Hey all......OK.....here are the facts....!!About one year ago 10 pilots left(read.....deserted)an airline called Alliance Air(a subsidiary of Indian Airlines).Why I say "deserted" and not "left" is because these 10 left the Airline without the mandatory one month's notice and more importantly,they left the company when it needed them most and the flying was real hectic.Also,they managed to COMPLETELY sabotage the company's immidiate plans to induct brand new A319's into the ageing 732 fleet.All these 10 left for Sahara.....purely to fly the latest NG's at any cost!!Which they did......!!! All these pilots were now converted on the NG's at the cost of Sahara,with the understanding that they would serve the company for at least 5 years in lieu of the USD$ 40,000 bond which is normally the conversion cost recoverable by the company.Less than 6 months later....(and 50 to 150 hours on the NG's later.....depending on the pilot),in comes Air India Express with its so called international flying lure,and so on and so forth. Sooooooooo.....what do these "Tenacious Ten" do....?? They make all kinds of promises and tell all kinds of tales......this time to the AIX managment......and manage to convince the AIX ppl that they NEVER EVER signed ANY bond whatsoever with Sahara and were NG qualified and ready to fly!!!! It was also stated that their conversion money was paid for!! AND that ALL of them were ready for TRI upgrades. As would any start up airline desperate for qualified pilots do.....AIX hired these famous 10 with the lure of upgrades etc etc without cross checking all the facts. As it turns out, none of these 10 had more than 120 hours TT on the NG,and had cooked up a whole bunch of lies in order to make their entry into AIX....( u need a MINIMUM of 500 hrs PIC on type in India in order to qualify for a check airman)....Three months later......these wheelers an dealers realise that the AIX deal generally did'nt agree with their flying and began to make re-deals with their "parent"(step??) company......SAHARA. WOWOW.Having promised Sahara the return of the entire renegade gang.....these boys managed to pick up a cool raise of approx USD$ 2,000 PM per pilot.........
.....!!! So what do we have here.......a $40,000 endorsment,a $9,000 PM job flying the NG's as PIC........and all for what......???? For nothing.....except for a lotta white lies,a lot of back stabbing,at least 3 busted bonds and contracts and no concience....!! Now AIX.....which had come to depend on these boys....(there being only a total of 15 captains),is left high n dry and at least one of their spankin new airplanes sits in a desolate bay in cochin for want of a Captain....Of course they will bounce back....as they have so many times before,but it gets one thinking.Is this what we are coming to?? Is this the face of the Airline pilot 5 years from now.Is this gonna be the slimy and manipulative wheeler dealer i want my family to be flown by on a dark rainy night....??? I think not. And i would say the same to all of u fellas out there.......please work with a concience in this profession of ours.After all....that and trust are all the lifelines we have now for our survival....!!! Respect and nurture them,for that is what Airline Pilots are made of.Please ban and blacklist such pilots. The DGCA(India) has done just that today.Tailwinds and blue skies always..........
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