airlines and morale
 

Hi

I am a journalist wih The Sunday Times, based in Glasgow and cover transport issues for the Scottish edition.
I would like to write a piece for the coming weekend (2nd Feb) about the working conditions faced by some pilots. For some time, I have heard many are on lower wages than one might expect yet still work long hours - the message posted today re: easyJet's pilots would seem to support this.
Hardly surprising in this day and age, yet pilots have greater responsibility than most. I wonder if any would be willing to speak with me, particularly those with airlines such as Ryanair, EasyJet, BA, Virgin and Go! (simply because these are the main carriers out of Scotland)?
Anonymity, if desired, is guaranteed although for my own records I would like to know who I'm speaking to.
I hope a few of you will be able to help. I can be contacted on [email protected] or direct dial 44 (0)141 420 5339.

Many Thanks.

Mark - Congrats and respect for being up front about your intentions.

Don't take this personally, but is the intention of your article to further damage the industry in the wake of recent events ? Or maybe that is not the intent, but what do you think would be the public perception ?

By reading these pages you know doubt have an idea as to the mistrust and basic hostility towards alleged informed correspondants who by sheer weight of inept articles, prove that they actually know nothing & are just after sensationalist stories.

The above hopefully doesn't apply to yourself ( and I'm not even hinting that it may ) but you must admit some 'stories' leave a lot to be desired !

Best wishes.

I think any article which reveals that pilots are working long hours for pay that is not commensurate to effort and which perhaps shows pilots have to fly when very tired will, by its very nature, be of concern.
The aim is not to be sensationalist - either the above is happening or it isn't. I've heard enough on the grapevine, however, to suggest the situation is becoming serious and that's why I decided to post my thoughts on the chatboard.
I think public perception will be one of concern but it's important to remember that employees are not to blame here - the airlines are.
I hope that helps but if you have any other thoughts, I'll do my best to reply - my week starts getting a bit hectic tomorrow.

best wishes

Mark.

Fair point.

Although I think applies to the industry as a whole, not just the flightdeck !

This place is a prime example !

I'll resign from this thread now, as you are aiming it at flightdeck.

What I will ask though Mark - please don't forget the groundstaff as we have a major influence on flight safety as well !

erm, Ghost - rider - how exactly does someone who works in ops contribute a "major influence to flight safety"?
I thought all you guys did was charter learjets!!! :(

Easy Street
 

2002: 82 flights consisting of 529 hours total flight time, plus 246 hours (before and after flight) duty time; plus 96 hours (4 days for 4 commercial deadheads); plus 8 hours in simulator; plus 40 hours recurrent ground school; plus 696 hours (29 days/nights) at hotels. Total of 1615 hours away from my home. Excluding hotel time, total hours spent "on duty:" 919

The downside is that 60% of flight time is at night, which is not fun. :p

macaskill1

I suggest you take a long look at the first proppossal from JAA regarding crew dutytime limitation. They are astonishing and taken to the extreme the reaction time of pilots at the end of a duty corrosponds to an alcohol level of ,008 according to Swedish experts. I don't know were this propossal is on the internet, but I'm sure someone else in here knows.

Macaskill I don't think the general public care too much about possible Pilot fatigue as aircraft are not dropping out of the sky because of it!
In this 24 hour world I have no doubt life expectancy is reduced by the level of fatigue over 35 years of time zone changes ,night flights ,radiation etc etc but it is not really a newsworthy thing IMHO. The Employers always say it is just lazy Pilots,or they say we will do what we are complaining about if we get paid more for doing it.

Every few years this question of fatigue crops up and over the past 35 years I have been in this business a lot is talked about it but commercial interests always gain the upper hand .

Orangewing ...

:rolleyes:

Orangewing,
Ghost-rider is right. Flight safety is a team effort which includes the ops staff. Not just those of us who sit in the pointy end.
It is an attitude too.;)

ghostrider and saudi pc9
 

saudi;
agree flight safety team effort but cannot think what ops bring to the party.
ghostrider:
so what stunning piece of flight safety do you bring to the team?

Mark

I agree with others sentiments; good on you to be upfront and try to get the facts rather than 'invent' them as many of your peers have done in the interests of sensationalism.

I would however respectfully correct the misconception that long duty hours is related to pay and therefore, by implication, increasing pay would resolve a 'fatigue issue'.

The two are not related, far from it. In fact, most in the low cost sector get paid very well, by comparison. Pay is not the core issue with the EJ pilots, nor is it the core issue with those protesting about EU FTLs. It is important that you understand this.

No Mr Wing we've done helicopters too!.

For your goodself and twinjet, I can think of two or three issues that have occurred in my 5 or so years of ops where intervention by various ops members, in different airlines, have contributed significantly to flight safety. One of which was the refusal to operate a charter, which had been sold and was insisted on being operated by the charter airlines management.

If you want a more comprehensive answer regarding ops' contribution to safety, start a new thread in the ops forum, if youre hard enough! :eek: :)

Fatigue is a major problem It is exacerbated (certainly in my airline) by a CEO who is looking for loopholes in legislation and, whilst trying to be seen to be abiding by the letter of the law, is in fact attempting to ride roughshod over everything CAP371 was brought in to achieve.

Downward pressure on terms and conditions, and being expected to give more and more for less and less reward long ago took the fun out of this profession. Now, imho, it is starting to become a serious potential cause of a major incident/accident. And what happens if you indicate that you or your crew are not fit to operate up to 3 hours extra (discretion)? You are gently reminded that there are a lot of unemployed pilots out there who will take your job tomorrow. Its true as well. So the system feeds on itself, reducing safety margins and making CEOs and directors nice bonusses in the process.

Time for something to be done Mr Macaskill. Dig Deep and Go For It! Please.

TJ et all

We have a difficult enough time with ezy management who have no idea what we do or why we exist,without having to explain to people who should know better. I suggest a familiarisation into ops if you can find it,in the meantime check your plogs very carefully or is that not a safety issue?I could go on.....

T & Cs
 

BIG E.

I'm sure we all agree that everyone in the team contribes to flight safety. However I think the idea of the original post was to find out about fatigue and other factors affecting flightcrew.

I, for one, appreciate the support given by most Ops, crewing, & rostering personnel.

NJ

No Joke,. . . .you must be joking!! Do you work for Heaven Air,
it sure sounds like it. Most airlines in my humble opinion do not give a rat's *** about fatique. It's all about the beans now, profit, profit, and survival. Sure we would all be out of a job if. . .,
but I have seen the balance tipping over veeeery slowly to the side that is not in our favour, it used to be a nice job but not anymore. And for the starter of this topic, look at 'pilots against more hours', there is some really good stuff in there.

Thanks Mark, I’m sure that you will seriously represent the concerns of flight crew, but in a week when we’ve seen such blatant distortions and crude stereotypes trotted out by the Mail, you might forgive us all taking this with an unhealthy pile of salt.

My primary concerns are as follows:

- the large volume of legislation being thrust upon us by the administration in the name of ‘security’, but more to do with ‘spin’, leading to flight crew members being boroscoped in public every time we go to fly our own plane. What are we going to do? Hijack ourselves?
- Similarly the proscribing of family members accompanying us on the flight deck because they are a ‘security risk’, as opposed to some bloke I’ve never met with an ID he could have made up on his PC.
- the cynical Jihad about so-called drinking and flying whilst conspiring to make us fly unsafe hours, completely in the face of legislation designed to avoid fatigue which is a real killer.
- This illusion about pilot salaries. My headline salary might look quite attractive, but factor in the relative lack of extras, and the long hours, separation etc and it doesn’t look quite so rosy. Compare that to some of my neighbours who have company car, assisted house purchase, health care for the whole family, airmiles, school fees, and of course the annual bonus which for one computer nerd round the corner was £100k last year. That makes me the pauper of the neighbourhood.
- The staggeringly inept standard of British management in general and airline management in particular. Most of the pilots in the UK are proud professionals who do the job regardless to the best of their abilities and very successfully. Most of the suits we are forced to put up with see this loyalty as a sign of weakness. They continue to pile more and more responsibility on the pilot whilst taking away his authority and demeaning his status in favour of a ‘flatter’ management structure.

You’ll find that most pilots will tell you that once the aeroplane is safely airborne and away from the suits, the operation runs in a quiet, calm, efficient manner until once again we come down to Earth and the stress of dealing with assholes.

The reason that management hate pilots is that we refuse to play the game of bollitics that their sad lives revolve around. Pilots hate management because the qualities that make a good pilot are completely, diametrically opposed to the qualities exhibited by managers.

I’m sorry to rant, but if you worked for a company like mine you would encounter this everyday. Pilots have accountability and little authority. Managers have authority, but little or no accountability. :*

http://www.sausagenet.freeserve.co.u...rb/roohorn.gif
I’ll take on the opposition anyday. It’s my management I can’t beat!

Mac:

You've obviously picked up on a thread and would like a story. There is one, but it needs to be treated with great care; even more so than many Panorama exposees.

The debate is most certainly not about money. The profession is vocational and that is being abused by management. Much of aviation has become a sweat shop existance, (by comparison to other 21st century professions). Crews are treated as cost items, not assets. The similarity with the health service springs to mind. There are limits of work set out by the CAA's of each country. They are LIMITS, and within those there are guidelines. The guidelines are ignored and management treat the limits like the Italian tax system. It's a good game to find the loop holes, whether they exsist or not.

Generally, in Europe, the lot of the average employee has improved dramatically over the past 10 years since various EU legislation has been introduced. Health & Safety at work has improved the working enviroment. Public transport was exempt from much of these rules and the quality of life has deteriorated beyond a joke.

Having said that, there are some good company's, namely the majors; most likely because they have had a strong union for many years. Indeed, most pilot unions were formed within the flag carriers. Being a commercial pilot is as different as liquorice allsorts. There is no national standard of employment; it just depends who you work for.

To make an accurate assessment of the profession will take great care, delicacy, honesty and no pre-conceived ideas. There is no broad brush to cover all, and thus may not be as easy to present as it first appears.

PS.

Roobarb: Well said.

"Pilots hate management." IMHO this is caused because most managements dislike pilots, all crews. They make their money from transporting pax. That's easy becasue they will do as they are told!! The a/c will fly all day & night, and with enough fuel, for ever. The bean counters hate the fact that they have to have crews. They are the limiting factor. If pax would fly on an unmanned automated a/c the financial boys would love it; until the first prang.

What amazes me is that all except one excellent management team I've worked for, most airline managaments operate 180' to what is considered good man-management practices. Morale is not consdered an asset. We are part of a machine, taken for granted. It erks them that this component is a 'lifed item' (i.e.FTL's) and not an 'on condition item'. And that the service life is too short.

What erks us, about them, is that if we displayed the same level of competance and desicion making that they do, we would fail our regular checks, never pass a command course and ultimately be kicked out. Somehow that never seems to happen upstairs.

Perhaps the definition of accountability you were talking about.

Mac,

Thanks for your open approach to us all asking for information for your article.

By the responses you will probably already have received, plus the posts here, I'm sure you have already appreciated the myriad number of facets contained within a fairly compact and dynamic industry.

I cannot disagree with and wholeheartedly endorse just about all of the comments made so far on conditions within the industry. Note I refer to conditions and not pay.

A number of the more mature pilots have reasonable bank balances mainly because they do not have the time to reduce the balance! The new guys? I do not understand how some survive.

Just three points I would ask you to keep in mind:

1) Are we pilots, particularly those who have been in the industry 20 to 30 years, a bunch of habitual moaning whingers?

2) How many totally positive responses in respect of conditions have you received?

3) If you ask, how many pilots will allow you to quote their name in any article? Remember these guys do not fear to make daily decisions manifestly affecting the lives of hundreds of people in their care.

What they do fear is the management!

Roobarb

Absolutely spot on, one of our biggest problems is management and lets face it, managing people is not rocket science its good old common sense, unfortunately seriously lacking in the 21st century.

When was the last time you saw any of your management team, when was the last time you saw the manager of your aircraft handling company when things went seriously wrong on the ground, I think the guy we deal with is permanently welded to his office seat.

Very often all these issues have little to do with wages, I would just like other people involved with aviation to take as much resonsibility for their jobs as I am expected to do with mine.

Once the aircraft becomes airborne all problems disappear or rather all problems become mine and my colleagues and we are well trained and responsible enough to deal with them. Its just a shame I have to come back down again.

There has always been a problem with the "suits", looking at the flying hours that the company pilots achieve and then complaining along the lines of "so much pay and so little time at work".

Try running a comparison between the hours that management work and the length of time their company cars are in their allocated parking slot. It will be around 1:1.

Then compared the flying hours that the crews put in and the length of time their own car has to be in the airport parking to achieve those hours. It will be around 1:2.

As Virgin Atlantic have just had their 4th pay offer rejected by BALPA, you way want to ask some Virgin pilots how low morale is at the moment. It couldn't get lower.

Meetings arranged for this weekend to move the process to the next stage, Industrial action.

Whilst I agree that many of our problems are management created...the true irony is that most of the people managing us are pilots or ex-pilots!

In my company the FOM is a pilot, so are all his negotiators, so is the dork who does our crew planning (including leave and seniority), and now the CEO is also an ex-pilot!!
And they are screwing us.

Yes, pilots are whingers...and backstabbers, and social climbers, and ambitious b'stards who climb over each others dead bodies to get to the top of the mucky pile.

Having a bad day today. Sorry.
:(

I have extensive experience with a UK major airline in both the longhaul and shorthaul evironments. Each can be as bad as the other fatigue wise. For example:

• NASA research indicates that rest downroute should not be rostered between 18 and 36 hours, as the body does not have time to complete sufficient sleep cycles. So what is the average rest time on a transatlantic? Yep.. 24 hours. Ready for the next sleep pattern as you report, and I have come off the Atlantic ocean into a busy ATC environment trading on adrenalin more times than I care to remember. And then there's the drive home...
• In shorthaul, multiple early starts, long duty days, minimum rest in the hotel and a 6-on/ 2-off pattern have a debilitating, cumulative effect. Social life is next to impossible on the 2 off, as they are essentially recovery days... factor in the added pressure that brings to bear from relationship stress and, well....
• The complete lack of protection between west/east integrations in longhaul.. To come from a 3-day Dubai on day, and operate a 3-day New York next makes it impossible to try to plan a sensible rest pattern.
• Locked cockpit door, the knowledge that anyone enters your cockpit to take over the aircraft and you are likely going to die, increasingly invasive and utterly pointless searches at security (vis.. they make me take my shoes off, when all I really need to do to down an airliner is stick that foot out in the cruise,) inability to take family on trips any more as no way can you guarantee their return as you used to on the jumpseat... all adds a little bit to the stress bucket.

..and on, and on. All that, and you have a beer to wind down of an evening and are a criminal, when the greater threat to the safety of your passengers is the fact that sometimes you can hardly keep your eyes open. All this is a major airline remember.. the guys who fly for CAP 371 operators and the freight jocks can have it worse.

Yeah, it's a glamorous job indeed. Knowing what I know now, I don't think I'd do it again... it's been great, met wonderful people and seen sights and sounds that most of humanity don't get to. But it's just not worth it unless you can have control over your life, and that we do not have.

Thanks, Mark, for at least being honest.
Maybe you'll get some takers because, be in no doubt, there is a BIG STORY here.
I can only suggest that you read again carefully all the contributions to this thread, particularly those of Roobarb and Rat 5.

As has been said, this is not about money. Its about ravaged quality of life, persistent tiredness and not even the slightest hint of gratitude at the end of the day.
I've been in this game for well over thirty years and, although salaries rise, the penalties have become ever more corrosive. Unfortunately the CAA don't help as they bend or blatantly ignore what some airline managements are up to.
It wasn't until I'd been out of it for a couple of years that I realised it had been slowly but surely affecting my health and well-being.
One thing's for sure; there is a definite degree of jealousy from the suits
that affects any of their dealings with pilots. When we sort out the "attitudes" problem ( on both sides, btw.) we might be part-way there.
Just a few thoughts.

Sleeve.

Isn’t it amazing how seriously some of our number take them selves when they get into their seats at the front and are cuckooed from the rest of the world. Remember guys, if the toilet man does not dump the toilets we are not going anywhere! Everyone is equally important until you get off the ground.

True that upper management have always taken a dislike towards flightcrew...all around the world the same deal.

Yes we know that the operation to prepare an a/c for flight involves a lot of people but Rolling Stone, this thread is about fatigue and its effect on flight crew morale. If you can't even use the correct word for cocooned then please stick to dumping your lavs and bog off (pun intended).

macaskill1

Are you going to send us a copy of your article, here, on this thread, please ?

:)

Idunno

Well welcome to the real world - it is exactly the same in every other walk of life. Bad management is enedemic throughout UK industry - I seem to remember a survey by the FT last year that put UK management competancy in about 30th place for industrialised nations.

Roobarb

What have you done this year to deserve a bonus of £100K? - this computer guy may have invented the wheel! - and as for being a pauper, you are only a pauper if you compare yourself to professions paying more. Are you a pauper compared to Teachers, Doctors, Social Workers etc.?

The original Idea of this thread was about fatigue - this has very serious concerns on flight safety and to try to hijack the thread into a winge about T&C's is wrong. The sort of rota at Easy which gives a 7 on 2 off is something that the licensing authorities should be looking into very seriously.

As for morale - this is a rock bottom throughout the industry and will only improve when the industry picks up - which it will eventually.

Another Angle
 

What about the other peolpe flying in and out of our airspace?

I understand that Italian FTL's allow an IRS equipped aircraft with 3 pilots aboard to be on duty for up to 24 hours. This does not take into account preceeding rest periods, acclimatisation, number of sectors or time of start. To say this is an accident waiting to happen is an understatement.

Apparently the third pilot need not be able to land the aircraft, just hold a type rating. I suppose the IRS's are a requirement so that when the 3 pilots do fall asleep, the aircraft will still head in the direction it was meant to!

This is a very big story worldwide but how can there be such variation across Europe where unity rules and JAA has taken hold?

:confused:

yes, I'll post a copy next week and any criticisms welcomed. So many issues have become apparent since my original post that I won't be able to do justice to all of them in one go.
However, I'd like to return to safety issues, pay, working conditions, etc over the coming weeks and months and hope this weekends article will give some of you confidence to deal with me in the future.

regards
Mark

Jet 11


"Morale will improve when the industry picks up."

Popycock. Management will always have an excuse.

1. Next year will not be as good as this bumper year, so there are no rewards because we need to tighten the belt in preparation. (and of course, even after the next year is OK, they use the same argument.) It's,like the pub sign that says. "free beer tomorrow."

followed by:

2. We are expanding and recruiting, but we have to be very cost cautious. We are undercrewed for our expansion so you all have to work harder. The company will strengthen, but slowly.

followed by:

3. See 1.

It's called cycles, and the only guys who seem to benefit are the suits who award themselves bonuses for a short-term rise in the profits on the back of everyone elses efforts. Once the next dip comes the bonuses are not repaid even though the slight improvement was only virtual reality. Someone said 'real world', perhaps, but it needs changing!

A great quote by Dwight D Eisenhower appeared in the paper recently. It went something like this;

"Morale is a word you never hear when it is good, and when you do hear it it is usually lousy".

The watchword of this industry seems increasingly to be "The beatings/shaftings will continue until morale improves".

Its not much fun any more.

why?
 

Why bother writing an article about safety? Your readers - the flying public - don´t care a rat´s a** about safety. All they care about is how low the ticket price is.

mackaskill
 

When I was a boy, the return air fare to New York was about £200. 10 years later, everything in the world has gone up in price except the NY air fare...about £179. Why is this? Along with negative inflation on air fares is a decrease in pilot living standards. When Diana died being chased by the press, I was amazed to read of the publics contempt for the paparazzi, yet it was the same public who devoured every report on Diana that fuelled the demand for pictures of her.If we ever have a crash caused by overworked, fatigued pilots, possibly in a low cost airline, or even a major as they try to compete,the public will be the first to ask why were the crew tired?The people that want to travel return to Barcelona for £30! Lo cost has offered career prospects to some pilots that are unheard of in the majors(flag carriers).These are ambitious , highly motivated people who , three years after qualifying can be earning £80000. The holy grail of a jet command has led to a certain amount of" pliability" of rest requirements,etc.

I was recently at a dinner party and the conversation came around to lo cost aviation, which I work in. An enthusiastic couple mentioned that they thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. When I mentioned the hours I worked, how tired I was reporting for work, let alone leaving it, the constant roster changes that did not allow me to plan my rest, the effect it was having on my home life, my inability to accept an invitation to dinner, and that with all this , I might have to deal with engine failures, weather etc, I realised I was probably one of the best adverts a traditional airline had ever used.

Macaskill 1: You might not be interested in US airline operations. If not, then disregard these remarks.

I can't remember the British version of our NTSB (Nat'l Tran. Safety Board), which investigates major transportation accidents. The first aircraft accident, whereby the NTSB pointed to crew fatigue as the primary factor, concerns a cargo DC-8 crash at G'mo Bay NAS, Cuba, several or more years ago. Crew fatigue is very common, but it must have been a bit severe, based on the crew's last sleep period, which was before a long night. The Naval Air Station (where the Taliban prisoners are housed) is known as a very demanding place to approach, due to the requirement to make a last minute turn onto final approach, because of the surrounding Cuban territory.

It was strange that the NTSB finally admitted in a public record, what we pilots (and FAs) have always known is commonplace in our industry-in passenger and cargo ops. The cargo aircraft accidents are rarely noticed by the public, and we all know what types of topics create "good copy".

Our FAA 'guardian angels', for the first time in history, only began to require planned rest periods (lasting for a solid 8 hours!) for pilots who with have several days of consecutive 24-hour reserve/standby duty, because of the MD-83 tragedy in Little Rock. Hence its infamous nickname, "the Tombstone Agency": assuming that there is something big enough to be buried.

Have the British (or Irish, French, Dutch, German, Swiss...) "NTSB" ever ruled that fatigue was a major contributor to an airline accident over there? There must be plenty of hazardous airports over there, even in good weather, and not just in the Alps etc

>>Have the British (or Irish, French, Dutch, German, Swiss...) "NTSB" ever ruled that fatigue was a major contributor to an airline accident over there? There must be plenty of hazardous airports over there, even in good weather, and not just in the Alps etc<<


Yes they have. I copy a relevant AAIB report below. This was to a foriegn registered aircraft not operating under CAP 371 - the British flight time limitations scheme. The low cost carriers are, in my opinion, pushing pilots into new territory as regards the intensity of working patterns. Coupled with commercial pressures, and levels of experience, my view is that a fatigue related accidents is on the cards. I just hope that such an accident can reveal the extent of the problem without injury or loss of life. then perhaps we can return to calmer, safer days.

Other AAIB reports are at:

http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/index.htm



Aircraft Incident Report 1/96

Report on the accident to Boeing 737-2D6C, 7T-VEE at Willenhall, Coventry, Warwickshire on 21 December 1994
Synopsis
The accident occurred when the aircraft, which had been chartered for the export of live animals to the Continent, was making a Surveillance Radar Approach (SRA) to Runway 23 at Coventry Airport in conditions of patchy lifting fog. The aircraft descended below the Minimum Descent Height (MDH) for the approach procedure, and collided with electricity cables and a transmission tower (pylon) which was situated on the extended centreline of the runway, some 1.1 miles from its threshold. The collision caused major damage to the inboard high lift devices on the left wing and the left engine. The consequent loss of lift on the left wing, and the thrust asymmetry, caused the aircraft to roll uncontrollably to the left. When passing through a wings vertical attitude, the left wingtip impacted the gable end of a house, causing major structural damage to the property. The aircraft continued rolling to an inverted attitude and impacted the ground in an area of woodland close to the edge of the housing conurbation. An intense fire ensued, during which a large part of the forward fuselage aft to the wheel well, including the wing centre section and the inboard portions of the wings were consumed. The five occupants suffered fatal multiple injuries on impact. There were no injuries to other persons.

The report identifies the following causal factors:

i) The flight crew allowed the aircraft to descend significantly below the normal approach glidepath during a Surveillance Radar Approach to Runway 23 at Coventry Airport, in conditions of patchy lifting fog. The descent was continued below the promulgated Minimum Descent Height without the appropriate visual reference to the approach lighting or the runway threshold.

ii) The standard company operating procedure of cross-checking altimeter height indications during the approach was not observed and the appropriate Minimum Descent Height was not called by the non handling pilot.

iii) The performance of the flight crew was impaired by the effects of tiredness, having completed over 10 hours of flight duty through the night during five flight sectors which included a total of six approaches to land.

Nine safety recommendations have been made.

Caractacus

The low cost carriers are, in my opinion, pushing pilots into new territory as regards the intensity of working patterns

Absolutely, the effects are of course cumulative. In our case it has been the disruption and patterns rather than hours flown which has over a relatively few years led me to consider options outside aviation.

The truth is I still love flying and don't want to do anything else, but I can seriously see myself eventually losing my medical if I don't get a more reasonable flying job.

I welcome this publicity, it will add pressure after the next accident! :mad: