On Speed O P, great poll idea and an interesting thread. With regard to your qustion re BALPA's response to this growing 'problem' ( there arn't many of the pollsters who think SSTRs are a good thing!!!!) I thought you might be interested to know the following. It must be a yr ago now, but I wrote to Mr M Granshaw, the BALPA head honcho, to express my concern at the proliferation of SSTRs and was interested to ascertain BALPA's position, and what it intended to do to address the problem. He never replied (assuming that he recd the letter) and I am in process of drafting a further letter. You also might be interested to know that Mr Granshaw is not, and to the best of my knowledge, never has been, a professional pilot!!! This I find quite astounding!! How on earth can he be expected, let alone relied upon, to represent our interests?! I am a former instructor and regional tprop driver who recently got a lucky break into the big time - I always felt and still feel, that BALPA makes a bloody poor show of representing the interests of instructor members and the guys/gals in the smaller outfits. Instructor's terms and conditions are, with a few notable exceptions, quite disgraceful. What has BALPA ever done to improve their lot? Yes, all this and more is going into another letter and I'll be happy to pm you his response - if I get one. Rgds, Sid