Musket,
Just call me an old idealist if you will. I guess you work for Bristow (and yes I know AB) where the overseas operations are still ruled by the same bunch of dinosaurs who have not been moved on by OLOG. But, as has been mentioned here a few times recently, CHC pilots overseas may be on the verge of forming a Global Helicopter Pilots' Association (provided enough pilots can be galvanised to actually change from their normal state of inertia). If you look at the list from chc&p, many CHC group companies have now got collective bargaining agreements which have helped to improve their pay and conditions from within by people who decided to stay on and make things better. Whilst, in terms of aerodynamics, Newton's first law is normally interpreted as the course of an object doesn't change unless an external force acts upon it to cause a change, Newton's first law of motion, sometimes called the law of inertia, was actually adopted from the work of Galileo. It states that a particle's velocity will not change unless a force is applied to the particle. This means that if a body is at rest it remains at rest unless a force is applied. If a body is moving with some velocity, it will continue to move with the same velocity unless a force is applied, whether from within or without. It can't change position, without getting a velocity. It can't change its velocity from zero without getting an acceleration. Many companies are like this, but they can be put in motion and then have their course changed by enough pilots getting together and acting as one to be that force required. Being a confirmed pessimist, I don't expect it to happen, but you just never know.
