FT Magazine 26/05

[eeper]

Saw this piece of "journalism" in my FT magazine this morning (page 8)


Cruising for a Pay Rise


From Wall Street in the 80s to last year's dotcoms, there is usually one job at one time where the rewards seem to comfortably outpace the difficulties of the task at hand. These days it's the turn of the airline pilot. Senior captains routinely earn in excess of £200,000 a year. The budget carrier easyJet is trying to tempt staff with signing-on bonuses of a reported £30,000 and the US carrier United Airlines has agreed a 45 per cent pay increase for its pilots. Yet flying an aircraft has never been easier.

From the early days of aviation until the advent of craft such as the Boeing Stratocruiser in the late 40s, piloting an aeroplane was actually hard physical work. Battling against the elements, pilots had to manually operate control cables connected to the surfaces of flaps and rudders. Larger, faster aircraft then introduced powerful hydraulic systems that the pilot operated via a system of cables and pulleys. The job no longer had any manual component. By the early 80s pilots had computers to regulate hydraulic controls.

In 1988, with the advent of the Airbus A320, fly-by-wire systems extended this technology to primary flight controls. Computers are pre-programmed to limit aircraft bank-and-pitch and speed violations are prevented, regardless of pilot input. The military already operates pilot-less flights: the public, it is felt, wouldn't wear civilian equivalents. If pilot pay keeps rising, they just might have to.


The article is accompanied by a graphic showing an airliner representing "income" climbing while another airliner representing "effort" is shown spiralling down below it.

[Flypuppy]

From Wall Street in the 80s to last year's dotcoms, there is usually one job at one time where the rewards seem to comfortably outpace the difficulties of the task at hand. These days it's the turn of the journalist. Senior journalists routinely earn in excess of £200,000 a year. The budget newspapers are trying to tempt staff with signing-on bonuses and the US news organisations have agreed to a 45 per cent increase in long lunches and expense accounts for its journalists. Yet writing for a newspaper has never been easier.

From the early days of printing until the advent of the typewriter, journalism was actually hard physical work. Battling against the elements, journalists had to manually operate control cables connected to the typefaces. Larger, more extravagant lunches then introduced powerful hydraulic systems that the journalist operated via a system of cables and pulleys. The job no longer had any manual component. By the early 80s journalists had computers to regulate truth outputs.

With the advent of the word processor and CNN, writing-by-wire systems extended this technology to primary writing controls. Computers are pre-programmed to generate rubbish on no news days, the true story is prevented, regardless of journalist input. The military already operates journalist-less documents: the public, it is felt, wouldn't wear civilian equivalents. If journalist pay keeps rising, they just might have to.


[This message has been edited by Flypuppy (edited 26 May 2001).]