What happened to GTD Aviation?

[chrissw]

Their web site has been saying "We'll be back soon" for some time now.

Just curious.

[skyflyer737]

The guy behind it was fired by Brookfield / Ryanair for breach of contract and the project seems dead in the water.

[captplaystation]

This. . . . & the "RPG" appear to be stuck in limbo.
Rumours that some senior (command ready) FO's who fled the Harp for pastures North are thinking of migrating back across to the Dark Side to have the Command they were "promised" , but haven't received in the Rednosed world.

Strange thing this life of a pilot.

[speed_alive_rotate]

Is there talk of any new pilot recruitment agency starting with FR? I understand Brookfield are not giving out new contracts.

[Journey Man]

The guy behind it was fired by Brookfield / Ryanair for breach of contract and the project seems dead in the water.

Surely the biggest indicador that the project was on the right track, and desperately needed by the contractors.

Furthermore, surely the person(s) involved would now be more ardent in their pursuit of an outcome. As I understood, the GTD proposal were at a point where it appeared the current activity was accumulating the requisite supporting letters from flight crew? Was the response underwhelming?

If any FR flight crew care to comment on whether they were for or against the GTD scheme. FR crews frequently beseech the moral support of their peers; at some level the FR crews themselves have to take a united stance for any improvemen. If this was not that stance; why not; what could be improved; and who'll lead?

[OhNoCB]

Is there talk of any new pilot recruitment agency starting with FR? I understand Brookfield are not giving out new contracts.

I think this is true, only hear of new guys being given Storm contracts now.

Have heard rumours from some guys working at FR that they may start offering FR contracts in place of Brookfield ones. Some of them have suggested this might be a way to change FO terms on the FR contract to make the Capt contract look better.

[speed_alive_rotate]

Thanks for the feedback OhNoCB. Thought there was talk of another smaller company sourcing pilots for FR though. As you know yourself many rumours....

[Birdstrike737]

I wasn't following PPrune much last year but just had my attention directed to this thread. I'm the founder of GTD, and I'm the guy who got sacked for trying to upend the current scheme of "contract" exploitation of pilots. Let's please not use my real name here because I have another job and don't wish to have questions pop up in that workplace.
I've had many pilots tell me, since the demise of the 2014 GTD push, "mate, that was a brilliant idea -- it was perfectly planned!" I thought so as well. It had three months to either take off and fly or drop off the end of the runway, and it was the pilots of Ryanair who decided its fate, not me. They decided that their life was good enough after all, and it wouldn't be worth rocking the boat.
Many pilots who wanted GTD to succeed and even did volunteer work toward that end did not themselves "participate." Those who participated -- that is to say, signed/scanned their paperwork and emailed it to the law firm handling GTD's operations -- had their confidentiality fully protected, as was always promised.
GTD's biggest "enemy" was the Irish Air Line Pilot's Association. IALPA attacked GTD almost immediately, and was its only outward harassment during its months of operation. Their behavior was despicable in every sense, and my communications with them (I took the case to IFALPA, and they wrote a letter of inquiry to IALPA, to which IALPA refused to even respond) have led me to a very strong sense that they're bought off by O'Leary and Company. Something like "here's the money fellas, now get out there and rattle the pots and pans once in a while, act like you're doing something, but make sure nothing gets done."
When I, a dues-paying IALPA member, was sacked for no other reason than attempting to organize the pilot group which stands out as most desperately in need of ANY kind of organization, IALPA sent me an email saying "well that was predictable." They not only did not represent me against Ryanair/Brookfield, they never responded to any further communications -- from me or from IFALPA on my behalf. I still pay my €33 monthly dues to IALPA, and I haven't finished with them yet.
I talked to an Italy-based Ryanair captain a couple of days ago, about a 10-year veteran of Ryanair, and he told me he cleared €3,900 euro in March, working a full roster. That doesn't surprise me -- what still surprises me is that most Ryanair pilots think someone ELSE is going to come along and rescue them without asking them so much as discomfort in the process. They just don't realize what the stakes are in this game, and how much it really demands of them if they want to see change.

[Journey Man]

Not involved with FR.

Just want to say bravo to you for having tried. Bitterly disappointed GTD didn't gain the support it needed.

Hats off to you.

[McBruce]

I personally thought it was a great idea. great effort, if more pilots in RYR had an ounce of your determination it would be a rosier place.

[chrissw]

You deserve congratulations for trying so hard. It can't have been easy setting up GTD, and working hard to ensure that you delivered what you promised, i.e. full identity protection for those pilots who did commit.

It's a shame that IALPA behaved like that. Perhaps they thought their power base was being eroded. It's extraordinary how quick to react people can be, when they're in a privileged position where there is no real danger of them losing that position - a situation which, of course, FR pilots don't enjoy.

I wish you all the best in whatever you're doing now.

[737 Jockey]

Bird strike 737.

You have my admiration and respect for trying to improve things for FR Pilots. I left before GTD started, but you would've had my full support. Sadly, some FR Pilots are their own worst enemy, as we know too well. Nothing will change until O' Leary departs, and sadly that won't be anytime soon.

If it's true that a Euro based Skipper nets €3,900 a month, and he's happy to accept that, then there's nothing more one can say or do. I've always maintained that O'Leary wanted to achieve a £50k salary for the LHS.... Looks like he's achieved it! :ugh:

Good luck to you in you're new job, I'm sure you are happier to be away from FR, I know I certainly am! :ok:

All in my own humble opinion of course!

[Birdstrike737]

I've been a very infrequent visitor to PPrune in recent months, but just read these posts. It's always nice to hear that my project was on the right track and that its first-try failure was not due to it being conceived poorly in the first place. I always felt that if GTD had gotten traction and moved forward, it would have been a game-changer to the whole "new" airline industry, by showing that pilots still have the power and will use it to change their conditions and preserve the dignity of their profession. Sadly they didn't, and things are still sliding down the hill. :ugh:

I'm now on a widebody contract, far from Europe, but would love to participate in a revival of the GTD concept if the pilots of Ryanair or Norwegian or [???] ever decide to do it. Heck, I'll even throw in a website that's been on SBY for over a year now! Maybe things just need to bottom-out a little more before pilots will say "enough is enough" and fight.

Blue skies to all of you. :ok:

[skyship007]

Sounds to me like Ryanair will not change anything until they suffer another Birdstrike with their 737's.
That will take a few years because their present contracts make slaves of their new pilots and a slave just does as they are told. Keeping a bird to strike with is not exactly on their company approved financial shopping list.

Umm, so what shall the Birdie do today:
1/ Pay last months ATPL bank loan installment or part of the type rating loan ??
2/ Work for free ??
3/ Consider joining an armed robbery group, or the 737Birdie club ??
4/ Buy a bike!
5/ ---------------

PS: I wonder how long the Mods would allow a 737union thread to exist, probably about 30 mins ??
Alas CRM cocepts only seems to work in a aircraft and are not tried with pilots contracts too often, so to be effective
a trainee pilots union is required, cos the existing bunch were selected to be mostly union free and will never help the new chaps!
Good luck and good hunting (I hope you can bag enough bean counters to cause a surrender) !!
http://www.gtdaviation.com/

Hybrid Pilot Services Ltd (Also declared dormant):
www.hybridairship.net (http://www.hybridairship.net)

[Birdstrike737]

The way GTD went quiet is worth recounting.

When I put my name and picture on the website and took responsibility for it, I expected to be sent a contract termination letter the next day. It took over 3 weeks (I suspect they wanted to run it all past their lawyers first), but it did arrive. What I did next was I approached the union of which I was a dues-paying member (IALPA, in Dublin) for legal help and got more or less "f off" for an answer. Then I approached the RYR pilots themselves for MICRO-DONATIONS which would enable me to sue Brookfield/Ryanair in court. This is where it got surreal: there were less than ten takers on that one. That's when I turned my back on it and realized that the pilots had a rescue fantasy in their heads where someone else (gov't entity, union, international aid organization....), not THEMSELVES played rescuer. They wanted to remain passive while someone else came to their aid rather than stand up and fight. I could not join that fantasy, and went off to bigger and better things. My post-Ryanair life has been like a personal renaissance for me, feeling like a freed slave in love with the world again.

I hope the best for Ryanair pilots, but I fear the worst. I think most are too young to realize that the seeds they are planting today will be their crop of hemlock later in their careers. Perhaps even more wanton is the fact that most of the rest of us actually think that the poison crop will be confined to Ryanair and not take over the whole industry -- despite abundant evidence that it is already doing just that.