Thanks to all for the very thoughful posts. Lots of perspective added to my original posting.
A couple of comments:
To Borough Council who said:
"Well A300dude, If you've been flying 36 years, and this is as bad as you've ever seen it... then you must have had a pretty soft easy going career (and you must be retired from it now to see how the other half live). Have a chat with some "blue team" canuck sometime if you want to earn a real tear. Enjoy retirement man and put your feet up."
I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for any pilot lucky enough to be employed at Air Canada, regardless of how he got there (i.e. "blue team") and regardless of what they think of their seniority. Anyone who is flying there should consider themselves extremely lucky in the current circumstances.
As far as relaxing and putting my feet up after my soft career:
I now consider myself lucky to have a part-time job on a King Air. I am still suporting a wife (disabled) and three children (two school-age) on this earned money plus my retirement savings. Two years ago I was Captain on a wide-body and through no fault of my own (read all of the above posts), find myself in my present circumstances.
to "Thumbs Up" in Auz:
We have a similar situation on the go in Canada with the collapse of Canada 3000, our second-largest airline. According to what I've heard, there are still around 325 ex Canada 3000 pilots who have found no work at all (since last November). You can imagine what this does to wages and working conditions in a small country, when this number of qualified pilots are still out of work. And you can imagine what sort of pressure this puts on their families.
To finish on a much more positive note:
Over the last two years I have developed a group life insurance plan available to Canadian ATPL's and their families. So far, my partner and I are still subsidising the plan, but we have hopes that eventually the plan will be able to support itself and maybe even make a few bucks!
If you would like to check it out, go to
www.ppip.ca
Thanks again for all the thoughful and insightful posts!
a300guy