Now I know there will be lot of you here ready to slaughter me and my character regarding what I have to say about the aviation industry and it's state today.
Many here get complete frenzy if something negative is said about the industry, and that I should shut up or put up. Which is in many ways the one of the main reasons aviation is like it is today, to many people just put up with the current degrading of T & C's and working conditions in this industry.
To many people delude themselves believing the industry somehow will improve, get some more and there will be companies lined up to give you a better job, with betters TC's. However by the time your reach that experience level, these companies due to competition from the lower end of airlines, have put pressure so they also have now worsen their work TC's.
After new EASA flight time regulations which is about to be approved, the companies are gaining a momentum to take more control over peoples lives, and making people a slave of their machine. As an individual you are not considered to deserve to have a life outside the air-plane according to many airlines.
Due to your "love" for aviation, they brainwash people to become complete loyalist to their doctrines, as the choice is of course yours, but how can you accept to stand up against this BS after spending 100.000 Euros or more on your training.
Let's start with the first thing, the "dream" - and these are questions you should ask yourself, is this your dream? Really?
To know this you need to know the facts, realize what these facts does mean, and think if this is what you are willing to do to make a pay slightly more than somebody who works at McDonalds!
The job is good if you like sitting doing nothing for around 80% of your time, so it is great job if your brain activity does not mind being in a very inactive environment.
(Now this doesn't mean that you are not smart, and good at your job, of course if disaster happens you have to be alert and well trained to cope with this situation - however with the reliability of these modern aircraft today, you will most likely only get to do this twice a year, when you doing your sim training / checks.)
So it's a great job to have, if you like doing nothing for hours and hours, except stare out of the windows and admire the view, however after a while that also gets pretty familiar.
You will have little or no real job protection - you will be used as the airline pleases, with no consideration given to your own private life. (I mean how do you expect we ("the airline) can have time and manpower to consider individuals personal needs - that will cost the company money, which they are not willing to spend.
If they feel they do not need you, they will easily fire you or put you on Unpaid leave.
Little or No sickpay, so actively encouraging people to push themselves to work even if you should be grounded. (Yes I have seen that - I even had a Captain fully knowing he was sick, did not tell me, started the flight, only to tell me midway that he might need to report of duty sick on arrival, because he was not feeling well)
Another issue with this, reporting sick, is almost a taboo for many pilots, as they have this attitude to that they must serve the company regardless of their health condition or if they are fatigue. I have seen and experienced so many times crews being tired, and in my opinion should have reported unfit for duty, but this rarely ever happens.
It is a mentality which is very unhealthy. I also heard of crews being out all night in clubs etc., reporting for duty in morning or later in the day. (not accusing anybody of drinking, but lacking sever rest and still reporting for duty as normal)
Now for me this is very unprofessional and it is playing with peoples lives.
But these things will happen, when people are treated with very little or no respect.
No Pensions, of course if you are 21 - 22, you might not care about this, but you should, but no social contribution by the company, many companies today look for ways to avoid social responsibility, like removing sick pay and pensions - and if they do pay some of this, it will be the basic, where you would probably get more working in a supermarket Tescos.
Now I am in an exceptional situation, as in 1 month at home in November / December I made close to £40K with my own business. And it makes me question my own sanity over this, do I need some inexperienced planner telling me that for the next 3 - 4 weeks I will not be able to see my family because the company owns me?
So most jobs are now on contracts as falsely self-employed, for the company to avoid social responsibility and to avoid to pay proper taxes and other expenses involved with having people working for you.
Thousands of pilots are evading taxes, either of their own lack of knowledge and a combination of the airlines using every trick in the book to keep their expenses down.
However these tricks will soon be turned out to be illegal, in time, and let's hope it will not be the pilots who have to pay for this tax evasion - where they have also been mislead by agencies and airlines.
Now there is a general acceptance in the industry by to many pilots, that these conditions are no more then what they deserve, and they might moan and complain, but they have so much fear of loosing their "dream job" that they shut up.
The problem also lies in the recruitment strategies, there are THOUSANDS of people willing to spend a fortune to work for PEANUTS!
The Airlines use this actively, to make sure everybody sits in their place nicely and shuts up and does not act to try to improve.
Now this is a disease in the industry, spreading like cancer, maybe it has always been like this, but I doubt so.
The lifestyle and life-quality being a pilot has seriously decreased, most of us have a love for flying, and that is the trap used.
Fact is that even today with experience, the chances of moving up the ladder are fairly few and far in-between.
Being a pilot used to be a prestigious and well respected profession, however it is unfortunately today changing into a job that you are more and more ashamed to talk about with regards to life-quality and conditions.
Now changes needs to be made, and EASA approving TT of 1000 hours per year is a major step backwards. In most professions it should be going the other way, with less hours to increase quality of life.
But of course now with this big EU family, where 3.rd world countries are now members too, competing for the same jobs, the companies are getting more and more happy by increasing their profits and paying less, giving less.
Things need to change, before the rot will start bringing the whole industry into the mud. Changes are needed, and they must come in form of improved company legislation.
The first step would be to make it illegal for pilots to report as self-employed, because what they simply do today, is just avoid paying taxes, which benefits nobody - well except the company that employs them.
The company saves a fortune, and people except it because does not seem to bad pay if not paying any taxes or social contributions of it.
Accept scientific research for Flight Time Regulations, and accept that this legislation that is now about to be approved is not acceptable. This is not in the interest of the passengers or the crews, but it does increase the airlines profit margins, more for less philosophy.
Put a stop to P2F and Cadet programs - require minimum 1500 hours or more to fly for an airline. Why? some may ask. This is one of the main factors with the industry, as Ryanair started this, making pilots pay for their own training etc. It created a base of available pilots that is ENDLESS!
Airlines are with this in Paradise - in 3 - 4 months they can train a monkey and pay him peanuts! And there is an endless source of pilots available.
Now you might ask what about all the newbies, don't they also deserve a chance?
Of course they do, but unless they are on a program similar to BA etc., they should build up their experience over time, when reaching the hours they will have gained invaluable experience and be ready for airlines - this will be their recruitment procedure, and there will be jobs created on every level - as it would mean all the guys today with thousands of hours on MEP and SEP instructing etc., would have priority when employed, ahead of the hoards of people who exist with Low hours.
It will after a while settle in to a natural stream - and it would enhance safety with the airlines, as these would be pilots with actual experience of hands on flying over a period of time.
Also there would be a natural selection process that would get rid of the wannabes who are merely time-wasters, who should not be looking at this career, but doing it for the wrong reasons and the chance to get into a big shiny yet with 250 hours on SEP.
This is not a perfect system either, but it would for sure help the pilots TC's to become more stable and stronger over time.
However the business interest in airlines would not be happy for such legislation, as it would mean that they no longer would have an infinite amount of pilots at their disposal - it would only be those who had a certain amount of hours Total time.
If it means spending a couple of more years flying around in a SEP /MEP or some smaller turbo-prop etc., the long term benefits for the whole profession would improve, and everybody entering into it would face a much better and brighter future.
But the problem is todays Fast - Food generation, they want everything instantly and they do not want to work their way up, and that is the reason the treatment like monkeys befall them.
If organizations like ECA could manage to organize the unions around in EASA to take action, based on safety - these kind of improvements could maybe be achieved. But a part of the problem, are the pilots themselves, they lack unity and many lack self-respect, which is not entirely their own fault, it is the airlines who have indoctrinated this fear culture, which is epidemic, don't talk, don't think, just go with the flow, be lucky we let you fly this aircraft of ours!
Do you feel lucky today?
(remember your enemies that want you to not have good conditions are the airlines, the FTO's, TRTO's - as this will not serve their best interest, however a change of regulations is needed, if not this profession is becoming a joke - lack of respect for your work - stop it now! - or if you don't mind just let it Carry On!
)
I guess the general final conclusion of this message is:
Lower your expectations to the industry!