Gromit, Government getting involved in Airline Regulation is absolutely essential.. the Airlines are controlled by managers who are soley concerned with returns and their bonuses and the days when aviators ran the industry are long gone.
As a result, they are losing their connection to the industry and its vital safety culture. If you need proof take a look at what happened in the Colgan Air crash. The Captain lived in Florida and the First Officer lived in Seattle. Neither could afford to live in the NY area, due to the very low wages paid by Pinnacle (the company which owns Colgan). As a result, they faced very long commutes just to get to work. The Captain slept on the floor of the crew room at EWR before taking the flight, and the First Officer hitched a lift on a cargo aircraft via Memphis. (I assume it was FedEx). This meant that neither was fully rested prior to the flight. On the CVR transcript the First Officer said "this is one of those times that if I felt like this when I was at home, there's no way I would have come all the way out here, but now I am out here"... to which the Captain replied "you might as well". The First Office replied "I mean, if I call in sick now, I've got to put myself in a hotel room until I feel better, so we will see how it feel flying. If the pressure is too much, I can can always call in sick tomorrow. At least then I'm in a hotel on the company's buck". When the First Officer, Rebecca Shaw got on that plane she was earning less than $23,500 per year, for a full time job. Almost 50% of all the Captains (Captains, not First Officers) at Pinnacle earned less than $30,000 per year in 2008. These wages are the kind of wages paid to people working as bell hops and in restaurants. Delivery drivers for UPS earn more than this. Yet, they are charged with responsibilities which are far beyond their "pay grade".
The regional's are fully aware of the safety implications of this, but resist any attempt to regulate. They have objected to rules related to their employees working second jobs and have rejected any link between the safety of the airline and pay. They know that many of their pilots are doing second jobs, commuting huge distances (Seattle to EWR for example) and living is squalid "crash pads". How these pilots are supposed to arrive at work rested and fully prepared to take responsibility for people's lives is not addressed. Instead, people like Phil Trenary, Pinnacles CEO told the Senate "I urge you, please do not ever equate professionalism and competence with pay... some pilots make over $100,000 some make less than that. They are all professionals". This cynical disregard for the safety culture of the airline is what happens when costs are cut so low that they jeopardise safety.
In some US airlines, the First Officer is not actually paid, and is in fact paying the airline for the priviledge of building their "hours" and is presented as "training". Do the public really want the person in the right hand seat to be there because he can pay, rather than because he is the most qualified for the job? If this is not seen as a conflict of interest, I don't know what is.
The US airline industry is out of control. Idealogues who claim that regulation is an attack on free enterprise will create a situation akin to the robber barons of the late 1800's and early 1900's. It is not just about money, it is about morality and it is INDEFENSIBLE.
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