A pilot's letter to a CEO

[The De-Icer]

Please Read:

An open letter from a pilot to Glen Tilton (CEO United Air Lines):

Recently a lot has been said and written in the press concerning
pilots' salaries and compensation. We have been told about how much it
will cost our company, our job has been compared to others, and
various subtle and not so subtle threats and intimidation tactics have
been hurled at our group. In light of the current situation, please
permit me, a pilot, to give you a small glimpse into my world.

Don't compare my job to other jobs:

How many boardrooms explode over Long Island Sound?
How many meetings conclude with hundreds of dead bodies?
How many trucks cost $82 million dollars?
How many doctors spend half the month away from their families?
Do the children of media representatives cry when Daddy puts on his
uniform to go to work because they know he'll be gone for a week?
How many salesmen lose their jobs because they have high blood pressure?
How many lawyers spend Christmas alone in a crash pad?
When your spouse is watching TV and the program is interrupted does
he/she momentarily freeze in fear for what they might hear?

There is not another profession in the world where the consequences
for mistakes are so catastrophic and unforgiving.

The Price:

I pay the price when somebody loads full oxygen containers in the cargo hold.
I pay the price when a terrorist has a bone to pick.
I pay the price when weather forecasters err in their assessment of the weather.
I pay the price when engineers design a fuel pump not quite correctly.

You Speak of the Cost:

Ask the CEO of ValueJet the cost of a DC-9 buried in the
Everglades.
Ask Fred Smith the cost to scrape a DC-10 and MD-11 from the runways
at Steward and Newark.
Ask Korean Airlines the cost of a 747 that didn't quite make the runway at Guam.
Ask Fine Air the cost to clean up a DC-8 off a Miami street.
Ask Bob Crandall the cost of a B-757 impacting a Columbian mountain.
And if not for their cool, calm professionalism, what could have been
the cost of a UAL B-777 that lost oil pressure over the middle of the
Pacific Ocean and limped to Hawaii on a single engine? How much were
they worth to you that night? Industry standard or 25% below?

When you try to intimidate me, remember:

It was I who flew Cobra gunships in the jungles of Vietnam while you
worked on your master's degree.
It is I who sits alone at the tip of an F-18 in the silent instant
before I am catapulted over a cold, dark sea, while you sleep
peacefully in your bed.
It was I who one night watched my wings grow heavy with ice, miles
from the safety of the nearest airport, praying that I had enough fuel
to find clear skies, while you watched Monday Night Football.
It was I who flew a C-130 into Panamanian gunfire, while you decorated
your Christmas tree in 1989.
It was I who faced head-on the fourth largest army in the world over
the deserts of Iraq and brought it to its knees, while you watched it
on CNN.
It was I who landed an A-6 on a floating piece of tarmac no bigger
than your backyard, while you mowed yours.
It was I who orbited in unarmed tankers over enemy territory to
replenish others sworn to protect you.
It was I, who watched missiles and bullets blossom in my face, yet
didn't turn and run, while you watched the flowers blossom in you
garden.
It was I who buried a friend.
It was I who knows a little boy who will never play catch with his
dad, so that you may play with you grandchild.

Sir, please don't try to intimidate ME. I am not your enemy, I am your
asset, an asset that has experienced and accomplished things few dare
to try. Realize this and there are few obstacles we can't overcome.

[Colonel Sanders]

While the above is quite eloquent, and show some
considerable skill at the creation of prose, the
author would probably have better spent his time
at school taking some business courses.

The ugly truth is that pilots are a commodity and
the price of any commodity is set by supply and
demand. This is true of gasoline, orange juice
and pilots.

When a commodity is scarce - demand exceeds supply -
then the price of the commodity rises. When a
commodity is plentiful, the price of the commodity
drops.

A good example of this is the regional pilot sitation
in the USA. Because so many people want to be regional
pilots, the price of regional pilots drops to ridiculously
low levels. Note that the regional pilots willingly accept
the low wages, because they are being compensated in two
ways: their crappy paycheque, and turbine hours in their
logbooks which allow them to try to get on with the major
airlines in the future.

It's really too bad that with all the puppy mills around
handing out aviation diplomas, that none of them will spend
any time on such an incredibly important topic. You don't
have to get a Bcomm or an MBA, but a course in micro/macro
economics, finance, marketing and accounting would really
open your eyes, and help you understand why companies do
what they do.

The good news is that if you can read, all of this information
is free for the taking on the internet. Start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand

Now, many of you will think I am suffering from a permanent
cranial-rectal inversion. That may be true. However, you
might want to ponder the recent closing of a Catepillar plant
in London. Management said we have to reduce wages to be
globally competitive. The union went militant. The company
closed the plant, the jobs were all lost, and the plant was
relocated in a lower-labour cost location.

In the above situation, did the union do the right thing?

[MacStork]

Yeppers.... we are legends in our own mind.
I learned this tough lesson many years ago.
PILOTS are like a slab of meat. When there is lots of meat and there is no demand ...... the price goes down.
When there is a big demand and no MEAT ..... the price goes up.
When you figure this out ...... and understand how the CEO/Chairman of AC put a huge bunch of cash in his back pocket by manipulating the prices of the stock .... you begin to understand how this industry really works.
Oh how I love flying!

[Bede]

+1 to Col. Sanders. The only way our standard of living will continue is if we understand basic economics and exploit supply and demand.

The way we will succeed is a college of professional pilots with entrance standards considerably higher than they are now limiting the pilots to the very best.

[The De-Icer]

Essentially what you guys are saying is that now, at a time when pilots are in demand and we have a chance to fight for what we are worth, we should sit back and be crushed by upper management because "that's just how it is." Thinking that way is never going to help the problem.

Let's look at the flight schools lately. How many students do you hear on the radio every day who BARELY speak english? They are making it through with literally the bare minimum english proficiency. Colonel Sanders, you mentioned sending work "off-shore". Do you want non-canadian, semi-english speaking, immigrants flying millions of dollars worth of metal over our country. Nevermind the metal - do we want canadian citizens put in the hands of poorly trained, poorly paid poeple.

If "we", as pilots, keep allowing lower and lower wages, sooner or later we will also be collecting welfare checks. Do we want that?

[Nark]

Those "poorly trained" foreign pilots are products of Canadian flight schools.
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

[The De-Icer]

Those "poorly trained" foreign pilots are products of Canadian flight schools.
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

Sure, I will agree with you on that one. However, would you also agree that a high level of English proficiency is an important skill for the safety of our skies? And would you also agree that training including CRM and radio conduct are equally important to the safety of aviation?

This is getting somewhat off topic, so back to the original thread. Where is aviation in Canada going to be in 5 years. And I dont mean only at the airline level. Are flight instructors going to be living in shelters? Are the C172 charter pilots going to be living in the back room of the maintenance departments? Are you getting my drift? Sooner or later, we are going to have to see a change or we will lose the bright, intelligent youth to better and higher paying jobs.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with anyone who is going to say "oh well, it's your choice to take the job or not", but should it really come to that? We shouldn't have to be turning down extremely highly trained jobs because of the huge lack of compensation.

[teacher]

Essentially what you guys are saying is that now, at a time when pilots are in demand and we have a chance to fight for what we are worth, we should sit back and be crushed by upper management because "that's just how it is." Thinking that way is never going to help the problem.

Let's look at the flight schools lately. How many students do you hear on the radio every day who BARELY speak english? They are making it through with literally the bare minimum english proficiency. Colonel Sanders, you mentioned sending work "off-shore". Do you want non-canadian, semi-english speaking, immigrants flying millions of dollars worth of metal over our country. Nevermind the metal - do we want canadian citizens put in the hands of poorly trained, poorly paid poeple.

If "we", as pilots, keep allowing lower and lower wages, sooner or later we will also be collecting welfare checks. Do we want that?

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure those pilots are going away back to their far off lands to fly in their own countries and not sticking around here.

[robertsailor1]

What the average person doesn't understand is that if you produce too many Dr.'s eventually you'll drive down their incomes. There are just too many pilots willing to work for peanuts in this country and until that is solved wages will continue to stay low.
When someone is doing their duediligence on their carrer path its very obvious that becoming a pilot is on average not a high paying job. What blows my mind is that they pony up with big bucks to take training that will land them a job for $30,000 and after years of hard work they might be making double that. As long as there is a line up in the flight schools for training you all can expect more of the same. I guess its one of those jobs that people just love no matter what you pay them.

[Rowdy]

Ask around at many of the local flight schools and you'll see that enthusiasm and enrolment has dropped in the last five years. As the younger generations come to terms with the fact and are forewarned by the group preceding them that the industry is not as great as it was in the 50's and 60's they are choosing other avenues. Only the very select few who are either in love with flight or have watched top gun a few too many times with the sound cranked (effectively ruining their brains) are choosing this path. It is going to swing in that direction and we should be trying our damnedest to make these changes to the industry for the betterment of all! Sadly most are in it solely for themselves and we won't see much in the ways of change. Band together for improvement of our industry? or sit back, be greedy little individualists and keep complaining about it hoping it will change on its own? Hmmm...

[Beefitarian]

Canada was losing a bunch of Doctors to the US&A when they had money and would pay better.

Only the very select few who are either in love with flight or have watched top gun a few too many times with the sound cranked (effectively ruining their brains) are choosing this path.

but it has a good soundtrack.

[CID]

Sorry but that dude's letter was a bit much. He cherry picked some common and some extremely uncommon elements of a pilot's job and then applied a comparison to other jobs without mentioning all the shit doctors, lawyers, salesmen, police etc have to put up with in their jobs. Does he really think salesmen never travel for long periods? Does he think medical doctors never work long hours or have a person's life in their hands? Does he think nobody ever shoots at police?

Someone should cut that dude down off the cross he's hanging from.

[Gannet167]

Essentially what you guys are saying is that now, at a time when pilots are in demand and we have a chance to fight for what we are worth,

If the demand is high, wages must correspondingly also be high. If the wage is low, it's because that's what they can get away with. They can get away with it that low because so many are willing to accept it. This is another way of saying supply is in excess. (demand isn't that high.)

[moocow]

The sad truth is that pilots are replaceable. In the grand scheme of things, a crash here or there doesn't affect major airlines that have insurance and funds to cover. Those are one off expenses where employee wages are continuous. Just look at how the computer replaced the Flight Engineer position, it's the same thing with pilots. Yes we all say but we got skills to save passengers' asses (yes see Quants A380, CX Airbus with a stuck engine) but you know what, in the CEO and boards point of view those are rare events. Airline pilots these days are viewed as baby sitters, take off, turn to nav point, set the auto pilot and engage. Is this perspective dangerous, yes it is but as long as there's another guy in the queue, they can afford to pay you peanuts.

There's a reason why a lot of people here tell newbies to just keep their day job instead. The Supply & Demand of Labour is killing this industry. Look at how Cathay Pacific used i-Cadet to kill off Direct Entry SO and FO (until Immigration of HKG killed off that program). The sentiment on PPRUNE is very similar yet there are plenty of people with Airbus narrow body experience are willing to sign up. All these fighting words are nice but doesn't feed the family. The really affect change is to change the supply. Those who can survive without walking away from the industry will be the one to ripe the benefit. Unfortunately, everyone invested so much in their licenses and rating that they won't walk away. Even if they do walk away, they have to go back to school of some sort to gain other employable skills.

As for the author of the open letter, it was good until the last part. Just because he/she served in the military doesn't give him/her special consideration when it comes to business. Am I grateful that people volunteer to serve, yes I'm. But business is business.

[999]

Well that guy is my new hero with all the stuff he did. Me, spent too much time having fun so all I got now is a job flying a Beaver but I kinda like it and the pay is o.k. so I don't complain. But I have done the three things needed to be called a real Bush Pilot, many times over.

[black hole]

Well: I worked for a guy ;who said: (making on bones)Planes are insured, and pilots are a dime a dozen. Guess how long you will be missed!. I didn't work there long.


BH

[azimuthaviation]

When you try to intimidate me, remember:

It was I who flew Cobra gunships in the jungles of Vietnam while you
worked on your master's degree.

I think the number of pilots who learned to fly by flying combat missions in vietnam is roughly proportional to the ratio of bus drivers who learned to drive by driving APC's on Juno beach.

[niss]

It was I who flew Cobra gunships in the jungles of Vietnam while you
worked on your master's degree.
It is I who sits alone at the tip of an F-18 in the silent instant
before I am catapulted over a cold, dark sea, while you sleep
peacefully in your bed.
It was I who one night watched my wings grow heavy with ice, miles
from the safety of the nearest airport, praying that I had enough fuel
to find clear skies, while you watched Monday Night Football.
It was I who flew a C-130 into Panamanian gunfire, while you decorated
your Christmas tree in 1989.
It was I who faced head-on the fourth largest army in the world over
the deserts of Iraq and brought it to its knees, while you watched it
on CNN.
It was I who landed an A-6 on a floating piece of tarmac no bigger
than your backyard, while you mowed yours.
It was I who orbited in unarmed tankers over enemy territory to
replenish others sworn to protect you.
It was I, who watched missiles and bullets blossom in my face, yet
didn't turn and run, while you watched the flowers blossom in you
garden.
It was I who buried a friend.
It was I who knows a little boy who will never play catch with his
dad, so that you may play with you grandchild.

[ahramin]

I think the point he's trying to make, poorly though eloquently, is that if you allow supply and demand to control how much you pay your pilots, you don't end up with very good pilots. Airlines may have insurance, but an accident costs far more than the hull loss and the liability payout. For starters an accident can have drastic effects on ticket sales. Also the insurance premiums follow supply and demand, but can't go too low no matter how many insurers are out there because they have to take in more than they pay out. This concept has sadly been lost in aviation.

If you allow supply and demand to control who you hire, you end up crashing as many planes as the US regionals in the last decade. Imagine what would happen if CEOs were paid by supply and demand instead of by how much they could steal. I wonder how much a new MBA would charge to be CEO of AC? When it comes to critical positions like pilots, you want to pay enough to ensure that you are getting quality personnel. If you try to pay via supply and demand, it pay very little for pilots and very much in bent metal, injured people, burned fuel, late departures, and various other screwups.

[Nark]

...

If you allow supply and demand to control who you hire, you end up crashing as many planes as the US regionals in the last decade. Imagine what would happen if CEOs were paid by supply and demand instead of by how much they could steal. I wonder how much a new MBA would charge to be CEO of AC? When it comes to critical positions like pilots, you want to pay enough to ensure that you are getting quality personnel. If you try to pay via supply and demand, it pay very little for pilots and very much in bent metal, injured people, burned fuel, late departures, and various other screwups.

I take exception to this statement. I have met some outstanding crews at the regional level, as well as shit-birds at the legacy/national level.

I can think of two very significant accidents, Colgan 3407 and Comair in LEX in which "supply and demand" had zero to do with the accidents.

Colgan: Only the good lord knows what the FO was thinking when she retracted the flaps. The Captain was most likely recovering from what he thought was a tail stall. The Captain only had 100 hours in the aircraft. The FO spent the previous night in the crew lounge in EWR. Both, I have no doubt were fatigued.

Comair, they initially pre-flighted the wrong airplane, went to the correct one, and eventually lined up on the wrong runway. Both pilots were most likely fatigued.

How much were the Jazz guys paid when they over-ran a 10,000 runway in a STOL aircraft?

The legacy guys, such as American 757 CFIT crash in S America were paid very well. They still crashed.

Now, my brothers at Shuttle America who brought in a sick airplane to EWR a few weeks ago, don't make comparable wages to you AC guys flying the same airplane; however they acted as professionals and no one was injured (one passenger is in the process of talking to an ambulance chasing lawyer)


If I were to search the Canadian TSB database, would I find a Perimeter metro sliding off the runway? Or an overloaded caravan crashing because it encountered ice? Or a Navajo crashing a few miles short of the runway in YWG because he ran out of gas.

If you are going to throw stones, it's best to step out of the glass house before you do.

[Jastapilot]

Nark: what do they teach when, in icing conditions, you change the configuration and then something adverse occurs? They teach to go back to the previous configuration! I'd bet $100 bucks that's what the FO was thinking, since both pilots seemed to be preoccupied with 'icing conditions' during the approach. She seemed to recognize the stall, so she retracted the flaps in the hopeless attempt to fix the stalled condition, when in fact the stall was completely the fault of the captain.

[1000 HP]

Ask around at many of the local flight schools and you'll see that enthusiasm and enrolment has dropped in the last five years. As the younger generations come to terms with the fact and are forewarned by the group preceding them that the industry is not as great as it was in the 50's and 60's they are choosing other avenues. Only the very select few who are either in love with flight or have watched top gun a few too many times with the sound cranked (effectively ruining their brains) are choosing this path. It is going to swing in that direction and we should be trying our damnedest to make these changes to the industry for the betterment of all! Sadly most are in it solely for themselves and we won't see much in the ways of change. Band together for improvement of our industry? or sit back, be greedy little individualists and keep complaining about it hoping it will change on its own? Hmmm...

Top Gun is awesome. I own 2 copies of it, one still wrapped as an archival insurance policy....

The pilot's "letter to the CEO" was a good read, but I saw MacStork's "slab of meat" scenario over and over from a very personal point of view. As a Bush-Pilot, I got tired of lay-offs every fall and then the inevitable scramble to procure winter work, no matter how lame.

So at the end of 2009, I quit flying commercially a second time, and in a period of 2.5 years, increased my salary 600% in the oilfields of Alberta and now the world. You'll still see me flying around in my own plane, which is paid off in a couple of months. I'm thinking of an upgrade. I need more speed, and a CD player so I can listen to the "Top Gun" soundtrack.

Some lucky guy is flying the old Turbine Otter I used to fly. I bet he has a smile on his face. I'm gonna be thinking about all the good times and adventure I had flying, while sitting on a warm beach somewhere preparing to go scuba diving. I get 6 months off per year, and I don't need to pay Union Dues. Will it last? Nothing good ever does. Maybe, one day I'll be flying again. But in the meantime...

Take it easy out there, and be safe.

[Beefitarian]

Come on over 1000hp, I have it on coveted HD DVD. We can watch it on the big screen.

[CID]

After doing a little research, I found there is evidence that this letter is bogus (was never sent to the CEO of any airline and the anonymous pilot doesn't exist) and has been around for about 20 years. Apparently it resurfaces once in awhile when pilots are "disgruntled" in general.

[Colonel Sanders]

So at the end of 2009, I quit flying commercially a second time, and in a period of 2.5 years, increased my salary 600% in the oilfields of Alberta and now the world. You'll still see me flying around in my own plane, which is paid off in a couple of months

Stay in school, kids. Dentists always have the nicest airplanes at the airport!

Suggestion: earn some money. If you want to fly, get your COMM/IFR and buy say a 300/400 series Cessna without VG's. Something with a decent wing loading. And learn to fly a little wx. It will build character. Also learn to fly a Pitts. It will build plenty of character.

Then learn to fly an L39. Heck, I'll do your type rating. They're easy to fly. Then, once you've got some time in that, buy yourself a supersonic MiG-21 and fly it to Oshkosh.