If only it was so simple and straight forward as some people think. We are all pawns in a great game that nobody understands completely. I don't know who the various contributors are here but there are many individuals who poured scorn on the offer of an ERJ rating just six months ago. That doesn't mean they are wrong to want the job now but it illustrates how we all, including me, interpret events according to our own personal circumstances and ambitions. Events beyong our control change the perspective totally. What seemed to some people an attempt to trick 146 pilots into accepting transfers onto the 145 a few months ago would look like a pretty good offer now. Does anyone really believe BALPA would have considered for one minute the views of bmir pilots when demanding a scope agreement? That agreement was made to prevent bmir pilots taking bmi jobs. Fair enough. Whether you believe it has saved jobs or cost them depends on where you are now. I personally think it makes no difference to jobs but restricts the company's ability to react to change. That may cost jobs in the future at both companies. I can't see how it can help to create a single pilot job ever.
The best hope for any pilot wanting to work for bmir is that the ERJ program starts again sometime in the future. If someone else is recruiting for 737, Airbus or even 146 a lot of those soon to be laid off wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, even if it offered the security that everyone would give their right arm for now. We suffer from very short term memory and we believe what we want to believe, even when the truth is staring us in the face. I am truly sorry the 146 is finished and I'm even more sorry about those folk who are losing their jobs. Hitting out at those who make the decisions and who are still in work is natural and if it helps to get people through the hurt then it's maybe a good thing.
[ 18 November 2001: Message edited by: Bash ]