TooBadSoSad
19th Jun 2005, 10:44
I have reposted this under African Aviation because the original post that I was replying to was closed, being '4 SAA cadets fail their SAA interview'. and another post I used to reply to it with was moved to The Campfire. It is important that pilots in Africa and worldwide know what is going on at SAA!
See original post (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176094) specifically "Black Pilot's" post therein.
Some facts!!
When I refer to black pilots at SAA, this reference is to indigenous black, coloured and indian pilots as defined within the Employment Equity Act and referred to as such!!! It is in no way a racist reference.
SAA has made a concerted effort, over the last 11 years, to address the lack of designated group individuals within the pilot ranks at SAA due to the Apartheid era government's and the then SAA management's racist and chauvenist policies. There have been three different means introduced to try to address disparities which are: 1. A once off seniority adjustment of those designated group pilots who were disadvantaged to the point that their seniority within SAA was affected by these policies (I am staying away from the "previously disadvantaged group" moniker as I do not consider white females previously disadvantaged, but yet they are considered as part of the DG group). 2. The cadet program was introduced to train up potential DG pilots (once again I believe errors were made here, specifically the inclusion of white males in the initial classes as this defeated the objective of the program) and, 3. The high priority given to the employment of DG candidates by SAA even when there are white males available with far more experience.
No SAA pilots, specifically white males, have any doubts about why these policies and programs were implemented, and the majority have supported them (there will always be those who hold on to the past, but this is very much limited to a small minority at SAA).
However, what is really difficult to deal with is the immediate reaction by a few senior black pilots and some HR executive management whenever a DG pilot is found to be incompetent or corrupt. They immediately play the race card and throw around accusations of racist senior white pilot management. Among the issues which have had to be dealt with was the ALTP written exam scandal whereby two of the most senior black pilots at SAA and a senior black pilot at SAX, among others, were charged with bribing a CAA official to help them pass the exams (the CAA official was found guilty and sent to jail but the only pilot who was proven to be guilty was the black SAX pilot, as he fled the country prior to sentencing). Then one of the same black SAA pilots (as in the ALTP scandal) was caught with a few kgs of cocaine in a hidden compartment in his flight satchel at Cape Town Intl (he accused the Captain of planting it there) and has since been dismissed by the airline. A black pilot who was initially rejected as being suitable to be hired by SAA but through political connections had that decision reversed and then, six months into his employment failed his first recurrency check as a P3 on the A340. He was given retraining but once again failed. He was then given a formal hearing whereby he was found to be unsuitable for further employment with SAA as a pilot and was dismissed. Once again a few political strings were pulled and this pilot was reemployed by SAA and the training department was told, by the HR department head, to retrain this individual. This last issue is still ongoing. Once again, senior black pilots and HR management were shouting racism. This is only a few of the many incidents involving DG pilots where the facts were ignored and the issue turned into a racist one with claims of victimisation and other accusations levied against the white SAA pilot management.
As "Black Pilot" claimed, the ratio of DG pilots to white male pilots at SAA is skewed, but there is no more that can be done to address the imbalance. The cadet program is limited by how many cadets are able to do internships with other operators prior to joining SAA, as Rossair is out of business and Airlink is probably going to think twice about taking cadets due to their strained relationship with SAA. Talk of direct entry employment by SAA of cadets is being considered and is highly likely. Another problem is that the cadet scheme is being funded by SAA when it should be funded by the government, and SAA is not prepared to keep funding this scheme. The last two problems are the high failure rate of cadets during their training (around 50%?) and the struggle by the cadet scheme to recruit suitably qualified individuals. Even with roughly 125 senior white captains retiring over the next five years, there are just not enough black pilots in the system to take up the vacancies that will be created, and once again white pilots will have to be hired to make up the shortfall of DG candidates.
However, now the senior black pilots at SAA, roughly 25% of the total black pilots in SAA, are riding on the back of the Employment Equity Act to further enhance their positions within SAA and to enrich themselves financially. They are insisting that "The Act" demands representation at all levels within the employment ranks of South African companies, of blacks. Therefore, they are insisting that SAA reduce the minimum qualification requirement for Captains (as most of them lack the minimum experience required for command) and are seeking accelerated command for all black pilots as soon as they meet these minimum requirements. They therefore want to bypass the seniority system and their fellow white male counterparts. The problem with this desire of theirs is that they are all advantaged as pilots within SAA, with most of them having already had their seniority adjusted or having been in the first few cadet classes and been given a free ticket into SAA. Therefore, they are all the same age, and actually mostly younger, than their white counterparts when seniority positions are compared. Where experience is taken into account, they generally have far less than their white counterparts of the same seniority. So how are they now disadvantaged?? Some of them then want their long range command on the A340 or B744 with as little as two to three years in the left hand seat on the domestic narrow bodies. This will mean an average of 35 year old, or probably a lot younger, black captains (with about 7,000 hours as a minimum requirement) on the A340 or B744 when the equivalent youngest white Captain in the same position has about 15,000 hours and is at least 45 years old.
What is pleasing to note is that the majority of black pilots and white females would rather wait for their command to be awarded based on their current seniority than due to the colour of their skin or their gender, but obviously the minority with hidden agendas who are hiding behind the EE Act are using all the intimidation they can to try to sway their less senior DG group members.
I am pretty sure that "Black Pilot" is either the senior black Captain at SAA or, alternatively, his black pilot colleague, a cadet and A340 SFO, who attended a course to train to fly the Swazi King's jet which was so controversial and never happened. Both have massive aspirations to move into senior SAA management and probably into government. Little do they realise that they are by far the two most unpopular pilots within the SAA pilot group, and not because of the colour of their skin, but because of the way they use it as a tool for personal gain at the expense of every other pilot in SAA, both black and white!! Even senior black management, who they so vociferously defend, have personally stated their lack of trust or faith in the managerial and business ability of these two individuals!
What really irks me is that all South Africans should be looking to reconcile the past so that we can go forward as a colourless society, but all that the accelerated command drive by the few senior black pilots will do is to accentuate the fact that we are not all the same colour and that the colour of your skin DOES mean different standards and different privileges!
See original post (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176094) specifically "Black Pilot's" post therein.
Some facts!!
When I refer to black pilots at SAA, this reference is to indigenous black, coloured and indian pilots as defined within the Employment Equity Act and referred to as such!!! It is in no way a racist reference.
SAA has made a concerted effort, over the last 11 years, to address the lack of designated group individuals within the pilot ranks at SAA due to the Apartheid era government's and the then SAA management's racist and chauvenist policies. There have been three different means introduced to try to address disparities which are: 1. A once off seniority adjustment of those designated group pilots who were disadvantaged to the point that their seniority within SAA was affected by these policies (I am staying away from the "previously disadvantaged group" moniker as I do not consider white females previously disadvantaged, but yet they are considered as part of the DG group). 2. The cadet program was introduced to train up potential DG pilots (once again I believe errors were made here, specifically the inclusion of white males in the initial classes as this defeated the objective of the program) and, 3. The high priority given to the employment of DG candidates by SAA even when there are white males available with far more experience.
No SAA pilots, specifically white males, have any doubts about why these policies and programs were implemented, and the majority have supported them (there will always be those who hold on to the past, but this is very much limited to a small minority at SAA).
However, what is really difficult to deal with is the immediate reaction by a few senior black pilots and some HR executive management whenever a DG pilot is found to be incompetent or corrupt. They immediately play the race card and throw around accusations of racist senior white pilot management. Among the issues which have had to be dealt with was the ALTP written exam scandal whereby two of the most senior black pilots at SAA and a senior black pilot at SAX, among others, were charged with bribing a CAA official to help them pass the exams (the CAA official was found guilty and sent to jail but the only pilot who was proven to be guilty was the black SAX pilot, as he fled the country prior to sentencing). Then one of the same black SAA pilots (as in the ALTP scandal) was caught with a few kgs of cocaine in a hidden compartment in his flight satchel at Cape Town Intl (he accused the Captain of planting it there) and has since been dismissed by the airline. A black pilot who was initially rejected as being suitable to be hired by SAA but through political connections had that decision reversed and then, six months into his employment failed his first recurrency check as a P3 on the A340. He was given retraining but once again failed. He was then given a formal hearing whereby he was found to be unsuitable for further employment with SAA as a pilot and was dismissed. Once again a few political strings were pulled and this pilot was reemployed by SAA and the training department was told, by the HR department head, to retrain this individual. This last issue is still ongoing. Once again, senior black pilots and HR management were shouting racism. This is only a few of the many incidents involving DG pilots where the facts were ignored and the issue turned into a racist one with claims of victimisation and other accusations levied against the white SAA pilot management.
As "Black Pilot" claimed, the ratio of DG pilots to white male pilots at SAA is skewed, but there is no more that can be done to address the imbalance. The cadet program is limited by how many cadets are able to do internships with other operators prior to joining SAA, as Rossair is out of business and Airlink is probably going to think twice about taking cadets due to their strained relationship with SAA. Talk of direct entry employment by SAA of cadets is being considered and is highly likely. Another problem is that the cadet scheme is being funded by SAA when it should be funded by the government, and SAA is not prepared to keep funding this scheme. The last two problems are the high failure rate of cadets during their training (around 50%?) and the struggle by the cadet scheme to recruit suitably qualified individuals. Even with roughly 125 senior white captains retiring over the next five years, there are just not enough black pilots in the system to take up the vacancies that will be created, and once again white pilots will have to be hired to make up the shortfall of DG candidates.
However, now the senior black pilots at SAA, roughly 25% of the total black pilots in SAA, are riding on the back of the Employment Equity Act to further enhance their positions within SAA and to enrich themselves financially. They are insisting that "The Act" demands representation at all levels within the employment ranks of South African companies, of blacks. Therefore, they are insisting that SAA reduce the minimum qualification requirement for Captains (as most of them lack the minimum experience required for command) and are seeking accelerated command for all black pilots as soon as they meet these minimum requirements. They therefore want to bypass the seniority system and their fellow white male counterparts. The problem with this desire of theirs is that they are all advantaged as pilots within SAA, with most of them having already had their seniority adjusted or having been in the first few cadet classes and been given a free ticket into SAA. Therefore, they are all the same age, and actually mostly younger, than their white counterparts when seniority positions are compared. Where experience is taken into account, they generally have far less than their white counterparts of the same seniority. So how are they now disadvantaged?? Some of them then want their long range command on the A340 or B744 with as little as two to three years in the left hand seat on the domestic narrow bodies. This will mean an average of 35 year old, or probably a lot younger, black captains (with about 7,000 hours as a minimum requirement) on the A340 or B744 when the equivalent youngest white Captain in the same position has about 15,000 hours and is at least 45 years old.
What is pleasing to note is that the majority of black pilots and white females would rather wait for their command to be awarded based on their current seniority than due to the colour of their skin or their gender, but obviously the minority with hidden agendas who are hiding behind the EE Act are using all the intimidation they can to try to sway their less senior DG group members.
I am pretty sure that "Black Pilot" is either the senior black Captain at SAA or, alternatively, his black pilot colleague, a cadet and A340 SFO, who attended a course to train to fly the Swazi King's jet which was so controversial and never happened. Both have massive aspirations to move into senior SAA management and probably into government. Little do they realise that they are by far the two most unpopular pilots within the SAA pilot group, and not because of the colour of their skin, but because of the way they use it as a tool for personal gain at the expense of every other pilot in SAA, both black and white!! Even senior black management, who they so vociferously defend, have personally stated their lack of trust or faith in the managerial and business ability of these two individuals!
What really irks me is that all South Africans should be looking to reconcile the past so that we can go forward as a colourless society, but all that the accelerated command drive by the few senior black pilots will do is to accentuate the fact that we are not all the same colour and that the colour of your skin DOES mean different standards and different privileges!