If Pilots are turning up for work when they're sick because they need the money to :

(a) pay for a type rating they couldn't afford,
(b) pay for a Breitling they couldn't afford, or
(c) in the case of Captains, pay for an ex-wife they couldn't afford

Then no, you are right MANTHRUST, we haven't learnt anything.

If Pilots turn up for duty sick because of company culture - that would be different. But, again that is not what the perception is....at the moment.

If it is just perception as you say then why doesn't the company allow the pilots to make their point and have it disproved. This would give the company far more credibility than threatening them giving the perception that the company has something to hide.

If the safety culture in a company prevents pilots from calling sick for fear of reprimand then there is something wrong with that companies safety culture. Having read the Colgon crash I have yet to find any reference to Breitlings and the like…that smacks of smoke and mirrors….:ok: I have however read about pilots having to claim milk tokens and work second jobs because their salaries are so low that was how they had to survive.

:confused: So are you saying it's Ok for F/O's to have a wife they can't afford, or Captain's to have husbands they can' afford????

I sense an agenda, or at the very least an attempt at stereotyping.

Clunk
 

I have no problem with you playing devils advocate in this debate.

The big point your missing here is its not about the money.

Most Captains flying for the big operators will make between €/£80K-€/£120K a year which is clearly very good money.

The problem is the fear culture that is creeping in with some airlines, more on that in a minute, lets go back to your GP argument, many who do earn similar amount of money.

can you imagine what would happen if the Government said, right all new GP from tomorrow, will only be paid when they work? also from tomorrow all GP will have to fund up front the cost of training them to be GP's, and by the way also from tomorrow we have the right to send to work in any practice in Europe and you get there on your days off, sort your own transport and hotel.

Lets not stop at GP's, we have branded the Nurse union as bunch of whinging lazy over paid prima donna's dressed up in strippers kit and we are going to charge for nurse training and uniform, we are also only going pay you when are dispensing pills or putting your finger up someones arse and forget pensions paid leave or sick pay and if you even think of going to the press to say that these are slave terms and condition that put patient's lives at risk then that will be committing an act of gross misconduct and you will face dismissal, if you don't like it you can leave and get a job with another NHS!

Clunk

You also sate that you'd be happy to do what we do for the money, well why don't you? you don't need to be a rocket scientist a reasonable level of educations is all thats required, you will need to put your life and family on hold for around 3-5 years, oh nearly forgot you'll need to fund up front €/£100k for your flying training through to IR/MCC and then another €/£28k to pay for your type rating, after which you'll have work for free until you don't need a safety pilot on the jump seat, then next to nothing for the 80-100 flights (with fare paying passengers board) during you line training. Whilst all this training has been going on you not worked at any thing else for 3-5 years zero income, but you have had to feed yourself/family.

Now clunk, it seems to me that in addition to being troll you have green eyes and are politically somewhere left of centre and see this as a ridiculous amount of money to pay some one to fly around in Ray Bans with a Rolex on one arm and trolly dolly on the other and a BMW in the pilots car park (we don't get a car park pass either!!)

So go on grow some balls and become a pilot or Doctor the worlds your oyster and it beats getting off on Pprune.........I'd best go wash the Porsche now, sorry meant the Porch

FaceLookbovverd….I agree with what you say, just the last bit about working in NHS and doing what we do for the money etc was from DeepestNorfolk…..

Felixthecat -
you'll find there are no similarities at all between the two, not just inrelation to Breitling watches - and that's my point - this move by the RPG looks like a ploy to improve Ts&Cs, and if it is, then any reference tosafety/previous disasters is just 'smoke and mirrors'.

My understanding is that RYR pay relatively well, and generally have a stable(ish) 5/4, 5/3 roster. Why would you mention Milk Tokens? Yes it happens,but at RYR? I doubt it - very happy for you to prove otherwise.


Wiggy -
Stereotyping is fundamentally important with media attention. The publicview of the 'stereotypical airline pilot' is that they earn a lot of money and have great benefits. How will the public react to suggestions Pilots are usingsafety as a means of getting even better benefits? Not well, and I wonder whether that is why RYR have reacted as they have - it turns the media attention around and suggests that the 'highest paid occupation' Pilots are the bad guys.


Facelookbovvered -

You are right - I am playing devils advocate.

I did fund my training, some years ago now - but the grass is not always greener. So I'll be staying where I am. Still have my CPL/ME/IR and fly for fun.

I think I've got a good handle on the reality of Pilot Ts&Cs. And I think that Pilots are underpaid and more importantly undervalued. So you've got me wrong there.

I'm not missing the point about 'Fear Culture' but the article specifically quotes a Pilot as saying "If you are not going to get paid..." when talking about the 'fear culture'. So he's made it about money.


If 'Fear Culture' is the issue - then why are we reading about uniforms, pensions, medical cover, contracts etc in relation to Safety?

So what's your point then? Just more trolling?

If it oinks like a pig, and stinks like a pig - its a pig.
I'll leave the identification of the 'species' to you.
Are you a Farmer too?

You were referring to the Colgon crash and trying to make a link between that and seemingly overpaid pilots who wear Breitling watches and have spent all their money on ex-wives and type ratings they can't afford. My point was there was no such link in the Colgon report and indeed there are more links to the pilots being poorly paid and tired from working extra hours to make ends meet. I made no such reference to milk tokens in FR. The link between Colgon and overpaid pilots was the perception you engendered and it is false, indeed the FO was earning less than $20000 and was unable to afford accommodation near the airport and had to make a long commute, as indeed did the Capt.

You carefully didn't address my question as to why the company would threaten pilots with reprisals if the pilots claims are groundless. As I said previously what are they hiding if indeed the pilots are indeed just overpaid wingers, it would play straight into the companies hands would it not? :ok:

If the pilots who ultimately are at the front end of the safety chain believe there is a problem then let the regulators decide if it holds water, not the company.

Amazingly, I found myself in sympathy with Clunk for the first time when Facelookbovvered accused him of being left of centre. I take that position myself, particularly with respect of protecting the little guy at the coal face from "The Man". I don't expect anyone else to share my views on that matter.

There has been a lot of debate recently on at least two other threads criticising posters for not standing by thier opinions, and maybe going to court with substantiated facts. I don't want to add to that debate except to say if the employer, or contract provider feels they are being unjustly maligned, they should have nothing to fear by doing the same.

And finally,

Well that would work both ways wouldn't it?

Felix... you've misinterpreted what I'm saying (or I've said it badly).
Colgan was mentioned by another poster -
I thought the comparison to that incident was inappropriate, there is no similarity, and I was trying to (light-heartedly) dismiss the suggestion of a similarity by highlighting that if RYR pilots are stressed about debt to the extent that they turn up for work sick, then its possibly for one of the reasons I stated. Sorry if that wasnt clear.

Syntax- thanks for your views on what you think I don't understand, if I can correct a few of them -

1. You suggest I don't understand contracts. I've been running a business for many years, and am probably more versed than most on here about the legalities and rights involved in both employment contracts and contracts of service provision - that's what I do, and have done for about 20 years, with companies bigger than RYR, every day, and now I'm actually quite good at it. Hence my unusually active participation in this thread...although you do make it quite difficult sometimes...:ok:

2. You suggest I believe any statistic. But I've repeatedly stated it is all about "perception over fact". The figures from the NAO are distorted (or just garbage) - and I think that is one thing everyone on this forum would agree on. But whether you or I believe them or not is of no consequence - they are 'official' figures from the UK NAO. You can't dismiss them just because you don't like them.


I'm still looking for someone else's (sensible, on topic) view on the RPG letter to IAA though.....any takers...?

I accept that there may have been some misinterpretation between us over the Colgon crash. I am a professional pilot of many years, and have been at the coal face in FR in the past and felt the pressure and conflict between safety and profit. There is far more than uniforms and pensions at stake.

Safety and profit do not make good bedfellows, like oil and water they do not mix well, hence the need for independent arbitration by the IAA. There will always be a risk in aviation, it is the nature of the beast but as a pilot I manage it and should not be afraid to raise my voice over safety matters for concern over my job. Indeed a company that truly recognises safety as its number 1 priority, as opposed to just a punch line to be toted as required would welcome the input from the people at the coal face operating their business model as opposed to shooting them down.

You seem to want to troll this tread for some reason............

16024
 

You make an interesting point re the politics' and "left of centre" but the irony of this is that by pursuing a development of pilots paying up front for everything increasingly excludes people from "average" income family backgrounds ever becoming pilots, because this development together with P2F we are increasingly seeing people from the bank of Mum & Dad, in other words if you or your family isn't monied forget it, when was the last time you saw an Asian or Black pilot cadet, its becoming more and more a white elite which is turning the clock back 30 years on the progress made on merit rather than money or family post RAF

You are correct, of course. In this instance I'm concentrating less on the ills of capitalism than the ways of improving the industry we're in. FR have gained at our loss in recent years (as have other surviving carriers) as a steady stream of failed airlines has provided cheap and desperate labour (a safety issue?).
If and when the Market softens, the only people who would go there might be those who couldn't go anywhere else (safety? I dunno, what do you reckon?).
Unless...the Ts&Cs improve.
And that's where we came in, I think.

I joined my current airline with a few ex-Ryanair guys. The stories they tell me of the intimidation if they go sick and the general bullying tactics need to be heard to be believed. I would never travel on Ryanair ever again; in my opinion it is a culture which places profit and revenue above all else.

I've not read the whole thread, but some of the early comments; so I apoligise if this question has been answered.

RYR claim pilots are not employees; they are self-employed. Any complaints should be made to BRK. So now there are 2 supposed buffers between the pilot and RYR; one is the pilot's LTD company and the 2nd is BRK who contract that LTD company to provide a pilot who is then shuffled onto RYR. So how can RYR then claim to be able to dismiss you for gross misconduct if you make a 'freedom of speech' allegation? They could terminate the contract with BRK for your services, but to suggest that they can dismiss you directly seems to be outside the industrial relationship which is in place. Please correct me if wrong.

fact is ryanair aren't doing anything wrong. I suppose they do push business boundaries and that seems to upset people.

I think the real answer to this lies not with ryanair but whether society really does support out and out capitalism?

answer that one and then you know how to solve the rest

Possibly the most myopic post ever.

"Push Business Boundaries"... What a lot of claptrap..What they do is operate outside the spirit of the law especially with regard to Taxation and employment. They even challenge the laws on Passenger rights which have only come about because of their bad behavior toward customers. They create virtual riots caused directly by their policies. Everybody else is to blame except MOL.As soon as somebody puts something on this site that they don't like they have their Lawyers onto it straight away. A little intimidation and suddenly a thread disappears.