Aviation Organizations

I think that every pilot should include themselves into some organizations so that you know that someone has your back when something unforeseen happens. The two organizations I wish to become a part of when I get into the aviation industry are the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) who I had mentioned in a previous blog.

ALPA solely focuses on airline pilots and their well being, their mission is to promote and champion all aspects of aviation safety throughout all segments of the aviation community (Airline pilots association, n.d.). Obviously that was not the entire mission statement of ALPA but it is a basic overview of how they will take care of pilots in whatever way they can. The IBTs mission is to represent the workers in every craft of the aviation industry (Teamsters Airline Division, n.d.). The IBT negotiated the freight industry's first national agreement in 1964 and began its efforts to unionize the airline industry in 1966 with employees of Western Airlines (Teamsters Airline Division, n.d.).

ALPA works with so many other organizations it make it easy for them to have a say in many situations. The ALPA is affiliated with organizations such as ICAO, IFALPA, and the CLC (Airline pilots association, n.d.). As I had mentioned before ALPA only really deals with the airline pilot side of the aviation industry. With their focus on pilots they can look deeper into how ot help the pilots more at their particular job. ALPA is working toward making the airline industry safer for the pilots and helping them in any way they can to achieve this goal.

IBT is very different compared to other aviation-based organizations, because they do not only work with one type career. IBT works with almost every type of aviation career down to aircraft cleaners. There are many different things that IBT does such as safety and health, contract negotiations, and legal representation (Teamsters Airline Division, n.d.). IBT is one of the few if not only organizations that can help all the sides to the aviation industry, which is good if there is an internal conflict between two jobs that they work for, they can come to a conclusion to solve a problem faster.

It is very important that as many pilots that can get involved with these types of organization do. Pilots can come together to have a greater impact on problems that they can fix. If a pilot or someone that works in the aviation industry doesn’t like the way they are being treated at their job, whether it be pay, work environment or otherwise; employees can contact their organization that they belong to can they try to settle a situation quickly and efficiently so that they can get back to working with improved conditions.

Note: For the references I am only giving the home page of the organizations, the specific information in my blog is from their site and is easily located with their site.

References

Airline pilots association. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alpa.org

Teamsters airline division. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://teamsterair.org

Global Airlines: Is it Fair?

One long-haul foreign carrier that receives government subsidies is Qatar. Qatar is based out of the Persian Gulf and they have received $7.7 billion in interest-free loans from their government. They have also received $6.8 billion in reduced interest costs due to sovereign guarantees for its borrowing (Yglesias, 2015). Another long-haul foreign carrier that receives subsidies from their government is Emirates. Emirates is based out of the Persian Gulf as well they have received government assumption of $2.4 billion in fuel hedging costs and $1.9 billion in low labor costs due to non-union labor. They have also received $2.3 billion in artificially low airport charges at its Dubai hub (Yglesias, 2015).

Long-haul US carriers that have received government subsidies include American, Delta, and United. These subsidies only started when the commercial aviation industry started contracts to mail carriers (Reed, 2015). Most all of the subsidies that US airlines have received from the government have been paid back essentially through there massive profit.

Not only are foreign carriers receiving government subsidies but they are also basically getting a better interest rate when they buy new aircraft. This quote, I think, best describes the way the Export-Import Bank works in this situation. Although it is long I thought that it was necessary to describe how the system works.

“The Export-Import Bank functioned primarily as a tool to sell American-made industrial products and capital goods to businesses and governments from countries with limited or no access to capital. An airline from say Mali (this is a hypothetical scenario), that wanted to buy Boeing 737s would be quoted exorbitant interest rates for a loan by commercial banks given the instability of that nation, but the Export Import Bank could loan them the money at a risk premium benchmarked to prevailing commercial rates. While this was initially meant mostly as a last resort avenue of funding, for both Boeing and Airbus, ECA-backed purchases have been common practice. Between 2008 and 2013, 26% of large commercial aircraft were backed by Export Import Bank funding (Bhaskara, 2014).”

I think that the global “playing field” with regards to long-haul carriers receiving government subsidies is very unfair. I understand that the US carriers received government subsidies back in the day, but most carriers have paid or nearly paid back all of their money that they have received from the government. The money was given to the FAA to help with advances within the aviation industry. With foreign carriers getting subsidies and having the Export-Import Bank on their side when buying wide-bodied aircraft it makes it almost impossible to keep up with them.

Yglesias, M. (2015, March 27). America's biggest airlines are accusing persian gulf carriers of cheating. Vox. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/2015/3/27/8296495/gulf-airline-subsidies

Reed, T. (2015, April 14). U.S. airlines have paid the government $250 billion: Amazingly, some claim they are subsidized. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2015/04/14/u-s-airlines-have-paid-the-government-250-billion-amazingly-some-claim-they-are-subsidized/2/

Bhaskara, V. (2014, September 2). The fight over the export-import bank has no easy answers. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/airchive/2014/09/02/the-fight-over-the-export-import-bank-has-no-easy-answers/

Cargo Flight and Duty Regulations

The FAA changed many different things about this rule to ultimately manage the fatigue rate in aircrews for all passenger carrier airlines. There were big changes I noticed about this new rule compared to the old rule that were very night and day. With the old rule there were different rest requirements that were based upon domestic, international, and unscheduled flight. This was changed in the fact that it makes no difference what type of flight was made that day, the new rule applies to all flights. Another big change made with this rule is that a pilot must sign a document affirming that he/she is “fit for duty” and the airline is required to remove the pilot if fatigue is reported (Houston, n.d.). In the old rule there was no clear-cut definition for whether or not a pilot was fit for duty. The old rule also limited the amount of flight hours per day and per year, where the new rule limits the amount of hours by day, week, month, and year (Houston, n.d.). The last big differentiation I noticed was that in the old rule there was a rest period of at least nine hours, which could be reduced to 8 hours. With the new rule the rest period for pilots is 10 hours with the opportunity for at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep (Houston, n.d.). There are other different aspects of this new rule that differ from the old rule, but these few that I have stated stood out the most.

As far as I have researched there are no flight and duty regulations regarding cargo carriers. I can only imagine that the previous rules for passenger carriers apply for the cargo side of aviation as well. I don’t know if I am not looking in the right area or if there is no change from the previous rules. The only information I can find on the subject of cargo carrier flight duty limitations is toward their exemption from the new regulations set forth for the passenger carriers. I even looked into the FAR/AIM, maybe it is my lack of knowledge of navigating the book itself, but I could not find any information regarding the question of flight duty regulations for cargo carriers.

It was said by James Fraser (2014), “the aviation professionals at the FAA understand that there is no difference between pilots who fly cargo and pilots who carry passengers, other than the fact that cargo carriers' management complained that increased rest for pilots would cost too much” (Goelz, & Hall 2014). I believe that James Fraser is correct in assuming this, whenever a new regulation is implemented it will inevitably cost air carriers more money. I feel that cargo carriers were included and even encouraged to take part in this new regulation. Cargo carriers would lose quite a bit of money whenever they wouldn’t have a pilot in an aircraft making a flight, due to his extended rest periods. The situation with cargo carriers falls simply on losing money from implementing this new rule.

I believe that the cargo carriers should have been forced to take part in these new rules. There is absolutely no difference in the flights made by cargo pilots and passenger pilots. Cargo pilots use the same airways, airports, and aircraft as a passenger pilot; therefore they should be entitled to the same flight and duty regulations.

From a pilot standpoint I feel that there would less on the job fatigue, I know I feel better after a full 8 hours of sleep the night before I go fly. This might also decrease the pay for a cargo carrier job, because of the losses that cargo carriers would sustain from it. At the same time the impact on me personally would not be that great considering that I plan on carrying passengers in the regionals. Nothing is set in stone and I could potentially be thrust into the cargo side of aviation and I would be glad that these rest requirements would be in place.

References

Hall, J., & Goelz, P. (2014, September 11). Cargo pilot hours should be regulated, too. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/11/cargo-pilot-airline-safety-fatigue-regulations-commercial-column/15474061/

Houston, S. (n.d.). FAA final rule: Pilot duty and rest requirements. About. Retrieved from http://aviation.about.com/od/Regulations/a/Faa-Final-Rule-Pilot-Duty-And-Rest-Requirements.htm

Flying cheap

I don’t think that anyone can designate the pilot shortage into either a reduced pay situation or an increase in retirement of older pilots, it’s a combination of both. The fact that average starting salary for a pilot in the regional airlines is $23,000 is only half the problem. 1^st year pilots might only make $19 or $20 an hour and would only be paid for the time spent in the seat with the cabin door closed (Lewinski, 2014). There is also the consideration that the baby boomer pilots are all going to start retiring in the next 5 to 7 years or so. To delay a possible shortage the FAA extended the retirement age from 60 to 65 (Lewinski, 2014). Both of these instances are correct and will both contribute to the pilot shortage in the future.

With the FAA raising the amount of hours needed to become an airline transport pilot they are killing the spirits of the new pilots that want to be part of the industry. From raising the hours you increase the total cost of becoming a pilot not to mention the time it takes to accumulate these hours. The fact that pilots know there first job in the industry, meaning a regional carrier, will only pay on average $23,000 a year doesn’t encourage new pilots to get started with their flying career. Obviously the new pilots that get into this industry know wages will be this way when they start so they will ultimately do it because they genuinely love to fly. Some solutions to this rule would be to lower the hours for students that graduate from an accredited flight school or to raise the average salary for starting pilots in the regional carrier bracket. This would give incentive for pilots to stay with their flying career knowing they could start out making potentially $35,000 to $40,000 a year. Airlines would be getting pilots that could want to make regional air carriers a career. I know that I would be happier if I went into work out of college knowing I was making $40,000 starting out in my aviation career. Overall productivity for the company would be better and it would ultimately create an atmosphere of pilots wanting to be at work and love their job.

Some union organizations that do not concern the pilot portion of aviation include AMFA, NATCA, and the IBT. The first union is AMFA, which is the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, they obviously are a union that work for the mechanic side of aviation (Aircraft Mechanic Fraternal Association, n.d.). The NATCA are the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, they work with the air traffic controllers in aviation (National Air Traffic Controllers Association, n.d.). Lastly there is IBT, who are the International Brotherhood ofTeamsters, they work with every job associated with the aviation industry from flight attendants to aircraft engineers (International Brotherhood of Teamsters, n.d.). There are many more unions that can help with any job you might find in aviation you just need to find them and seek help.

Professionalism is handling situations in the best way possible to your knowledge, always doing what is right, and owning up to ones mistakes. The big situation of professionalism that I noticed in the documentary "Flying Cheap" was when the Captain in one of the flights actually rewrote a weight and balance sheet to make it so they could takeoff overweight. After the first officer clearly calculated that the weight was insufficient for takeoff. Another situation I noticed with lack of professionalism was the fact that some regional airlines were actually hiring pilots that had as low as 350 hours of flight training. This is scary to think that back then pilots with no more knowledge then myself would be in charge of hundreds of lives on the numerous flights that they would have had to make that day. The airlines should of have had stricter guidelines to the minimum hours necessary for the new pilots that they were hiring.

I do believe that the first year pilot pay and/or the compensation structure of a regional airline are a contributing factor in the lack of professionalism. If someone is getting paid next to nothing to do a job as taxing as flying a jet aircraft, your mentality for work and doing a good job will be next to nothing. As one of the pilots had said in an interview the phrase “move the rig” was used a lot. This shows that the pilots would do whatever they had to do to get from point A to point B regardless the safety aspects just for a paycheck at the end of the day.

I plan to maintain professionalism when I start my career as a pilot by politely questioning my Captain’s judgment but only when I feel it would be necessary. I think that it is crucial that a Captains judgment should be questioned because at times they could be in the wrong for a certain situation. I also will maintain professionalism by knowing when to say when, I mean this by using the “I’m Safe” checklist. If I feel that I am not fit for duty for some reason I will not fly that day, because your judgment toward your health is your responsibility first and foremost. Not only would you endanger yourself but the souls onboard the aircraft as well.

References

Aircraft Mechanic Fraternal Association. (n.d.). About AMFA. Retrieved from http://www.amfanational.org/index.cfm?zone=/unionactive/view_page.cfm&page=About20AMFA

International Brotherhood of Teamsters. (n.d.). Who we represent. Retrieved from http://teamsterair.org/about/who-we-represent

Lewinski, J.S. (2014, July 14). Turbulence ahead: The coming pilot shortage and how it came to be. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/turbulence-ahead-the-looming-pilot-shortage-and-its-decades-long-history/374171/

National Air Traffic Controllers Association. (n.d.). Safety above all. Retrieved from http://www.natca.org/about.aspx#content