromise the safety of their flight.
It is possible that many operators will be unable to continue their business if they were to pay proper wages and do everything properly to the highest standards. The general public is expecting low fares, and there’s a limit to how much they would be prepared to pay, above which point they would stop flying. So here comes the problem with aviation being an essential part of the country’s transport infrastructure, yet being starved of funding to support it.
There are also too many pilots. Supply and demand is currently not very well balanced, and pilots are forced to accept low wages and substandard working conditions if they want to build hours and get anywhere with their career, opening themselves to exploitation. Because pilots are so easily replaceable, the shonky operators tend to use it to their advantage and make pilots comply with their often unreasonable demands, even in safety-related matters. If it had been extremely difficult to attract pilots, then their working conditions would have been far better than they are now, even though there always is a limit to what the operators can pay, I guess, due to the restriction on how much they can charge the passengers.
Either way, I think the industry needs a huge shake-up. As far as I am concerned, the way many pilots are treated is nothing other than inhumane. $21,000 is not a suitable wage for a professional worker, particularly a safety-critical one. In fact I consider anything below $35,000 even for the least experienced pilot to be unacceptable, considering the responsibility involved (i.e. in charge of other people’s lives as well as themselves).
I don’t know what the solution is – all I know is that the way things are at the moment is totally unacceptable.
Fiona,
My sincere condolences to you.
As someone on the periphery of aviation, I would like to thank you for speaking out on television. You are a very brave lady. I am sure your husband would have been very proud.