A reply for SEAMASTER
'Course I'm an addict – I'm building an Airfix Sea Harrier on my days off – how sad is that? (I suppose it could be worse – it could be a model Dash). I love flying, it's under my skin, and not a day goes by when I don't appreciate how lucky I am to paid to do something I enjoy. If I have one regret it's that I didn't change careers years ago. I also appreciate that Flybe is one of very few airlines that will take on 30-something wet ink CPLs (like me) and not shaft them with type rating costs or pay-to-fly schemes.
However, as is often said, gratitude and appreciation don't pay the mortgage or put fuel in the car. I went into this job with my eyes wide open, and Flybe's reputation as a training airline with a high turnover of FOs isn't exactly breaking news (in fairness, it's one of the reasons I got a job). It's their train set, and if that's how they want to operate it, fair enough, I'm under no illusions about where I stand. What does grate, however, is the constant stream of missives from Exeter, praising us for helping to keep the company in profit through the recession and keeping our passengers flying through snowdrifts, volcanic eruptions and plagues of frogs, and telling us how important we all our, while at the same time there is an extreme reluctance to engage on pay and rostering, the two issues that everyone – and I mean everyone – cite as their main reasons for looking elsewhere. Personally I find that rather patronising. What's worse is to find out from the union (not management) that our 2% pay offer now suddenly includes our contractual increments, resulting in a negligible real terms pay rise. That I find insulting.
I've been around the block a couple of times, and disconnect between management words and actions isn't exactly unique to Flybe. I'm also aware that company cultures are generally set in stone, and as they have a very successful business model, I can't see anything changing unless people are leaving faster than they can replace them. And with an endless supply of 200hr wannabes (like I was) that's never going to happen.
Standing back from it all (and noting that the E175 numbers suggest a doubling of fleet size) it will be fascinating to see how the company manages a rapid transition from 'Europe's biggest little airline' to serious player, and whether a "so what?" attitude to pilot turnover is compatible with that transition. If Joe average joins with 200hrs, flies 600hrs per year and has had enough and jumps ship after 3 years, that suggests a typical RHS experience level of around 1100-1500hrs. The bean counters would probably be happier with that figure than flight ops . . .