I'm all for free markets and free decisions so I too am not concerned with the financial welfare of these SSTR companies they are big boys and have to take it on the chin. Though I advocate the pursuit of SSTR it doesn't exempt me from being a caring personality, after all I am a geuine team player in the greater scheme of things and would be dismyed with the degradation of my fellow pilots T&Cs in future. However I just don't feel that the blame can be put on the doorstep of those who wish to sacrifice most, train hardest whilst be openly responsible for their own actions. This is like blaming the recent Peugeot car plant closure on the immigrants. Aviation is a complex game with an equally complex array of variables so a single source of activity cannot be solely responsible for the wave of change running through the industry in recent years. I have always felt that in the past aviation was a closed door to many and that those on the right side of that door were more than looked after compared to the pleb working as a clerk in some dusty office somewhere.
If it's difficult to identify the specifics of this 'wave of change' then at least we can ascertain what direction it appears to be coming from. That would most certainly be the LCC which is now a global phenomena and long may it continue. We have to ask ourselves what else are we prepared to do in order to justify better T&Cs, do we speak multiple languages, have the potential to leave the cockpit with a path to management (effective and practical not old boys club)? How many pilots turn up for employment with a solid degree and perhaps a Masters in Aerospace Engineering, Astro Physics, Mathematics?
As naturally conservative persons we are starting to sound more like whinging trade unions by the day. We should dispense with this self appointed attitude that we are special and we "deserve it", market forces will decide what the level shall be. Aviation is not a flying club there for our benefit it is at the end of the day a business and though in the past it has been shielded by governments from the harsh realities of corporate culture, airlines are now very atuned to the harsh climes of the business world. Not so easy to fog off hard nosed business men in the city with fuddy-duddy CAA type illusions. The business world are the ones that have turned up the screw on an unfit and at times obese industry,
Last edited by boogie-nicey; 20th April 2006 at 14:23.