Sullenberger: Pay cuts driving out best pilots

[NoGOPZone]

Source: Associated Press via Yahoo! News

The pilot who safely ditched a jetliner in New York's Hudson River said Tuesday that pay and benefit cuts are driving experienced pilots from careers in the cockpit.

US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks compounded by the current recession, he said.

"The bankruptcies were used to by some as a fishing expedition to get what they could not get in normal times," Sullenberger said of the airlines. He said the problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.

The reduced compensation has placed "pilots and their families in an untenable financial situation," Sullenberger said. "I do not know a single, professional airline pilot who wants his or her children to follow in their footsteps."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090224/ap_on_go_co/plane_splashdown_hearing

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Watch, the right wingers will label him a crackpot or lone wolf.

Sully speaks the truth.

[glowing]

4. Along with traffic controlers.. Bush fucked them too.. No one wants to

come in new.. they don't pay for the headache.. the old guys are retiring. Watch out for crashes in the next 5yrs to increase unless Obama fixes the shit happening in the airline industry.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. Yup..And did you hear the tapes of the controllers when Sully reported trouble?

PROFESSIONAL all the way. Never missed a beat while that drama was unfolding.

[digidigido]

8. Actually it was Reagan who fucked the Air Traffic Controllers

[TheCowsCameHome]

15. And did he ever....................

[cloudbase]

2. They've done the same thing

in the professional maritime community.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. Oh so THAT'S why they can't people to staff those ships.

I just heard a news radio article about how they are having trouble finding people.

After I heard the article, I told my boyfriend I wanted to be a merchant marine......but only if I get to bring my dog. The boyfriend can stay home.

[cloudbase]

20. It's a large part of a more complex mess.

It's not a career path I'd recommend to a young person. I'm fortunate to have seen some of the good days, and am now enjoying retirement.

[YvonneCa]

24. And they are doing the same thing to teachers...

...by demonizing unions and NCLB. And then people wonder why teachers leave the profession and public schools are having such a hard time. When will people wake up and see the pattern?

[liberal N proud]

3. Corporations no longer care about best talent

They haven't for some time. Every decision is driven from the perspective of shareholder profit.

[Wapsie B]

6. Don't worry. John Stossel will come on TV and tell us everything's ok.

:eyes:

[kwassa]

16. well, if John says its ok, then ....

my opinion of Stossel:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. I vowed to post this video everytime I see his name:

LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SACE1tPEcbc

[Doremus]

22. ROFL I remember that when it happened. What a tool that Stossel is. nt

[cpamomfromtexas]

7. My brother tells my boys not to be pilots, he tells them to put in fake boobs

for a living and fix a cleft palate or two a month just to feel good about themselves.

He's now going to law school.

edited for grammar

[kpete]

9. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger To Congress: Pay Has Been Cut 40 % In Recent Years-Pension Terminated

Source: Huffington Post

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger To Congress: My Pay Has Been Cut 40 Percent In Recent Years, Pension Terminated

The air traffic controller who handled Flight 1549 thought ditching in the Hudson River amounted to a death sentence for all aboard. Now the veteran pilot who pulled off the ditching safely says harsh pay cuts are driving experienced pilots from the cockpit.

"People don't survive landings on the Hudson River," 10-year veteran controller Patrick Harten told a House subcommittee Tuesday in his first public description of how he tried to land the jetliner that lost power in both jets when it hit Canada geese after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport.


Slideshow of the Sullenberger and crew members testifying:

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/chesley-sully-sullenberge_0_n_169512.html

[niyad]

10. I heard Sully a couple of weeks ago talking about how the more experienced pilots are

either retiring or being laid off, talking about the pay, etc. obvious conclusion--we are going to have far fewer truly experienced pilots in the air-- and people ask me why I prefer to drive??????

[Idealism]

11. Gotta love free markets

Yeah, we are making record profits, but fuck giving you a raise- we need to look out for us!

Now stop bitching about it or we'll outsource your ass and hire a 21-year old Indian kid with a PhD.

[RobinA]

14. Wellllllll....

I know a few pilots. Well paid at that, in their 50s. Have been pretty right wing all their lives. Rush Limbaugh in the car driving to the airport. Not too much boo-hooing from them when other people were having financial problems. No government handouts, death to welfare queens, they work hard for their money, shouldn't have to pay taxes so lazy bums can get a free ride - that whole bit. Loved Reagan, didn't get it about the air traffic controllers - denial, that river in Egypt. Being a liberal, I have compassion for their plight and god knows, I want someone competent and well-paid in MY cockpit. But down deep in my reptilian brain there's a smirk and a "kharma's a bitch" slithering around in the muck when I hear them discuss their recent couple steps down in fortune.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. All the pilots I know, including my FIL, are Dems. Not to mention world renowned, Viet Nam Vet, ..

........well respected DUer, DemoTex. :)

[pfitz59]

27. I'm a retired military pilot...

my buddies who went into the airlines have been getting screwed! Not an easy business to stay in. Physical exam every 6 months. Regular proficiency exams. Long climb up the seniority ladder. Top tier pay ony comes near the end of one's career. Mandatory retirement at 60 (before Social Security kicks in!) "Canned" routes withe very action recorded and sent to Ops Center. Very stressful. My admiration for Capt. Sullenberger grows daily...

[fascisthunter]

12. free market creates under-paid half-assed over-tired workforce

just so a bunch of whiny rich pricks can live a life of leisure, meanwhile they destroy the country itself.

[KamaAina]

13. Now that's a real American hero!

He could have just enjoyed his 15 minutes. Instead he's using it to stand up for what's right. :thumbsup:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

21. A friend quit flying commercially a few years ago

Low pay, treated like garbage by management, top of the scale at her airline was still a dead-end, had to suffer TSA harassment multiple times a day and her airline used the worst hotels on earth for layovers.

She is now flying a corporate jet and loving it, treated like a human being, no meth lab motels, no TSA fucktards, no unintelligible seniority list.

I also know a pilot at Skywest who is just barely getting by and a pilot at Alaska who is so frustrated with the cost cutting he personally supervises the ground crew for fear the junkies Alaska uses for a ground crew will smash the plane, which is apparently a semi-regular occurrence.

[Thothmes]

23. Be cautious about revealing that your friend

flies one of those evil corporate jets.

[ozu]

25. My uncle did the same

Flew for USAir until 2003 before switching to corporate jets, Amex I think... less stress, easier hours, and higher pay.

[excess_3]

26. airline employees treat passengers like vermin

what goes around comes around