Sorry fellah, I think you missed the subtle point Capt Sullenberger was making...
My understanding is that he did not claim a fat paypacket would make an individual a better pilot; either at a given moment or over time. By striving for better t's and c's he was hoping to recruit and retain the quality individuals who have helped to make and keep the skies as safe as they have now become. There's a difference. I'm pretty sure Sully did not deadstick for a bankers bonus - but the passengers of Flight 1549 may have been lucky that he was there and not pursuing a more lucrative (or less demeaning!) paypacket.
I think we are misunderstanding each other here.
First : Have good or better pay packages attracted the brightest in the past ?? I fear not. I have been flying for a major for 22 years now and let me tell you I have been given the opportunity to fly with some amazingly inadaquate morons of which there is a never ending supply.
Airline safety has increased tremendously in the last 40 years and like it or not............mainly because aircrafts have become safer. Sure, CRM and all have played a part. But the bare fact remains, Main cause of accidents is ..........human and speaking of pay package / skills, maybe we could remember this DHL crew who got hit by a rocket over Bagdad and learned a whole new way to fly while those bastards on the ground were looking for a second shot. Sure, there were no pax and they didn't get caught live on tv.
I don't think the DHL pay package was all that shiny.
Last but not least let me ask again how many Sully's are there among us ??? I will certainly not be arrogant enough to claim I am one.........despite my good pay package.
You find out the day it happens and I am really not all that curious to find out.
Gone are the days were pilots were flying a very small group of well off's. We can lament all we like this isn't going to change a thing and the truck load of pilots thrown out on the street isn't going to help us get better conditions. Those of us who keep their jobs will be lucky.
Has the banking system attracted the best and brightest despite their huge pay package ??? Think not.
Do NASA astronauts bring home an insane amount of money ?? Think not.
I admire Sully precisely for that. The guy does his thing no matter what and yes his pax can be thankfull he wasn't the head of Lehman and vice versa.
If you look around you have, Thank God, a lot of Sully's around, in the Police force, fire department, emergency wards who do their very best day in and day out most of the time with a crappy package and this is what holds this place together..........for now.
What will this profession be in 20 years, your guess is as good as mine but I still see young bright and able people who would right now give their left nut to get in the right hand seat of an airliner. Try to talk them out of it it's nogo.
I was just llike that.............exept for the bright and able.